S. John Salivonchik D.M.D., P.C.

Dental Cleaning

June 22, 2010

It has come to our attention that most people aren’t aware of what all goes into a proper cleaning and exam. Of course we look for decay and polish the teeth but this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to your “cleaning” visit. We look and palpate for abnormalities in the hard and soft tissue, including but not limited to oral cancer. We evaluate the function of the mouth including the coordination of jaw muscles and the way the teeth fit together. Any sign of dysfunction like abnormal tooth wear is closely looked for. A proper prophy (cleaning) involves going below the gum line to remove both soft and hard deposits...

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Bisphosphonates

June 11, 2010

Recently,there has been much concern about the bisphosphonate class of medication for osteoporosis such as Fosamax. These medications have been associated with osteonecrosis (non healing bone) following extractions, dental implants or invasive dental work. Although the risk of this is very low, it would be prudent for anyone going on bisphosponates to have a dental exam before treatment in case dental work needs to be done.

CPR

June 8, 2010

Recently our whole team completed our basic life support recertification. In addition, we received extra real life scenario training using our own AED in our office. This better prepares us for a medical emergency. Hopefully, we will not need to provide this service.

Food for thought regarding Dental Implants

May 14, 2010

This is a tricky blog for me to write because I vehemently oppose making outlandish, unrealistic and overly optimistic claims. Sometimes the best planned and executed dental care succumbs to the wear and tear environment of the mouth, or uncontrolled dental disease. Any decision to begin complex dental treatment should be well thought out, and performed with the utmost caution. This especially applies to dental implants. However, there is considerable debate regarding the protocol for implant treatment. Forty years ago, it was believed that implants had to be placed in a near sterile environment-in near perfect bone. Also, they believed there could be no force on the implants while healing, or they would not integrate,...

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Tooth Whitening for Charity

May 10, 2010

We are proud to announce our 10 year anniversary of our tooth whitening program to help cure childhood cancer. For the last ten years we have been donating our entire fee of $195.00 to the Children’s Cancer Research Fund at the University of Minnesota or in some cases to local families who have been affected by children’s cancer. In that time we have raised over $100,000.00. I want to thank my incredible team for their commitment to this program. In addition, we have had several manufacturers donate whitening kits to make this program possible. Most important, I want to thank Ultradent the maker of Opalescence whitening gel. No other company has even come close to...

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