NO TAX ON COSMETIC DENTISTRY PROCEDURES

Beautiful Cosmetic Dentistry.

Cosmetic Dentistry Tax Did Not Pass In Washington State

Washington State recently proposed a sales tax on all cosmetic procedures. While this proposed tax would have mainly impacted medical doctors, it had serious implications for all family dentists in Washington State. The implementation of a retail sales tax on "cosmetic dentistry" procedures would have had terribly bad effects for patients. It would have put general Bellevue Dentists in the position of being tax experts by having to determine what would be taxable "cosmetic dental" procedures and what would not be a taxable "general dentistry" procedure. This would have been a nice cash cow the state legislators, but would have made nightmare situation for the average dentist to make such a determination. Insurance companies might begin listing many procedures as cosmetic so that they would not have pay the doctor or dentist.

Cosmetic Dentistry Tax Would Hurt Patients

The legislative bill as it was written to tax "cosmetic medical services", lacked clear language about what was or was not a medically necessary service to be taxed. If it was enacted, both family dentists and cosmetic dentists would have had the liability for the legal determinations of what was and wasn't a "cosmetic dentistry" procedure. These determinations could have been subject to audits and challenges by insurance companies, the State of Washington, and the IRS. Tax determinations should not be the job of health care providers.

Additionally, there would have been wide variations in what each individual dentist determines to be or not to be a "cosmetic dentist" service. This variation would most likely vary between various cities and counties depending upon the patient make up of individual dentists. In some cases, it may cause people to put off needed work because their dentist has determined that the work MIGHT BE considered cosmetic and it would therefore be taxable and increase the patient's bill. One example of this would be a person that is in an accident that breaks off part of a front tooth--it needs to be fixed for proper function, but it also has a cosmetic aspect in terms of appearance. Does that person get unfairly taxed for fixing that front tooth?? How about a person that has a decayed tooth extracted and now needs a new bridge or an implant to keep the teeth properly spaced for optimum function--it obviously has a cosmetic aspect also. Does that
person get unfairly taxed for maintaining proper tooth space and proper dental function?? The list of needed dental procedures that might be considered "cosmetic dental services" in various situations is very long. Would the need of more state money in subsequent years lead to the state legislature or state auditors increasing the number and types of general dental procedures or necessary dentistry services that fall into the cosmetic arena?? It could have happened if the tax had passed. The sponsor of similar legislation enacted in New Jersey in 2004 is at this writing attempting to have the "cosmetic tax" repealed, because it is unworkable.

BELLEVUE DENTIST HAS STRONG DENTAL HYGIENE DEMAND BUT NOTES DROP BY SOME DENTISTS

SOME DENTISTS ARE REDUCING THE AMOUNT OF DENTAL HYGIENE

Bellevue Dentists at Brookside Dental, Bellevue, WA, still have a strong demand for dental hygiene in their cosmetic dental spa. However, Dental Practice Marketing and Management Blog had a post by Julie Frey, February 9th, 2010, that stated One family dentist in three has cut their the working hours for their dental hygienists, because the slow economy is leaving less demand for dental hygiene services. Another 11% have reduced the number of dental hygienists they employ, and 5% have cut compensation.

How much hygienists are paid is an important decision for each dental office. "Upon doing a practice analysis, we found we overpaid our hygienist," said one dentist. "We paid out more in hourly wages plus benefits than we collected!" Another dentist stated, “Instead of any pay raises, we put our hygienists on a bonus system based on achieving a minimum daily production." “Hygiene is the fuel that feeds the fire," said one dentist in California. It is important to keep the hygiene recall system up to date and working well.

Although many dentists have indicated problems with keeping their hygiene schedules full, not all dentists are having similarly poor results with dental hygiene. Here’s more of what dentists have had to say about hygienists and appointments:

• "Hygiene at our office, which has a dentist and a prosthodontist, has remained strong throughout this economy. We are very thankful." (Ohio Dentist)
• “Our hygienist was paid salary and now she is paid hourly," said one doctor.
• “We have not cut hours, but we have worked very hard at activating past due patients, with good success.” (General dentist)
• “We have at least two cancellations in hygiene daily. Most tell us to reschedule later into the year. Others simply say they are not coming.” (Bermuda dentist)
• “Hygiene is the one aspect of the practice that hasn't shown lower numbers. I'm glad we instituted a good recall systems several years ago.” (Pennsylvania dentist)
• “We are seeing more no-shows, and some people are wanting to wait a year instead of 6 months for their next tooth cleaning.”
  
