Griffin Smiles Giving Smiles

 

 

One of the greatest rewards of our profession is helping others acheive their goals. Granted, the goals we typically deal with are "keeping me teeth" or "staying healthy".  But, what about the people that don't come to our office.  They have goals, too.  Don't they?  The question is - can we help them?

 

Every member of our team has a huge heart for helping others. And we wanted to find a way to help those that live beyond the doors of our practice.  So, we are starting a charity campaign for the remainder of 2013.  Because we want everyone to be involved, we are impowering our patients to help drive our donations.  We will select charities that have a direct impact in our community.  We will focus on one charity for three months at a time.  To help us raise awareness and donations, we will ask our patients to check-in on facebook during their appointments.  Then we will donate five dollars for every check-in during the campaign.  So, for the months of April, May and June, we will donate $5 per check in to the National Federation of the Blind of Oklahoma.

 

Why NFB of Oklahoma?  We have a team member directly impacted by blindness.  Until I knew her and her husband, I was unaware of the profound impact of vision loss.  Not just the loss of sight, but the impact on the lifestyle of the blind and their families.   The NFB improves blind people's lives through advocacy, education, research, technology, and programs encouraging independence and self-confidence. It is the leading force in the blindness field today and the voice of the nation's blind.  And, there is an Edmond chapter meeting our local criteria!!

 

To learn more about the National Federation of the Blind visit: https://nfb.org/

 

Please help Griffin Smiles, Give Smiles as we share our blessings with others.



Dental Amalgam. Where do we stand?

Today Dr. Oz is doing a segment on dental amalgam.  Dental amalgam - the silver or black fillings - are a mixture of several metals, one of which is mercury.  These types of fillings were banned in many European countries in the 1990's when Dr. Griffin was in dental school.  The ADA has remained firm in their stance that dental amalgams are safe.  Yet, Dr. Griffin made the choice over 14 years ago to have an "amalgam free" practice. 

There was a shift in dental sciences following the ban of dental amalgam in so many countries.  The white composite resin materials were initially unstable and often unreliable.  Since this ban and the investment of dental material companies in the improvement of mercury-free filling materials, the predictability of these materials has greatly improved - often surpassing the amalgam as the material of choice for the replacement of missing tooth structure.  These white fillings are made of either a resin with glass particles or entirely of a crystalline, ceramic structure and are bonded directly to teeth with means that can fortify a tooth.  Since these are bonded to a tooth, they help preserve tooth structure as the dental amalgam fillings require additional tooth removal to create undercuts for retention.

For fourteen years we have been striving to provide excellent care for our patients.  And we have done so without placing new dental amalgams in teeth.  The decision to electively remove existing amalgams remains in the hands of the patient - that is never our recommendation.  We only recommend removing an existing amalgam when there is evidence of decay, fracture or breakdown. 

The Dr. Oz show hasn't run yet this afternoon.  We are taping it and are looking forward to watching it.  Much of it may seem sensational.  But some of it may hit home.