DesertSmiles

This lovely lady had always been self-conscious of her misaligned teeth and was not excited about the prospect of wearing braces and the length of time involved. Porcelain veneers in three weeks gave her the beautiful smile she had always dreamed of. She received instant orthodontics but with prettier teeth than she had naturally. A cosmetic gum lift helped show less gum and a more pleasing smile. As we strive to provide the finest in Glendale and Phoenix cosmetic dentistry, allowing patients to smile freely and receive compliments of how great a smile they have provides great satisfaction. To see more results see our Smile Gallery at www.DesertSmiles.com. If you have questions about cosmetic or restorative dentistry in Glendale, Phoenix, or any part of Arizona call us at 602-978-1790.

December 3, 2007 is now a watershed moment in the history of fluoridation in the United States.  At that moment, California’s largest water agency completed its efforts to fluoridate the water that reaches some 18 million residents in southern California - the single largest expansion of fluoridation in the U. S.

The California Dental Associaiton Foundaton worked with the California Fluoridation Workgroup - a broad coalition of experts and stakeholders - to bring the issue to the MWD board of directors.  They provided scientific, educational and financial support to assist the water agency in approving tnd implmenting the plan.

For more information on restorative and cosmetic dentistry in the Phoenix and Glendale, Arizona areas contact Dr. Donald Wilcox DDS at 602-978-1790 or visit www.DesertSmiles.com.  

Nearly one in five adults or more than 40 million Americans say they do not have adequate access to the health care they need because they can’t afford it.  This is according to the Health, United States, 2007 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The report indicates that nearly 20% of adults said they needed but could not afford one or more medical, oral health, prescription medicine, mental health or vision services.

Dental data cited in the report:

Sixty one percent of adults in 2001 had dental coverage compared with 86% of adults with medical insurance.

On average Americans paid out-of-pocket for about half of the costs of their dental care in 2003.

About one-quarter of persons aged 65 and older were edentulous in 2005.

For more information on restorative and cosmetic dentistry in the Phoenix and Glendale, Arizona areas contact Dr. Donald Wilcox DDS at DesertSmiles, 602-978-1790 or visit www.DesertSmiles.com.

   www.DesertSmiles.com

Porcelain veneers, in this case MacVeneers, provided not only a fantastic smile makeover but added strenth to teeth weakened from decay and decalcification. The decreased sensitivity is an added benefit to the change in confidence and self-image for years to come.

As we strive to provide the finest in Phoenix cosmetic dentistry here in our Glendale dental office, results like these happen every week and change the lives of our patients and all of us here at our cosmetic dental office.  See more results in our Smile Gallary at www.DesertSmiles.com.  

This is a recent smile makeover accomplished with the blending of several cosmetic procedures. Not only is it a beautiful result of which the patient is extremely pleased, almost no tooth preparation was required. Two porcelain veneers were placed on the upper arch with the remaining teeth being bonded. The lower arch was restored with a non prep bonded bridge and bonding of the remaining teeth. This case could have been done with all porcelain veneers but the combination of including bonding made it more affordable and fit within the patient’s budget. As we strive to provide the finest in Phoenix and Glendale cosmetic dentistry we always try to find out the patients goals and budget concerns and give the best possible result that fits into these parameters.

For more information contact Dr. Donald Wilcox DDS at DesertSmiles, 602-978-1790, or visit www.DesertSmiles.com.  

According to an artilcle on the website of the American Dental Association www.ADA.org, Norway has acted to discontinue the use of dental amalgam.  The action was part of a sweeping effort to restrict the use of mercury and was done so largely for environmental reasons.  Sweeden evidently may have taken similar action.

At DesertSmiles we discontinued the use of dental amalgam over ten years ago over similar concerns for our patients.  As we strive to provide the finest in Glendale restorative and cosmetic dentistry, we feel composite and porcelain restorations are not only more aesthetic in appearance but are more biocompatible.  With their bonded placement to tooth structure we also feel they add more strength to our patients teeth.

For more information on restorative or cosmetic dentistry in the Phoenix and Glendale, Arizona areas contact Dr. Donald Wilcox DDS at DesertSmiles, 602-978-1790, or visit www.DesertSmiles.com.

Dr. Wilcox and his assistant Kim Lyons recently attended an advanced training course at the Scottsdale Center for Dentistry to update our use of the CEREC technology. We have had this CAD-CAM technology for several years which allows us to make porcelain crowns and onlays in one visit. The recent software advancements allow for higher quality restorations with a simplified design process. We also were trained with the ability to customize color and glaze here in the office which will allow us to do more of the color matching in cosmetic areas which have had to go to the lab previously. This also allows us to complete more sedation dentistry cases in one visit without a temporary required and a second visit.

As we strive to provide the finest in Glendale cosmetic and restorative dentistry we are constanting attending continuing educaton to bring you the latest techniques and dental technology.   For more information visit www.DesertSmiles.com.

Potential difficulties for U. S. health care system are emerging as more prescription drugs and their ingredients are imported.  FDA inspectors visit most foreign drug manufactures only once every eight to twelve years.  The government may not even know the identity of half of the companies that export pharmaceuticals to the U.S.  While 3,000 foreign companies are believed to ship prescription drugs to the U.S., the FDA is scheduled to inspect just 300 of those firms this year.

Federal law requires the roughly 3,300 domestic drug manufacturers to face an FDA inspection once every two years.  Foreign pharmaceutical manufacturers face no such requirement, and the actual number of companies shipping prescription drugs to the U.S. may be as high as 6,700.

As we always have, Dr. Wilcox orders all of our sedation dentistry supplies and medications from the most reputable U.S. supplier available.  In providing the finest in Glendale cosmetic and restorative dentistry, your safety is our upmost concern. 

Dr. Wilcox returned last week from an extensive training program in one of the latest techniques in cosmetic dentistry - Durathin Veneers. The program was led by Dr. Dennis Wells in Nashville, Tennessee. A select group of some of the top cosmetic dentists in the country were present, including leaders from the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry.

Durathin Veneers are a cosmetic procedure where the teeth are not prepared as in traditional veneers. Only about 30% of patients desiring a smile enhancement are candidates for this technique. The marketing of the Lumineer product has created a greater awareness of the possibilities of non prep veneers. We feel Durathin is a superior product based on our experience and research with other high quality cosmetic dentists. We are proud to be only one of two Arizona dentists who have been trained to offer this outstanding service.

We will be adding some photos of cases soon to our website. If you would like to learn more about the possiblities of Durathin veneers visit www.durathinveneers.com.

Each year we try to take a break from providing the best in Phoenix cosmetic dentistry and reward the hard-working and dedicated staff here at Desert Smiles.  This year we had a wonderful time in NYC.  The ladies got air time on the Today show, we saw Grease on Broadway, and had lunch on Tavern on the Green in Central Park.  There were miles of walking to Chinatown, Ground Zero, and Little Italy, subway rides and a little shopping!