• "If things slow down more, I will cut my dental hygentist days or time and do the dental hygiene myself.” (New York dentist) New dentists usually do their own hygiene cleanings.
  
• “They (the hygienists) have to take on more responsibility.” (Massachusetts dentist)
• “We have a very periodontal oriented office. A lot of our patients that need three or four cleanings per year are switching themselves to twice a year for teeth cleaning. They only want what the dental insurance will cover.” (Utah dental office worker)
• “The gross receipts were down about 1% last year, but our profits were slightly up.” (Pennsylvania dentist)

These varying results probably have to do with the local economy and other related local situations. Therefore, it is hard to draw any broad brush conclusions except to say that dental hygiene appointments are being pushed farther out or cancelled in certain areas, but in some areas the demand is the same or even stronger.

BELLEVUE COSMETIC DENTISTRY FOR MEN

COSMETIC DENTISTRY WORKS FOR MEN THE SAME AS WOMEN

Men in general are able to acquire significantly attractive smiles with various Cosmetic Dentistry procedures. The men will have increased physical attractiveness resulting from Cosmetic Dental work, and most likely will become even more outgoing after altering or changing their smiles. Most likely their personal lives and work opportunities will improve. Often only a minor alteration, such as tooth whitening, needs to be done to improve a man's smile, while an extreme makeover can improve even an extremely poor appearing smile. This article shows several men and describes how their smiles were improved using Bellevue Cosmetic Dentistry.

Cosmetic work performed: Upper arch multiple Porcelain Veneers and lower arch Tooth Whitening Patient of Dr Cynthia Pauley, Brookside Dental, Bellevue, WA

This article departs from most articles with photos related to Cosmetic Dentistry, because it does not show any photographs of beautiful women. Cosmetic surgery, beauty, and nutrition advertisements are generally aimed at women. Thus Cosmetic Dentists resort to the same thing in their advertising and websites by displaying women with beautiful smiles. These stunning smiles are one of the first things seen by a person. Again, it is the beautiful and stunning smiles that are one of the initial attractions for men and one of the major influences on how attractive a face is perceived. Trade magazines in the dental field, also exhibit beautiful smiles on women for the most part.

These men are all patients of Dr Cindy Pauley and Dr Patricia Pauley, Brookside Dental, Bellevue, WA, that have had Cosmetic Dentistry completed within the last two years. They vary in age, but they all have very attractive smiles.

Cosmetic work performed: Upper arch multiple Porcelain Veneers and Crowns and lower arch Tooth Whitening Patient of Dr Cynthia Pauley, Brookside Dental, Bellevue, WA

Cosmetic work performed: Upper arch Porcelain Crowns on lateral anterior teeth and general Tooth Whitening Patient of Dr Patricia Pauley, Brookside Dental, Bellevue, WA

Recently, more and more men of all ages are having cosmetic surgery performed such as hair transplants, face lifts and tummy tucks. Like women, men also want to look handsome and more youthful. Not suprising, many men are having Cosmetic Dentistry performed in an effort to look better. Women and men both want to be more successful at work and in their personal life. It has been discussed that some surveys have indicated that attractive people have more success in life and business than other people.

Cosmetic work performed: Upper arch Multiple Porcelain Crowns and a Porcelain Crown on a Dental Implant to close a missing tooth space and lower arch Tooth Whitening Patient of Dr Patricia Pauley, Brookside Dental, Bellevue, WA

Cosmetic work performed: Upper arch central Porcelain Crowns, general Tooth Whitening, and lower arch Cosmetic Tooth Movement for midline alignment Patient of Dr Patricia Pauley, Brookside Dental, Bellevue, WA

As always, this information is not in any way meant to replace a visit and examination by your own dentist. However, if you do not currently have a dentist, you may contact Bellevue Dentists, Dr Patricia Pauley or Dr Cynthia Pauley, to set up a dental exam. Both cosmetic doctors can be contacted at info@brooksidedental.com in Bellevue, WA, and additional information may be viewed at their Bellevue Cosmetic Dentistry website.

