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office: myself, one hygienist, one assistant and one front office; but
our growth did not allow for it, so my vision adapted to the need.
WHAT TYPE OF DENTISTRY DO YOU DO?
Like most new graduates, I was positive I could do everything and
do it well. But as time has gone on, I have begun to focus on restor-
ative dentistry: fillings, crowns, bridges and implants. I will still
do the occasional root canal or extraction, and have even placed
some implants, but honestly I enjoy the CEREC so much it’s all I
want to do. And it’s fun to focus on the things I am good at, rather
than sweating over finding an MB2 canal. My practice has grown
enough that it has allowed me to do this; and I also have an incred-
ible team of specialists that I work with making my practice very
interdisciplinary. My CEREC is pretty much attached to my hip
during the workday, unless we aren’t getting along and she gives
me weird errors ;)
WHY IS CEREC YOUR CAD/CAM OF CHOICE?
That’s easy: back when I purchased it, it was the only choice. I’m
pretty sure it still is!
HOW DOES TECHNOLOGY FIT INTO YOUR OFFICE PHILOSOPHY?
When I startedmy practice, Iwanted andneeded to be different from
all of the other practices in town. I was told over and over that I was
crazy to do a start-up when there was a major recession happening.
For the first time in our area, dentists were actually walking away
from their practices and filing for bankruptcy. It was hard towatch.
So, in order to stand out, I purchased the latest technologies
such as CEREC and Galileos, digital radiographs, IO cameras
and electronic charting, and offered this to patients while also
contracting with all of the major PPO plans (I am on 20 of them).
It was a huge investment, but I was in my late twenties with
many years of practicing ahead of me. The technology makes me
incredibly efficient and allows me to keep my costs low. It also
gives me control to have a high standard of care. Patients love to
have their crowns same day and love the look of the crowns with
no “black lines” around their tooth or metal showing. They love
it enough that last March I penciled out to purchase a second
CEREC and milling unit in order to keep up with the patient
demand. So how does technology fit into my office philosophy? It
is my office philosophy!
HOW DOES CEREC IMPACT YOUR PRACTICE? YOUR LIFE?
I haven’t practiced without CEREC, so I can’t say what the actual
impact is, other than I attribute a lot of the growth that I’ve had
to CEREC and what it offers patients. I will say it has impacted
my life in more ways than I thought. The CEREC community is
inspiring, and the energy is contagious. I want to go to work every
day. I want the challenging cases to come through my door so I
can figure out how to best do the case with my CEREC. It has also
been so rewarding to see the growth in my team and their confi-
dence level when they stain and glaze a gorgeous tooth or design
and contour an anterior case. Teeth can change someone’s life, and
we get to be a part of that in one appointment. How cool is that?!
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREC PROCEDURE?
Anterior cases, hands down. I love making teeth look pretty, and I
love the challenge that CEREC doctors bring of elevating the level
of what “pretty” and “natural” is. I look back at my first veneer case
that I did after cerecdoctors.comLevel 4 and think, “Oy! The things
I could do different today andmake it look so much better!” But the
patient still loves her teeth, and that is what matters the most.
WHAT IS YOUR MOST UNIQUE CEREC PROCEDURE?
I don’t feel that I do many unique things when I look at all of the
incredible work done on the forum. One of the latest trends has
