A Simple Guide to Purchasing a New Practice. Buying a dental practice is one of the biggest purchases that a dentist will ever make. A dental practice has the potential to deliver the kind of career and service that the dentist envisions. Many difficulties in transitioning dental practice ownership from one dentist to another can […]

Advantages and Implementation of Intraoral Cameras. For a lot of doctors, the most difficult thing to do is to convince a patient to accept treatment. If you show patients an X-ray, they usually do not proceed with treatment because they don’t know how to read it. X-rays cause confusion because patients don’t see or feel […]

Avoid the Sales Pitch and Evaluate Technology Effectively The 1964 stop-motion version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer includes a place called the “Island of Misfit Toys.” The island was a place where unwanted or poorly implemented toys would go because no one had a use for them. Many dental practices have a similar place—usually a […]

“Earning a T-Shirt” After a Full Mouth Reconstruction. In 2014, I took the Full Arch Reconstruction course with the Dr. Dick Barnes Group at Arrowhead Dental Laboratory in Salt Lake City, UT. Following the course, I was eager to implement all the things I had learned. I did my first full mouth case on a […]

Mentor: a wise, trusted, experienced advisor; a consultant; one who advises or trains someone else (especially a younger colleague). In 1969, Assistant Dean Dr. Harvey Coleman asked me to teach at the University of Southern California School of Dentistry in Los Angeles, CA. Every Wednesday I drove an hour to the dental school and shared […]

Noninvasive Soft Tissue Advancement in Conjunction with Aesthetic Dentistry. Part 1: Treating Gingival Recession Over the past couple years, several patients have asked me how they developed gingival recession and how it can be treated. Gingival recession can have a number of etiologies. It can be triggered by periodontal disease, which may stem from a […]

Noninvasive Soft Tissue Advancement in Conjunction with Aesthetic Dentistry. Part 2: Anterior Restoration When Abby first presented at our office, the main goal was to treat the symptoms she was having. Her chief complaint was headaches and her bite not feeling “right.” Patients often think they are suffering from temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMJ), but most […]

What I Learned After a Brain Tumor Diagnosis. I was recently at a continuing education dental seminar with the Dr. Dick Barnes Group when the conversation shifted to course corrections—the events that have the power to change the direction of your entire life. ‘Yes, I know what that means,’ I thought. In my life, I’ve […]

A Musician Sings a New Tune After a Full Arch Reconstruction. For most of my life, I’ve had problems with my teeth. Growing up, I had crooked teeth that were prominent in front (one was longer than the other), and one of my incisors was set back from my other teeth with a noticeable canine. […]

Part 1: Helping Patients Pay for Treatment. When a patient accepts the treatment that a doctor has recommended, it’s an exciting time! It’s exciting for the patient because he or she has caught the vision of improved dental health. It’s exciting for the dentist because he or she has effectively communicated to the patient the […]

Lessons Learned From a Full Arch Reconstruction. Not every dentist experiences what it feels like to be on the other side of the drill, but a few years ago, that’s exactly what happened to me. My journey to a full upper arch reconstruction wasn’t the result of a single diagnosis or experience, but rather the […]

A Discussion with Dr. Brian Britton about a Systematic Approach to Removables. Aesthetic Dentistry recently spoke with comprehensive dentist Dr. Brian Britton, from Arlington, TX, about making removables a simpler and more profitable process. Dr. Britton will teach a simplified system to other dentists during an upcoming new course with the Dr. Dick Barnes Group […]

Discover the Potential of your Dentistry. When Amazon launched in Seattle, WA, in 1995, the online venture only sold books. But according to an April 2017 article in Business Insider magazine, founder Jeff Bezos “knew from the very beginning, he wanted Amazon to be ‘an everything store.’” Traditional bookstores, adhering to an old model of […]

A Crown is Not Just a Crown. Aesthetic Dentistry recently spoke with Arrowhead Dental Laboratory’s CAD/CAM manager, Jay Nelson, about monolithic full zirconia restorations, also known as ZirCrowns. Jay and his team developed a unique process that results in a highly aesthetic zirconia restoration. He recently shared his insights about the process with us. AD: […]

In the past, traditional marketing was about pushing a message out to as many people as possible and hopefully convincing even a small number of them to take the next step—maybe calling a practice or visiting a website—and, if you were incredibly lucky, getting them to make an actual appointment. Today, online marketing changes how […]

A Makeup Artist Gets a Full Smile Makeover. Makeup is a lifelong passion for me. My journey into makeup artistry as a career started at home—my mom and sisters are all glamour girls. I loved watching them do their makeup. Later, during high school, I was a cheerleader and I was always doing everybody’s makeup […]