BELLEVUE DENTIST SUMMARIZES NEW DENTAL ASSISTANT PROGRAM

BELLEVUE DENTIST SUMMARIZES THE EXPANDED FUNCTIONS DENTAL ASSISTANT (EFDA) PROGRAM IN WASHINGTON STATE

Washington State in 2008 put into effect the expanded functions dental assistant (EFDA) program at three locations: Seattle Central Community College, South Puget Sound Community College, and Spokane Community College. The program is designed to give dental assistants expanded abilities in the restorative dentistry arena. The Washington State Dental Association (WSDA) was instrumental in moving the program through the state legislature by making sure the program was well understood by both dentists and legislators. Two classes of EFDAs have graduated from Seattle Central CC. The program is modeled after similar programs in the Indian Health Services, the US Army and the US Navy, which for differing years have had thriving EFDA programs. These EFDA graduates are now doing expanded duties in restorative dentistry in many dental offices in Washington State. Our lead assistant at Brookside Dental, Bellevue, WA, who has been with us for 15 years, has applied to the EFDA program at Seattle Central CC and if accepted will complete the program in the summer of 2010.

Washington State has for many years allowed dental hygienists to do expanded functions in restorative dentistry. Advantages to having the new program for dental assistants are first that dental assistants generally work more directly associated with the dentists and are therefore more experienced in restorative work and second that the more highly paid and more specialized dental hygienists will continue to provide hygiene care which can not be provided by dental assistants in Washington State.

According to the WSDA, the US Army has a report on EFDAs that indicates that dentists that work with an EFDA provider are 40 percent more productive than their counterpart dentists working without an EFDA without any compromise in the quality of dental care delivered to the patients.

Although the end result is the same and should allow more people to have access to high quality dentistry, the route to graduation at the three schools is different. SCCC has their students do all of their hands-on clinical training on patients that come to the vocational schools’ clinic and follow that with a 20-24 hour externship at a community health clinic. The other two schools use private dentists under contract to teach individual students within the private practice offices during the regular day while seeing scheduled patients of record. Administrators at the different schools champion the method that they use as the better model. Ultimately all EFDA graduates must pass a state board examination to receive an EFDA credential.

It may be too early to determine if EFDAs will increase the access to care for people, but there appears to be some anecdotal evidence that they are helping to address a portion of that problem according to the WSDA. There is no doubt that the Indian Health Care model definitely provides increased access to care for those people served by those providers. At this time, the EFDAs are being trained in three metropolitan areas where dentists are not in short supply as they are in some of the smaller communities in the state. These smaller communities will need to be given the opportunity to have their dental assistants be able to enroll in some type of EFDA program in the future. Additional information regarding this program can be obtained at the SCCC EFDA program, email efda@sccd.ctc.edu, SPSCC EFDA program, email jmartin@spscc.ctc.edu, or at SCC EFDA program, email bmoneymaker@scc.spokane.edu.

BEAUTIFUL SMILES NOT AGE DEPENDENT

BEAUTIFUL SMILES ARE NOT AGE DEPENDENT



We recently read an article in the LVI Visions Magazine January-April 2010 Issue about a women who kept improving her smile through life. The entire article complete with photos can be seen in that issue on pages 38-42. In summary, the author had a long term patient he had acquired when he took over a dental practice. The women had custom whitening trays made to enhance her smile when she was 81 years old in 1989. In 1992, she became concerned about the spaces between her teeth and she wanted those spaces closed. So at age 84, the dentist fixed all of the spaces between her teeth with direct resin bonding. These lasted until recently when she turned 100 years old and the resin wear and stain had been fixed several times when she made her regular hygiene visits. At this time, the dentist did porcelain veneers on her upper teeth, numbers 6-10. She became one of the oldest if not the oldest person to receive a beautiful new smile using porcelain veneers. The photos of the work are great and the lady has a gorgious smile that makes her look many years younger than she is. We have given many new smiles using Seattle Porcelain Veneers, but we have never given a new smile to anyone at the age of 100 years old. We look forward to that event in our future.

Direct resin bonding is a technique that we use in our Bellevue Cosmetic Dentistry in many situations to fix chipped teeth and to close diastema spaces. Bonding as a restorative mechanism to fix teeth is very effective method of giving people attractive smiles without the expense of porcelain veneers. Bellevue Dental Veneers are able to change anyone's unattractive smile into a beautiful work of art that will be the ultimate beauty accessory. The beautiful smile that can be attained by any of these techniques is truely amazing but is commonly done with today's modern Bellevue Dentist Techniques.

