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If you can dream it for you teeth, we can probably do it for your teeth. In Barrie.

This ain’t your 1950’s dentistry anymore, and you’re not in Kansas. Welcome to modern day dentistry, and it is everything that you hope dentistry can be. In fact, what dentistry can do would probably blow your mind, and it can all be done in Barrie!

Dentistry has evolved from basically a technical exercise with relatively few options, to a dream-it-and-you-can-have-it proposition. What does this mean in reality? Allow us to illustrate:

In the 1950’s dentistry was mainly a tooth-by-tooth affair that followed a break-and-fix mentality. If you had a problem with a tooth, you filled it. If you had a big problem with a tooth, you pulled it. If you wanted to replace teeth, you put in a denture. And that was about it! Pretty simple, and unfortunately that is all too often the extent of people’s understanding of dentistry. There was little talk of prevention, or aesthetics.

Just as you would never ask your physician nowadays to practice 1950’s-style medicine, we should not be limiting or relegating ourselves to 1950’s-style dentistry. Our understanding of teeth and the oral-facial complex is so much better now. The technology is so much better. And most importantly, our approach to oral health management is so much more holistic (not in the airy-fairy sense) and sophisticated now. Here is a taste:

Start with the end in mind. We can now provide you with simulations of what we think we can do with your teeth. This lets you “test drive” things as best as possible before you proceed with treatment, and shows you what is achievable.

Prevent problems before they start. The world has moved on from a break-and-fix reactive model to a more proactive model of care. This means that we can identify potential problems and take steps to prevent them, rather than dealing with things after they get worse. This can mean single-tooth problems such as fractures, all the way to bite problems that can cause future TMJ pain. It’s all a part of the risk assessment that we perform, and is the future of dentistry.

You’re the star, and we’re the director. When there were few options available for teeth, there wasn’t much room for input. Now that we can pretty much do anything, there is much more of a role to be played by you! Just tell us what you don’t like. Do you think you have crooked teeth? We can do some orthodontics to fix that. Do you think you show too much gums when you smile? We can fix that.

A gummy smile – is this the result of too much gums? Maybe the whole upper jaw is too far down? Or, maybe it’s just a lip that moves too high and reveals too much tooth. Whatever the problem, we can fix it to make smiles look natural.

Don’t be nervous. There are more civilized ways of doing dentistry for the dentally fearful than just white-knuckling it. There are sedation options for you that can make you relaxed, or really relaxed. It never pays off to put things off.

Dentistry is only going to get better. Is there a catch? Sort of. When we started, we said you would never ask to have 1950’s-style medicine performed on you. Dental insurance is pretty much that – 1950’s style dentistry with slight modifications for this decade. Unfortunately, much of the mentality of dentistry is still dictated by an insurance plan, which we’ve said before is the wrong way to think about things. Free yourself from the constraints of dental insurance, and you will enjoy your teeth for longer.

Of course, none of this is possible without a thorough assessment of the state of things in your mouth. Please contact us for a customized examination and diagnosis. We’d love to be your dentist in Barrie.

Dr. Elston Wong Portrait

About Dr. Elston Wong

Dr. Elston Wong completed his dental degree at The University of Toronto in 1999 before arriving in Barrie in 2002. After graduating, he continued to learn everything he could about dentistry. Now he has taken the time to share important information for anyone to read.

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