Happy 2017! Changes Coming to Dr. Elston Wong Dentistry

As we have mentioned in the past, we like to use this portion of our website to truly communicate updates to our current (and future) patients.  As it is now January 1 2017, it is the perfect time to provide a glimpse into changes that are coming to Dr. Elston Wong Dentistry in the following 12 months:

1. Fees are increasing.  While we have traditionally followed the Ontario Dental Association Suggested Fee Guide (and we will continue to follow for the most part), there are several areas that we will be increasing beyond fee guide levels in order to properly reflect the extra time we take for those services.  For example, we will be implementing higher-than-fee-guide fees for fillings, crowns, and hygiene services (among others) due to the introduction of new technologies that frankly didn’t come free.  More on this below.  Other services, such as orthodontics, will continue to run parallel to the fee guide or even slightly lower than the average fees.  We’re not in this for greed, but we’re also not in this to lose money.  A fair fee for service rendered is our target.

2.  New tech! After last year’s introduction of the Velscope VX (which many of you have experienced first-hand and which we have so far not charged for), we are also incorporating the use of the CariScreen hand-held caries susceptibility testing meter.  We collect saliva from your mouth and place them in test tubes that will react with the bacterial ATP and glow.  This bioluminescence is then read by the CariScreen meter to give you an objective assessment of biofilm-mediated caries risk!  Especially valuable in those people who have clean mouths but continue to experience decay, and is a further evolution in our risk-based approach to managing decay.

3. New hours! We have modified our hours.  They are now:

Monday 8am-4pm

Tuesday 8am-4pm

Wednesday 10am-6pm

Thursday 10am – 6pm

Fridays By appointment only

4. New practice management software!  This may not be as exciting to our patients, but Evidentiae will enable much more thorough risk-based individualized management of your oral health than ever before!  That is because this software was developed to be consistent with Kois Center protocols, and so it is software by the dentist, for the dentist.   It is uber-complicated, but will be unmatched in terms of its sophistication.  Expect the transition after February 2017.

These are only the largest things to look forward to; there are many smaller improvements we are always making and we hope you’ll be able to experience them all in 2017!  Our best wishes to you for continued oral health – we’d love to be your dentist in Barrie.