Westchester Oral Surgery January 2019

Westchester Oral Surgery January 2019

2975 Westchester Avenue, Suite G02, Purchase, NY 10577

• www.oralsurgeryofwestchester.com

How Do We Face Life’s Challenges? CHAPTER ONE

At the end of my second year at Columbia Dental School, I started an elective externship at Mount Sinai Hospital with the Oral Surgery team. It was an operating room day, and the residents were going to fix a man’s broken jaw. After scrubbing in, which I had never done before, I entered the operating room. The roomwas foreign and a little intimidating, but “Carolina on My Mind” by James Taylor was playing. There was something about seeing an amazing surgery performed coupled with the music that got me hooked. I knew then that this was what I wanted to do. SOME OF THE BIGGEST CHAPTERS IN MY LIFE INVOLVE “

Thankfully, it all turned out well in the end. Today, both my girls are happy and healthy. My wife and I have welcomed two more children into our lives since then. Juggling my responsibilities of being a father of four and running two practices can be challenging, but it’s a challenge I’m happy to have. My family means the world to me, and after a long day at work, there’s nothing I love more than coming home to spend time with them. This isn’t to say I regret those long days at work. I love running a practice with my partner, Dr. Graffeo. After being an associate for a few years, learning surgery and the business side of dentistry, I felt it was time to start a practice. When I met Michael, I knew I’d found a partner to help make that dream a reality. It was an overwhelming mix of excitement and nerves as we set out on our own. There were obstacles we didn’t see coming, but we didn’t give up. When Michael and I started our second practice, the learning curve was not quite as steep. We knew the ropes by then, and things were certainly much smoother. That being said, adding a second practice requires a tremendous work and time commitment. Definitely worth it though. Life is an ongoing journey, and each new chapter brings changes that can help us grow, as long as we are willing to face those changes head-on. No matter what the new year brings, what chapters start and end, it’s important to put our heart and soul into what we do and always strive to learn and improve. Nothing in life worth having ever comes easy. It’s only through strength and persistence that we can make each chapter in life worthwhile. –Dr. Harrison Linsky Westchester Office • 914-251-0313

The new year is a time of beginnings, and I’ve been reflecting a lot on the many new chapters I’ve experienced in life. There are times when you don’t realize you’re at the start of something huge until much later. When I first walked into

BECOMING A DAD AND STARTING MY OWN PRACTICE.

the operating room at Mount Sinai, I didn’t realize it would be the start of my career as an Oral Surgeon. But most of the time, when you are starting a new chapter in life, you can feel it. Something shifts, and there’s no going back. You can only march forward and rise to the challenges as they come. Some of the biggest chapters in my life involve becoming a dad and starting my own practice. The first few days of parenthood were trying, to say the least. No number of parenting books or courses could have prepared me for what my wife and I had to deal with right out of the gate. My firstborn children are identical twin girls, a challenge in and of itself, but they were also born prematurely. At first everything was great, but a few days later, one of my girls became sick. She ended up spending seven weeks in the neonatal ICU while our other daughter came home. It was a rough couple of months as we worried about our little girl and split our time between our new babies.

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Technology That Continues to Advance Dentistry

Lasers Laser technology is quickly becoming one of the more popular trends in dentistry. Laser instruments can perform a variety of treatments, including removing tumors, filling cavities, and eliminating bacteria, all without causing the patient any discomfort. many industries function, and they have the potential to change the dental field forever. Inlay, veneer, crown, and tooth replacement materials are currently being researched and developed to take advantage of this emerging technology. Artificial Intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is used in the dental field to reduce the amount of time and energy Early humans likely only flossed to dislodge food from between their teeth. Flossing wouldn’t been seen as a necessary part of dental care until the early 1800s. Dr. Levi Spear Parmly, a dentist from NewOrleans, is credited with introducing modern dental floss. In his 1819 book, “A Practical Guide to the Management of Teeth,” Dr. Parmly recommended brushing twice a day and flossing once every day. Dental floss had yet to be invented, and Dr. Parmly encouraged his patients to clean between their teeth with waxed silken thread, a type of tailoring thread that was readily available. Manufacturers wouldn’t begin selling silk thread to be used as dental floss until 1882 when the Codman and Shurtleff Company began to mass produce unwaxed silk floss. In 1898, Johnson & Johnson patented dental floss and began to produce different waxed and unwaxed flosses. Silk would remain the most common type of 3D Printing 3D printers are revolutionizing the way

As technology advances each year, dental care becomes more efficient. These new methods of dentistry provide more comfortable treatments for patients and increased organization for doctors. Here are a few of the latest technological advances to hit the dental care industry. Emotional Dentistry Some people would rather do anything than go to the dentist. However, emotional dentistry is trying to change that by allowing people to feel more confident about dental treatment through Digital Smile Design. How it works is that dentists generate a virtual mockup of what the patient’s smile will look like after treatment. Seeing these images provokes an emotional response in patients that increases their self-confidence and motivates them to stick with their dental care plans. Why is it so difficult to convince patients to floss their teeth regularly? Most patients are pretty consistent when it comes to brushing twice a day, but ask them to floss just once and they dig their heels in. Don’t take it personally if your patients won’t take your flossing advice. Looking back at the history of dental floss, there’s a good chance that dentists have been having this struggle for a long time. At numerous prehistoric sites, archeologists have found small, sharpened sticks they believe early humans used for interdental cleaning. A number of ancient skeletons have been found with grooves worn in between their teeth, suggesting our ancient ancestors were using floss and toothpicks fairly regularly. Since waxed nylon wouldn’t come along for another fewmillennia, most anthropologists believe horsehair was used as the first dental floss.

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