Frank Spear Dental Study Club - APRIL 2017
On Friday April 21, SMT Dental was fortunate enough to host the Frank Spear Dental Study Club.
The all day seminar, presented by Dr. William Gregg of Laguna Niguel, CA., delved into the multi-faceted topic of Patient/Dentist communication.
Some of the areas covered were;
- Influence, The Power of Persuasion
- SOFTEN to an Emotionally Engaged Practice
- The Team Approach – How to coordinate Patient/Dentist/ Staff discussions to achieve the desired results for the patient
- How to Become a World-Class listener
- Dental Stages of Grief of the patient
This interactive program became quite engaging for all 16 participants and was beneficial for not only the seasoned dentist but the just-graduated DDS.
Print copies of the seminar are available. Please call SMT at 847-277-7746 to obtain the information.
SMT Dental believes education is the foundation to success and is proud to have been a part of this program.
Personalize Your Crown with SMT - February 2017
SMT received another request to add a "bee" design onto a patient's crown. Mostly, patients prefer a personalized design on the cheek side of molars or premolars, so the design can be only seen when patients want to share with someone. Please feel free to contact SMT if your patient wants to personalize his or her smile.
ASC Abutment and Crown - August 2015
One of the doctors called SMT regarding an implant case that was unique. After a brief discussion, SMT received the implant case from the dentist. The doctor requested a custom zirconia abutment along with a SMT Layered Zirconia implant restoration that was to be screw-retained. Normally, this would be an easy task. But unfortunately, the screw access hole was positioned facially. We did have a couple of options. One option would be to create the custom abutment but have it moved out facially to accommodate the screw access hole lingually (though aesthetics would be severely compromised). The second and really only option that would be aesthetically pleasing and meet the doctor's request was to use Nobel's Angulated Screw Channel (ASC) abutment. Using Nobel's Conical Connection platform, we are able to adjust the screw access hole 30° facially-lingually to place the screw access hole ideally. As you can see, we now have the option to create screw-retained implant restorations (using NobelBiocare's Conical Connection) even if the initial screw access hole isn't ideal. If you have a case that is similar and would like to discuss it, please feel free to call us at 847-277-7746 or email us at contactus@smtdl.com.
Personalize Your Crown with SMT - AUGUST 2015
SMT recently received a request for a design to be added onto a patient's crown. The request this time was for a simple heart-shape design on the molar. SMT has received such requests in the past that were similar such as a star-shape and designs that were a bit more detailed such as a photo of a maple leaf that was taken by the patient themselves. If you have patient's that would like to personalize their smiles, contact SMT for more details!
SMT & NobelBiocare - AUGUST 2015
SMT and NobelBiocare recently co-hosted an evening seminar at SMT’s Seminar Room with a group of 12 doctors and staff members who attended. The title of the seminar was “Implant Abutments - What do I choose?” Topics ranged from “Is an implant restoration the best solution for the patient” to “stock abutments vs. custom abutments” to NobelBiocare’s Angulated Screw Channel (ASC) abutments. We are looking ahead to having NobelBiocare come in once again to do an advanced course on implant abutment selection in the near future so please stay tuned.
PORCELAIN FABRICATION - NOVEMBER 2014
Elizabeth, co-owner of SMT, in the process of building an anterior bridge. SMT specializes in this type of work. Many of our doctors request this high-end restoration on a weekly basis. We are able to process special requests such as pink tissue porcelain, modified incisal translucency, crack lines and internal hypocalcification. Notice the attention to detail with the use of a 10x power microscope. Elizabeth uses a number of porcelains to build the bridge, and for custom shades, she utilizes custom shading software installed on our in-lab computers and tablets to ensure the coloring is an exact match!
CALGARY CANADA DENTAL LAB COMPETITION – OCTOBER 2014
Elizabeth Lee of SMT Dental Lab and Dr. Jeffrey Bonk of Barrington, Illinois were invited to a competition to fabricate 2 upper centrals for a patient. Impressions and photos were taken and sent to 11 high-end laboratories around the US and Canada. The technicians could produce the crowns out of any material of their choosing. They were invited to Calgary to observe the placement of the crowns in the patient’s mouth. After the initial seating, all technicians were allowed to fine tune the colors to better match the patient’s teeth. Elizabeth was the only technician who did not have to modify the initial crowns! At the writing of this post, SMT has placed in the top 2 finalists!
