Dr Romano's Blog

Dr. Romano receives “The Extra Mile Award”

Dr Sam Romano accepting this award for himself and his wonderful staff and family.
Madison Chamber of Commerce Honors Dr. Sam Romano

Last night the Madison Chamber of Commerce held their annual award picnic at the Hamilton Park Hotel & Conference Center to present “The Extra Mile Award” for 2012. The Extra Mile Award is presented to employees and businesses that provide extraordinary customer service to their patrons. We are extremely proud to announce that Dr. Sam Romano was the recipient of this award. Dr. Romano was generously nominated by numerous patients who feel he goes above and beyond for his patients. These are just a few of the kind remarks made by our dedicated patients: “Dr. Romano would walk ‘Two Extra Miles’ to make sure that all the details are well covered before you leave his elegant and well equipped office. He will even have someone from his office calling you the next day to make sure you are okay. I consider this ‘The Third Mile’. Do you know anybody else who would happily walk more than ‘Three Extra Miles’? Neither Do I.”

“Dr. Romano has been treating me and my wife, our son and his wife, and now our grandchildren, and I can honestly say he is worthy of this nomination. Beyond the fine dental care we always receive, we find Dr. Romano to be a most caring and compassionate person. He routinely and unselfishly provides dental care to those less fortunate without compensation and totally at his own expense.” “Sam Romano combines a wealth of experience, a curiosity for adopting the latest techniques and the skills of a craftsman, in caring for his patients. He has saved a couple of my teeth that would have been lost otherwise and thus enhanced the quality of my life. He is a life long resident of Madison and this has helped him build a lifelong bond with his patients. Knowing their history both from a dental and more holistic standpoint helps him to provide the extra service and comfort that many really need and cannot find today.”

“I vote for Dr. Samuel Romano for the Extra Mile Award. He’s been my family’s dentist for years. He’s always cheerful and respectful and his office is run efficiently. His dental work is excellent. He grew up in the community and I know that he is dedicated to Madison. He’s the most deserving business person that I know for the award.” Thank you to all who took the time out of their day to support Dr. Romano and his team.

Samuel Romano, D.M.D.
USA drsam@verizon.net

Is Madison really Mayberry?

For years, I’ve heard how wonderful Madison is and how people who move here compare it to Mayberry from the Andy Griffith Show. (I can still whistle the tune). Having lived and worked in town all my life, I feel uniquely qualified to weigh in on their assessment of Madison. I was onlypartly right.

First of all, let me tell you a little about myself. I was born in 1959 and grew up on Bardon Street. My mother, who is 83, still lives there. I went to Central Avenue School,the Junior School, and Madison High, graduating in 1977. I went to Fairleigh Dickinson University for undergrad and UMDNJ in Newark for Dental School. I’ve lived in Madison all my life with the exception of a few years in Florham Park and a year in Chatham. Not exactly the world traveler.

I started to realize that Madison was special while I was in dental school in Newark.

When the doctors on staff found out I was from Madison, they would say “that’s a good town.” I never thought much about it, I was more focused on exams.

After I finished school and in the early years of my career, I worked at several practices in North Jersey, both urban and suburban settings. That’s the first time I started to “get it.”

You see, having never really lived or worked anywhere before, I thought every place was just like Madison. I didn’t know what I had because I didn’t know what others didn’t have.

When those newbies in town become so enamored with Madison, I remember thinking, “Yea, I remember when it really was Mayberry.” As a kid, if I rode my bike in a part of town that I wasn’t supposed to be in, my mother knew about it before I got home. And there were no cell phones back in those days! (Opie’s got nothing on me.)

A long time has passed since I began my career, and I have traveled extensively throughout the U.S. and even to Central America to practice dentistry. The places ranged from nice resorts to inner city hospitals and small remote villages. But for all the places I’ve been to, I realize that Dorothy in the “Wizard of Oz” had it right when she said, “there’s no place like home.”

As I start my fifth decade in town, I’m happy to see the storefronts in the downtown filled with new businesses. I’m happy many of my friends and fellow business owners are still around. They have ridden out the financial storm and have kept their businesses in town. In spite of a significant slump in the housing market, homes in town still keep selling.

My vision for the future of Madison is bright. I was disappointed that New Jersey Monthly didn’t include Madison in the top 100 towns in New Jersey!
(What’s up with that?) I know we have a parking problem. I know about the
budget. I know taxes are high. I know we have all the same problems as most other towns. I encourage those in town who have the responsibility of decision making to keep in mind the image of what Madison looked like in
the past and to see what the future needs to be and make decisions that support
that vision.