DENTISTRY, CUCUMBERS AND ORAL HEALTH

COSMETIC DENTISTRY AND CUCUMBERS CAN THEY WORK TOGETHER FOR BETTER ORAL HEALTH AND A BETTER SMILE

Cucumbers for a better smile! Really, you ask. Well why not! According to some information that I read recently in a news letter, the power of the cucumber as a beauty aid is well known. It has recently been elevated to the status of a super food. Cucumbers are loaded with vitamins and anti-oxidants and all of the good carbohydrates that a body needs. You are probably wondering if you have any of these beauty and tooth aides in your refrigerator at the present time. Before you say that they can't possibly good for my teeth, yet me tell you all the things and ways that they can be used.

They originated in India and have been cultivated for thousands of years. People have used them in salads, eaten them raw and have turned them into pickles. They have been used for a variety of things besides just eating. So, did you know that:

1. Cucumbers contain many of the vitamins and minerals that you need each day, including B1, B2, B5, B6, C, Folic Acid, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorous, Potassium and Zinc.

2. Cucumbers provide a quick pick me up and nutritious snack with all of their vitamin B and good Carbohydrates.

3. Cucumbers slices can be used to give your bathroom a spa-like fragrance and it can eliminate the fog on bathroom mirrors when rubbed on them.

4. Cucumber slices have phytochemicals that cause the skin to tighten. They can be rubbed along some wrinkles to help give an instant lift to your skin, although the effect is not long term.

5. Many people use cucumber slices over their eyes to help enhance the beauty of their eyes.

6. A few cucumber slices eaten before going to bed should allow you to wake up refreshed.

7. Boiled cucumbers can make a pleasant steam spa because the nutrients in the steam are soothing and relieve mild stress.

8. Cucumbers when eaten can freshen the breath and kill some oral bacteria.

Upon reading this in the news letter, I thought if the last item is true that cucumbers when eaten can freshen the breath and kill some oral bacteria, then they most likely have some beneficial effect upon your teeth. If that is the case then they probably are able to help enhance a person's smile. I found this interesting information so I thought I would pass it along.

BELLEVUE DENTIST HAPPY WITH ABOUT.COM

BELLEVUE COSMETIC DENTIST HAS BLOG INFORMATION ON ABOUT.COM BRAGGING BOARD



Bellevue Cosmetic Dentists have been a big fan and follower of Susan Gunelius' Web blogs on About.com, so when she offered to let people post about their Blogger.com blogs on an About.com Blogger Design Bragging Board, we jumped at the opportunity. What a fantastic way to get exposure for our new Bellevue Cosmetic Dentistry Blog that we started this last year on such a high class blog. In our post at the About.com Bragging Board, we were able to discuss why we choose to construct our relatively new Cosmetic Dentistry Blog the way we had done it.

ACTUAL PATIENT OF BELLEVUE COSMETIC DENTISTS

One of the major reasons that we, as Bellevue Cosmetic Dentists, choose the Blogger Design that we did was to be able to use a dark black background, which really helps to highlight and exhibit the features of the Cosmetic Dentistry that is done in our Brookside Dental Office in Bellevue, WA. This black background is especially good when we are showing close up before and after photos of Cosmetic Dentistry Procedures, such as porcelain veneers. A wide variety of other before and after Bellevue Cosmetic Dental Procedures photographs also can be demonstrated extremely well against this black background. Among these cosmetic dental items that change ordinary smiles into beautiful smiles are cosmetic tooth adjustments, laser gum surgery, tooth-colored composite fillings, tooth whitening, dental crowns, and beautiful extreme smile makeovers. With these procedures we are able to construct and create beautiful new smiles. These new smile creations can be obtained when teeth are stained, chipped, cracked, broken, or even missing. In some cases a single technique will change the smile, such as a series of new porcelain veneers. However, in other cases several techniques must be combined to obtain the desired beautiful new smile creation, such as tooth whitening, dental implants with crowns, and gum surgery. Although we concentrate our overall efforts on these cosmetic dentistry procedures, we believe in taking care of the total oral health of our patients. Therefore, we are dedicated to good oral hygiene and family dentistry. However, there are several procedures that we refer out to dental specialists. For example, we refer out all extractions and endodontic (root canal) work. That way our patients know that as Bellevue Dentists we are devoted to delivering the highest quality Cosmetic Dentistry available.