Patient & Health Centered Dentistry
Welcome to Our Office on the Web! We hope you enjoy our site. We have worked hard to make it professional, honest, informative, and entertaining.
Please browse through our website to find out about:
- Understanding Your Oral Health Choices
- Health Issues "In The News"
- Becoming A Member Of Our Health Care Family
If you have any questions or suggestions, we would like to hear from you. Just click on drmccann@michaelsmccanndds.com and send us an e-mail. We promise to respond.
Professional Services Provided
- Specializing in full mouth reconstruction
- Excellent with Geriatric Dentistry
- Experienced with General Family Dentistry
- Insurance issues
- Coaching start-up practices
- Establishing Dental Health Clinics
- Dental Equipment broker
- Dental Assistant School
- Oral Hygiene Program
- Caretakers of elderly
- Caretakers of mentally and physically impaired
- Educate caretakers on the basics of dental disease and hygiene for the loved ones they take care of.
Four Levels Of Dental Care
We understand that choosing a new dentist and dental health team can be a challenge, leaving you with some uncertain feelings. We are writing this to welcome you and to share more specifically our beliefs concerning the types of services we offer and why. Some time ago we wrote a mission statement which clarifies the purpose of our practice. Briefly stated it is this...
We believe each person has the right to become as healthy as they choose to be. Our desire is to engage each patient in the co-discovery and realization of their level of health, allowing for choices while providing comprehensive, quality care using up to date techniques, in a courteous and relaxed environment.
In short, our goal is to help you become as healthy as you choose to be. This is a major departure from the way in which I was trained. Instead of telling you how healthy you should be, I will help you understand your choices about dental health and let you make an informed choice regarding health and treatment needs.
Your first decision in this regard is how you would like to begin your relationship with us. There are FOUR LEVELS of which people may choose to be treated in our practice.
LEVEL 1 - Urgent or Emergency Care
People in crisis or with an emergency or accident need immediate help. We see emergencies immediately, whenever possible. We maintain a 24hour answering service and are ready and willing to help with urgent problems. This is not the primary focus of our practice. We are happy to see emergencies and do not maintain patients in a long-term emergency or crisis-only status. No planning is given to any aspect of treatment during emergencies. Anyone can have an emergency. This is the most difficult level of care as there is no opportunity to create a short or long term treatment plan.
LEVEL 2 - Remedial or Repair Oriented Care
Patients who choose this level of care desire treatment only when something breaks or becomes uncomfortable. Generally, patients at this level prefer short-term cursory types of examinations, merely screening for more obvious advanced problems. They usually want to correct immediate problems with as little effort and cost as possible. Folks at this level are not yet ready for either thorough or preventive treatment. They live by the adage, “let’s do as little today as possible and let tomorrow take care of itself” or “only fix what is broken.” This is repair-oriented dentistry. This type of dentistry is limited to fixing teeth with no long-term goals and therefore does not prevent disease at any significant level. If prevention is brought into effect here, it is lip service only.
LEVEL 3 - Maintenance Care
People who choose this level of care want to take an active part in the prevention of present and future disease problems, and choose repair solutions that are more short range in duration. Usually a 2-5 year reparative or corrective treatment, knowing full well that the dental treatment performed today will have to be repeated again in the near future. This level of patient participates in dedicated preventive efforts to prevent problems in the future and takes care of today’s needs in less than an optimum manner. This type of dentistry is good in most instances and includes a rigorous preventive program for decay and periodontal disease. It does not take into consideration maximum protection and preservation of natural teeth.
LEVEL 4 - Optimum Care or Fine Dentistry and True Prevention
Patients at this level are similar to patients described in Level 3. They choose to have comprehensive examination and MASTER PLANNING and formulate a long-term treatment plan for health and repair to achieve a future based on choice not chance. Unlike the Maintenance Care Patient, these patients are ready to start treatment. These patients are very concerned about treating the causes of dental disease, not simply the effects, and want all treatment provided to be completed in the most lasting fashion possible. This type of care has as its goal, maximum health, function and protection of natural teeth. This level of care is for those patients who have an extremely high value for their oral wellness which is not simply the lack of signs or symptoms of disease but an overall feeling of well-being. This type of dentistry is beyond mere survival...it is for those who seek to thrive.
We hope this clarification makes sense to you. It is not uncommon for people to begin at one level and progress to a higher level over time. All insurance plans, capitation plans, HMO plans and government plans focus on URGENT CARE (Crisis Care) and REMEDIAL CARE, both of which, in our judgment, are not preventive in nature. They treat symptoms but rarely is the effort of the INSURANCE SYSTEM or the people involved in the system to prevent disease from occurring, or if it has occurred, to treat the problem in an Optimum manner.
Please be comfortable in asking us any questions that come to mind. We want you to share your thoughts and ideas with us in an open, comfortable manner. When communication and concern for each other’s welfare is high, successful results are more likely to occur.
Yours for better health,
Michael S. McCann, D.D.S
Click here to contact drmccann@michaelsmccanndds.com
|