You know, I’ve never won the lottery. I don’t have much luck in Atlantic
City. I have enough losing raffle and 50/50 tickets that if I burnt them in the fireplace, I could heat the house for the month of February. But that’s OK, because I’ve been blessed to live and work in a great place: Madison. And I don’t even have to click my heels three times to get there.

For more information, please
visit our website at www.DrSamRomano.com

Thanks for the ride,

Sam Romano

“Pursuing Dental Excellence”

Dr. Sam Romano is recognized by Dr. John Kois at the 2011 Kois Center Symposium in Seattle, Washington. Dr. Romano was recognized for his creative vision which led to the publication of “Pursuing Dental Excellence” The book is written for patients to help them understand the level of commitment and dedication to excellence that graduates of the Kois Center have for dentistry. It was distributed to the 400 dentists from the U.S. Europe and Asia at the meeting last week. Please pick it up and give it a look the next time you are in the office. I’m very proud of it.

For more information on Dr. Sam Romano visit www.drsamromano.com

Local Madison NJ dentist gives underpriviledged children a reason to smile

Madison, NJ – Local Dentist Dr. Sam Romano, will provide one day of free preventive and emergency dental care and, if necessary, make referrals for continuing treatment for children ages 12 and under as part of National Children’s Dental Health Month (CDHM). The one-day program, called Give Kids a Smile! (GKAS), will take place on Friday, February 4, 2011, and is part of the American Dental Association’s (ADA) annual push to bring attention to the number one childhood disease, tooth decay.

“Giving back to the community that has supported my practice is so important,” says Dr. Sam Romano. “This program, in its ninth year, will touch the lives of so many of New Jersey’s children who need oral healthcare, but cannot afford it. I am proud to be a part of it,” he said.

Children who come to Dr. Sam Romano’s office on Friday will receive a comprehensive dental exam, oral healthcare instruction, fluoride treatments, and free dental hygiene materials including toothbrushes, floss and toothpaste. The office will also have clowns, face-painting, balloon artists and story tellers. It promises to be a fun-filled day for all children who take part.

Last February, more than one million children in the United States received more than $100 million in dental care at more than 4,700 sites nationwide as a result of the GKAS event. In New Jersey, nearly 4,400 children visited 91 sites last February. For 2011, 103 public sites have been confirmed across New Jersey in addition to several private offices, like Dr. Sam Romano’s.

Dr. Sam Romano has been practicing dentistry for more than 25 years here in Madison. His practice is located at 120 Park Ave, Madison NJ.

If not a reason to smile, a commitment to help

Madison dentist treats impoverished children in Guatemala

By SALLY CAPONE
STAFF WRITER

MADISON – There are not many experiences that are truly life-changing, but Dr. Samuel Romano says he believes he found one in the slums of a Central American country.

Madison dentist treats impoverished children in Guatemala As part of an 18-member team, he traveled to Guatemala for one week in February to offer much-needed dental care to poor children. “I always wanted to do mission work, but I didn’t know how to go about finding the best, organization,” he said. When Dr. Gregory Keiser, a Morristown oral surgeon and board member of Healing the Children, asked Romano if he would be interested in a trip to the Central American country, he leapt at the chance. “I said, ‘I’m going – I don’t even have to think about it’,” Romano said.

‘It Shocked Me’

The trip was not an easy one emotionally, physically or financially, he said, adding that even before they left the U.S. getting through the airport was an ordeal. The team met at Newark Liberty Airport at 4a.m. on Feb. 6. “It shocked me how demanding it was,” Romano recalled of the rest of the trip.

“There was a lot of lugging,” he explained, because the team had to bring every bit of the dental supplies they would use, including gauze and sterile wipes.

In the Guatemalan city of Antigua, “All they gave us was a room to work in,” said Romano, who had to treat patients while bent over cafeteria tables covered with tablecloths procured by the team.

To improve on the meager lighting, Romano purchased a $600headlight. His total expense for the trip was $5,000, all out of pocket. After spending each night in a hotel room that was so small he couldn’t even open a suitcase, Romano and the team faced 10 hour workdays.

“When we got to the facility at 8 a.m., the lines of people waiting for us were as far as you could see,” Romano said. Because of the poor diet, lack of dental hygiene, and the large intake of “junky candy,” many of the children had rotted teeth.

