Welcome to the Cosmetic and Implant Dental Center

By Peg Ashbrock

It looked like an artist's studio the day I walked into the dental laboratory at the Cosmetic and Implant Dental Center (CID) offices. There were so many tiny bottles of colored pigment lining the shelves, fine brushes and artists tool lining the shelves that I thought I was in an artist's design studio. And that's really what it was, although the material wasn't canvas or clay, it was porcelain; the porcelain that lab technicians use to fashion teeth.

Tom Schilling, one of 4 dental laboratory technicians with CID, has spent over 20 years fashioning teeth, porcelain veneers and crowns from his well-stocked office. He spends his days steps away from the patient offices next door, ready at a moments notice to help the dentists and patients complete a better fit and achieve a more beautiful smile.

According to Dr. Greg Sherman of CID "Our office is one of the few that has an in-house dental lab. It provides many advantages to our patients, both in convenience and fit. Going to the dentist for major work often takes a lot of time that busy people don't have. With an in-house dental laboratory, our patients can come to one office and get it all done, usually faster and with more satisfaction."

Space Age Technology

Technology from the aerospace industry drives dental advances just like in other industries. "We're always working on advanced materials," according to Schilling. "We keep up with the state-of-the-art technology and continuing education because it benefits the patients."

One of the recent advances in dentistry is the new Procera equipment. "It's cad-cam technology brought to dentistry," Schilling explained. "On this machine we place a mold from a patient's mouth; the machine will take up to 30,000 different readings and make a crown that fits, and it will fit perfectly. It's pretty impressive stuff and we're the only in-house lab in the area to use this system."

At CID, the technicians make the tooth substructures out of precious materials like platinum and gold. "We also use precious alloys," according to Dr. Sherman. "We use a high noble alloy which is more compatible with the gum and more bio-compatible with the tissue and the bones than non-precious alloys such as nickel or beryllium. The results are picture perfect."

Years of Experience

Technicians, many who have worked at CID for 20 years or more, are often called into a patient consultation to help them pick a shade to match tooth color. It's not uncommon for them to be there with the dentist to help when they fit a crown. Technicians at CID also troubleshoot, and provide patient consultations to help patients with their ideas and meet expectations.

Schilling's favorite story is about an older patient of Dr. Jack Hahn's who used his retirement money to have implants and full mouth reconstruction done. "When the day came to put the teeth in, we put them in, gave him the mirror and he started crying. We were perplexed because this was a really good fit and we knew we had done a good job. The patient looked up at Dr. Hahn, and said his new mouth made him so happy because he could see his mother's smile in his face. That was 10 years ago; I saw him recently and he's still talking about how much fun he had having this done."