Dr Romano's Blog

SEDATION DENTISTRY/Serving Morris County NJ

Understanding Dental Phobias
First of all, you need to understand that dental phobia is very common among a lot of people. The main cause of triggers of dental phobia may be the fear of shots, hearing and fearing dental drill, and also the typical cold atmosphere that people would normally experience inside the dental practice. Other triggers are strong gag reflex, difficulty in becoming numb, previous traumatic experience during dental treatment, and sensitive teeth.

If you are interested in our Sedation Dentistry services, please contact Dr. Romano and his team today in Madison, NJ and schedule a consultation.

ORAL DNA

As you may be aware, the past 10 years have provided much insight into what has come to be called… “The Oral / Systemic Connection”. There does appear to be a link to chronic inflammatory periodontal infections and systemic diseases such as:

•Heart disease
•Diabetes
•Stroke
•Some forms of cancer and other diseases
The National Institute of Health (NIH) and other research facilities are aggressively pursuing this link as well. For More information regarding the Oral/Systemic Connection, visit the following links online:

•National Institutes of Health: nha.gov
•American Dental Association: ada.org
•Academy of Periodontology: perio.org
•American Dental Hygienists’ Association: adha.org
As we continue to learn more about the severity of periodontal infections and how closely linked they are to your overall health, having detailed information about your genetic susceptibility (MyPerioID® PST®) and the bacteria that are present in our mouth (MyPerioPath®) will be critical in determining your oral and overall general health.

To find our more about oral DNA contact Dr. Sam Romano in Madison, New Jersey, or visit our website at drsamromano.com

“Give Kids A Smile” Day

Our “Give Kids A Smile” Day was a huge success! I could not have done it without all the wonderful support from my staff. Thank you Lorraine, Kay, Terry, Jackie, Desiree, and Jacqui. I am so proud of all of you and I congratulate all of you for your excellent support and service. As a result we were able to see a large number of children. I am so proud to have you all on my team. You are the best!!

I would also like to thank the many Madison supporters that donated goods and services to help make this day great! Staples, The Bagel Château, Stop and Shop, and CJ’s Deli. A special thanks to Simon Mandal for entertaining our waiting room children with his wonderful magic and balloon creations. I also want to thank Wal-Mart of Cedar Knolls, Colgate, Henry Shein, for their dental supply donations and Sehrish Iqbal for helping us in hygiene.

Special thanks to Mayor Mary-Anna Holden for coming out to our office and supporting our community for this wonderful cause.

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.

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

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.

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’

“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.

Sedation Dentistry can be for patients who are anxious about seeing the dentist

Sedation Dentistry is a service for patients who are anxious about their dental procedures, or have the common apprehension known as dental phobia. All too often patients are putting off getting the dental care they need due to panic and stress about seeing the dentist.
Today, however, patients can undergo sedation and actually sleep through their procedure, waking up to a new beautiful smile without enduring the nerves and anxiety they may have previously had. Sedation can be administered through the use of traditional modalities of inhalation (nitrous oxide or “laughing gas”) and IVs, such as those offering a “no needle” approach that many people find more appealing and less painful.

One of the major benefits of sedation dentistry is that people often feel like their dental procedure lasts only a few minutes, when in fact it might have taken two hours to perform. Therefore, complex dental procedures such as smile makeovers or extensive rebuilding procedures that normally require multiple visits can often be performed in fewer appointments.

If you are reluctant to change the appearance of your smile because you are afraid or anxious about undergoing long or complicated dental procedures, sleep dentistry can make you feel comfortable during the treatment process and help you achieve a smile you can be proud of.

Dr Sam Romano is a dentist in Madison, NJ providing sedation dentistry for patients with a fear of the dentist, have a strong gag reflex, or simply do not like the sound of drills or painful needles.
Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/dental-care-articles/sedation-dentistry-can-be-for-patients-who-are-anxious-about-seeing-the-dentist-2560551.html
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

Dental Implants

Dental implants have revolutionized dentistry and are now enabling people who would once only had the option of dentures, now have the opportunity to have permanent fixtures in their mouth, keeping their natural smile; longer.
Dental implants replace the form and function of missing teeth. Under local anesthetic, the dentist surgically places the implant into the jawbone and then left to heal for a couple of months. During this time the implant fuses to the bone by a process known as osseointegration.

Next there is a minor surgical exposure on the top of the implant, whereby the dentist will attach the post to the implant. The function of the post is to become the support for either one tooth or a set of teeth. This is a short procedure that usually requires only local anesthesia. The last phase is the restorative phase. The dentist will take impressions and then make a prosthesis that will attach to the implants. Once completed, your mouth will be restored and you will have the smile you have always dreamed about.

Various replacement options are possible:

Dental implants can be used to replace a single tooth, so that grinding down or altering adjacent teeth is no longer necessary.
Dental implants can be used as anchors to support a fixed bridge.
Dental implants can support loose teeth by being splinted to them.
Dental implants can support replacement teeth for an entirely toothless jaw
Dental implants can provide stability for a complete denture, thereby eliminating unsightly moving and clicking associated with dentures

CEREC Techology

Chairside Restoration of Esthetic Ceramics or CEREC technology can provide you with any number of porcelain restorations in minutes and reduces patient time spent in the dentist chair.
Currently patients who have fillings made of metal or other harsh material often feel uncomfortable smiling because the filling doesn’t match the color of the rest of their teeth. CEREC provides patients with the option of having your next dental restoration permanently corrected in just one visit to the dentist.

During a CEREC dental restoration, the patients teeth are examined to determine what treatment will best provide their needs and desires. If a CEREC restoration is recommended, the patients tooth is prepared for restoration and an optical impression of your tooth will be made. This high-resolution optical impression will be used to create a ceramic restoration that perfectly fits your tooth and matches the rest of your teeth.

In about 15 minutes, the CEREC milling machine will sculpt your ceramic restoration from a block of porcelain. Once the restoration has been tested for proper fit and so that it does not interfere with your bite, it is permanently bonded to the patients tooth. The end result is a ceramic restoration that looks and feels just like your natural teeth.

CEREC technology can be used to create:

Inlays
Onlays
Posterior Crowns
Anterior Crowns
Partial Crowns
Veneers

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