“I did a lot of extractions and fillings,” said Romano, who speaks no Spanish and relied on two people on the team who spoke the language. Admitting that he’s hooked, “When you have a kid scared out of his mind, you learn how much non-verbal communication matters,” Romano noted. After handing out tooth- brushes, probably the only ones the children will ever get, a dental hygienist gave instructions in dental care. Romano worked on hundreds of children during his week in Guatemala. Experiencing such poverty first-hand has left an indelible impression.

‘How Good We Have It’

Dr. Sam and a child “I’ve lived in Madison all my life, and I didn’t realize how good we have it,” said Romano, who lives on West Lane. “It’s one thing to see pictures, and another to smell, feel and touch what it’s really like. Nothing is clean, and everything is covered with grit. It changes how you look at life. We waste time on trivial things, and never reflect on what’s important,” he said. After his heart-wrenching week, Romano was jarred backed to reality while on the plane trip home.

“The guy next to me on the plane was annoyed that he couldn’t get a cheeseburger,” Romano recalled.

“I realized I was back,” he said. Admitting that he’s hooked, Romano plans to go to Africa next year with the organization. Keiser, who’s been affiliated with Healing the Children for 15 years, has traveled to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Cambodia and Madagascar.

“People who go on these trips have two reactions,” Keiser said. “Either they will never do it again, or they can’t wait to do it again,” he said.

Healing the Children was incorporated as a nonprofit in 1979. The Northeast chapter, based in New Milford, Conn., was created in 1985, and has since arranged treatment for more than 33,000 children in the U.S. and abroad who lack adequate access to medical services. The all-volunteer teams travel at their own expense, and in addition to dentists include surgeons, pediatricians, anesthetists, nurses surgical technicians, and specialists in plastic and reconstructive surgery, urology and cardiology.

For information, visit www.healingthechildren.org.

A Conversation with Dr. John Kois

This month, the founder of the Kois Center shares some of his insights on where the profession is, where it’s going, and how private continuing education programs can contribute.

INSIDE DENTISTRY (ID): How did your experience in dental school have a lasting impact on your career as a practitioner—on your philosophy as a teacher?

JOHN KOIS (JK): I am a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, and I completed my Periodontal-Prosthodontic training at the University of Washington. Both schools offered fantastic opportunities for me and were very progressive with their curriculum. The educational experience was wonderful, and I remain very grateful for the way it has framed my career. Even though I do not use many of the procedures I was taught, I learned to be a more critical decision maker. The most important contributions came from being exposed to gifted, passionate teachers who were my mentors. Dr. Ralph Yuodelis, Dr. D. Walter Cohen, and Dr. Morton Amsterdam were among the most influential.

ID: Tell us when and why you founded the Kois Center.

JK: The Kois Center was founded in 1995, based on the need for a comprehensive approach for continuing education. The goal was to create a graduate program for practicing dentists that was cohesive rather than a combination of different courses. The core courses were designed to create improved critical decision making (treatment planning), understanding function, and dentofacial evaluation. The implementation courses focus on periodontics, biomechanics, and implants have seen the most change driven by science and technology.

Many other courses are able to provide great information but that is not the same as education or teaching. Education is designed to create a more significant impact by transforming the student through a platform of understanding and commitment.

The ultimate purpose of the Kois Center is to create world-class performers. The individual practitioner in turn derives more confidence, gains improved clinical performance, understands the financial accountability of dental procedures, and has more satisfaction from the practice of dentistry. This is not possible without receiving feedback on results, which is demanding and it is not always much fun. It isn’t work or play but something entirely different. It is what Geoff Colvin describes in his book as “Deliberate Practice.”

ID: What are the key components of a postgraduate institute that dentists should look for when researching various facilities and/or programs?

JK: I think it is critical to avoid significant conflict of interest concerns. It is important to have a “safe” environment where practitioners can discuss failures and their problems. Another critical piece is the opportunities available for continuous growth. We have an annual symposium which addresses the new science that has been published only in the last year. This is the evidence-based platform that modifies existing systems leading to best practice parameters. We also have mentors that work closely with students inside and outside the classroom. They have become a critical support network to answer questions, provide follow-up information, and help with implementation struggles in private practice. The mentors and clinical instructors are an integral part of the infrastructure that enable us to be more like what Seth Godin refers to as a “tribe.”

