“Yamamoto and Lee is a family dental office dedicated to providing top quality dentistry and overall service to our patients.” (from our mission statement)
We take our mission very seriously and always do our best to live up to it. Yet despite our best efforts, we know we will never please everyone. So when a patient leaves our practice, we like to find out why they’re leaving so that we can hopefully learn from our mistakes and improve our service. But then, some of them come back!
We understand that there are many reasons why people leave a dental office to go see another dentist. What we fail to realize is that people don’t always leave because they are unsatisfied. Sometimes people leave because their insurance changed and they now have a list of dentists they must see if they want their dental work to be covered by insurance. Or sometimes they leave because finances are tight, and they think they can save money by going to a dentist with lower fees (and there’s always someone with lower fees). One returning patient this past week said that even though his insurance changed, he’d rather come here and pay out of pocket because the dentist he saw under his plan tried to get him to agree to treatment which wasn’t covered, and it would have cost him more than what we had recommended. Another returning patient came back because the “cheaper” dentist wanted to replace all his fillings and do full mouth deep cleanings, which we didn’t think he needed. (In my next post, I will discuss the best way to save money at the dentist.)
And then there are the times when a patient leaves because there was something about our service they didn’t like, only to return when they come to realize that we had done nothing wrong. A couple years ago we had one patient leave quite upset because I had recommended one of her teeth needed a root canal. When her tooth started aching recently, she asked to come back.
It seems like more patients than ever are returning to our dental practice. Maybe it’s a sign that our economy is turning around. Or maybe it’s just a variation of chance. Whatever the reason, we like to think that maybe we’re not doing such a bad job of achieving our mission.
What do YOU think?
Dr. Steve
Roseville Family Dentist
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When a back chewing tooth is badly damaged to the point where a filling would no longer work well, we usually recommend getting an onlay. Onlays are much stronger and generally last longer than fillings. There are many materials which dentists use to make onlays. We think the best are gold and porcelain. So which should you choose, gold or porcelain? Both have their advantages. It depends what’s more important to you.
Gold onlays are (excuse the pun) the “gold standard”. Dentists have been using gold practically forever with great success. It is strong and resistant to breaking, but kind to the opposing tooth. And it can be made thinner, which is good if the back tooth is very short to begin with.
Porcelain onlays are obviously more esthetic. While many of the earlier porcelains dentists used were very brittle and broke quite often, newer porcelains are much more resistant to fracture. If they are bonded to the tooth (which we always do in our office), they can strengthen the remaining tooth structure which means we can often keep more of your natural tooth. Cerec porcelain onlays can be made in the office meaning they can be completed in one visit. The best part about that is- no temporary!
So which onlay should you choose, gold or porcelain? If you want the best chance of long term success, don’t care how it looks (especially if it’s waaaaaaaaaaaay back there), and don’t mind coming in twice to see us, then go for the gold. If you are vain like me and want it to look like a tooth, or really want to get it done and over with in one visit, get a Cerec porcelain.
Dr. Steve
Roseville Family Dentist
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Disclaimer – RosevilleFamilyDentist.com – Dr. Lynn Yamamoto and Dr. Steven Lee
This web site is provided for information and education purposes only. No doctor/patient relationship is established by your use of this site. No diagnosis or treatment is being provided. The information contained here should be used in consultation with a dentist of your choice. No guarantees or warranties are made regarding any of the information contained within the web site. This web site is not intended to offer specific medical or dental advice to anyone. Drs. Yamamoto and Lee are licensed to practice in the state of California and this web site is not intended to solicit patients from other states. Further, this web site and Drs. Yamamoto and Lee takes no responsibility for web sites hyper-linked to this site and such hyper-linking does not imply any relationships or endorsements.
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