ID: How has your vision for the institute grown or changed over the years?

JK: The outcome is more than I ever dreamed of because it is now being driven by the students themselves. Their feedback has helped to develop reputable methodology (checklist), accountability coaching, an execution system, and community learning to share and reinforce best practices and accelerate learning. It is so exciting to see the dentists’ confidence and capability increase; that is the priceless component. In addition, my son Dean is a prosthodontist and my daughter-in-law, Tara, is a general dentist. The opportunities we have practicing together add even more depth and credibility to the Teaching Center. I can understand the struggles of younger practitioners in today’s challenging times and benchmark the improvements from our systems.

ID: What are the obvious (and perhaps the not so obvious) differences between a university dental school environment and a private institute environment such as yours?

JK: My current faculty position at the University of Washington does not involve any administrative responsibilities; therefore, my comments would be speculative at best. I view the role of a dental school as creating core competencies, but they are still entry-level skills. Therefore, our major differences are because we are inherently very different. I see my role as creating continuous improvement for dentists already in practice. This environment is changing so fast, it is harder for dental schools to keep up.

ID: With so many changes in technology coming to every aspect of dentistry, what in your opinion are the most impactful for practitioners as well as for patients in terms of providing better treatment options and more predictable outcomes?

JK: In many respects the changes in technology represent “disruptive innovation” that may not always be better. It depends, of course, on how we frame the concept of better. When technology can help create more predictable outcomes, more cost effectively, then dental healthcare becomes more affordable and we can help more patients. Everyone wins in this scenario.

The real problem is that the changes are happening so quickly and we have fewer expert clinicians to learn from. This is why we incorporated our own research center without any commercial support and depend more heavily on a precalibrated user group. The real challenge here is continuing to grow our understanding because information is traveling at the speed of thought and it is not all correct. Our own Research Center, under the direction of Dr. Yada Chaiyabutr, has added another unique component. Her background has enabled us to provide targeted research that directly impacts daily practice. In addition, the Research Center does not have commercial financial support, which makes it much easier to avoid any conflict of interest and publish in refereed journals.

ID: Which technologies have had the biggest impact on your institution in terms of how and what you teach?

JK: Technologies that provide better diagnostic metrics provide the biggest impact with what I teach. This will reduce the emotionally or empirically driven decisions. For example, scanning technology can provide a comparative evaluation of tooth wear from one appointment to another. Explaining to a patient they have lost 29% of their tooth structure will provide more meaningful communication than just telling them their teeth are “wearing down.” Telling them that their teeth changed 3% in 1 year will be more influential than saying their teeth look a little shorter. It is often our lack of clear, objective data that allows one dentist to determine treatment needs that another dentist would judge to be inappropriate. All of our clinical decisions must begin by determining each patient’s risk for future disease, even before they have expressed it. This paradigm shift is based on the need for a wellness evaluation, not a reparative model. The technologies that have the biggest impact are those that lead to “precision medicine” that will create a more predictable dental healthcare model.

ID: Tell us about the typical dentist-student at the Kois Center. What do you think they have in common? What do they leave there with that they didn’t have coming in? Who is an ideal candidate for the center?

JK: That is easy. They really care about their patients and want to be proud of the treatment. In a nutshell, it is about caring, commitment to excellence, pride, making a living, and making a difference for humanity.

Source: Inside Dentistry

Nutrition

Good nutrition plays a large role in your dental health.

Brushing and flossing help to keep your teeth and gums healthy and strong however a balanced diet will help to boost your bodies immune system, leaving you less vulnerable to oral disease.

How often and what you eat have been found to affect your dental health. Eating starchy foods such as crackers, bread, cookies and candy causes the bacteria in your mouth feed on them, they then produce acids, which attack your teeth for up to 20 minutes or more. Also foods that stick to your teeth or are slow to dissolve give the acids more time to work on destroying your tooth enamel.

Starchy foods:

Crackers
Breads
Cookies
Candy

Sticky/slow to dissolve foods:

Granola bars
Chewy fruit snacks
Dried fruit
Potato chips
Hard candy

Sticky and starchy foods create less acid when eaten as part of a meal. Saliva production increases at mealtime, rinsing away food particles and neutralizing harmful acids.

Foods such as nuts, cheese, onions, and some teas have been shown to slow growth of decay- causing bacteria in the mouth.

For more information visit our webstie at www.drsamromano.com