“Ahhh. That’s wonderful”: words not often heard from someone in a dentist’s chair.
But as Dr. Donald J. Provenzale lay back in position to open wide, he looked as if he was thoroughly enjoying the experience. Of course, it was only temporary, and the drill and forceps were a safe distance from his mouth–about 50 yards in fact, on another exhibitor’s table.
What’s more, he himself is a dentist, which gives him a built-in ease around a convention hall full of equipment that might set the average person’s teeth on edge.
But such is the gap that separates those who can spend four days absorbed by cutting-edge minutiae about crowns, intra-oral cameras and curing lights and those who wish simply to scoot in and out of a dentist’s chair as quickly and painlessly as possible.
Provenzale, a dentist from Downers Grove, was one of about 32,000 dental professionals in Chicago this weekend to try out dental equipment, learn about new technology and discuss the future of dentistry at the Chicago Dental Society’s 134th midwinter meeting at McCormick Place.
On hand was a plentiful supply of whimsical dental novelties: tooth-shaped erasers, bicuspid-topped golf tees (cavi-tees, of course), a 1-pound chocolate tooth, packages of crooked and stained false teeth (for the orthojokester in the office), tooth trophies, tooth mugs and tooth jewelry.
The real appeal, however, was the chance to test new equipment like chairs, magnifying glasses, spittoons and new procedures like air-abrasion systems and digital X-rays that dentists say will give patients a less traumatic, if not exactly wonderful, experience.
“When a patient is comfortable, I am comfortable,” Provenzale said.
Dentists were once considered the construction workers of the medical profession–drilling, filling and patching teeth like so many bumps and potholes.
“Now we are educators,” said Michael Shen, a third-year dental student at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
“In the past it was more like, `It hurts, fix it,’ ” said Peter Gallos, a fellow UIC student busy filling plastic bags with free convention goodies. “Now it is integrated into medical care. It is mixing the art of repairing with medicine.”
Dentists today, as many of them will tell you, regard themselves as the gatekeepers of the body.
“It is being acknowledged more and more that the mouth is the gateway to the body and the beginning of the digestive system,” said Dr. Mary J. Hayes, who runs a practice in pediatric dentistry in Chicago. “You end up having your basic overall health dependent on your mouth.”
Dentists can evaluate dietary habits and even spot diabetes and some types of cancer by examining the mouth. And, she added, the science of dentistry is focusing less on teeth and more on genetics and, well, spit.
“Spit is important,” she explained, because it can either help protect from or, if there isn’t enough of it, contribute to infection.
“They are looking to see if it has to do with your ability to produce antibodies that would come out in your saliva to prevent decay,” she said.
Cavities, of course, are simply less of an oral issue for dentists today.
Fluoridated water and the use of sealants have led to a decline in cavities among young people. Today, about 55 percent of children ages 5 to 17 in the U.S. have no cavities in their permanent teeth, according to statistics from the National Institute of Dental Research. In 1974, that figure was 26 percent.
“Our assumption now is that we will keep our teeth,” Hayes said. “It used to be the assumption that you would have dentures.”
Though many dentists admit to a tremor of concern over their professional future, Provenzale, who has been in the business for more than 30 years, said the future is bright.
Today, the focus is on prevention and, with the aging of Baby Boomers who want to keep their youthful smiles, cosmetic dentistry. New and stronger materials allow dentists to more naturally replace missing and damaged teeth.
Tooth implants, for example, are in some cases making bridges and dentures obsolete, Provenzale said.
“I was told I couldn’t do this by my professors, and I’m doing it every day,” he said. “Not that I’m saying I’m better than the Lord, but a lot of times we are able to improve on Mother Nature. I can’t wait to see what we are going to be able to do tomorrow.”
Some, however, insist that nothing can beat the strength of the old standbys, gold and silver.
“We still have gold,” said Shirlee Walker, a sales representative with Ney Dental Inc., a company that sells alloys for fillings and crowns, opening her mouth to show a glistening row of gold on her lower left molars.
Even the most feared artifact of the dental trade, the drill, is slowly being replaced for some procedures by air-abrasion systems, which blast tooth decay with micro-particles, making for a less invasive and less painful experience. The system is becoming more affordable–models range from $1,000 to $20,000–and many agree that within the next 5 to 10 years most practices will use it.
Stacey Patton would shed no tears over the demise of the drill.
“The drill, the thought of that drill, the sound it makes,” Patton, 30, said, cringing, after pausing from a stroll near Water Tower Place one recent morning.
About 32 million Americans still say they are very afraid of the dentist, said Chris Smith, spokesman for the Chicago Dental Society. About 10 million to 12 million of those can be classified as “true dental phobics. They will not seek dental care,” he said.
Dan Chiodetti’s exhibit table at the weekend convention would put a dental phobic over the edge.
Hundreds of silver instruments, from sharp picks to forceps so sturdy you can almost hear the crack of wisdom tooth extracted from bone, lay gleaming on a bed of red velvet in front of Chiodetti.
“It’s like `Marathon Man’ all over again, isn’t it?” he said with a laugh, referring to the 1976 thriller featuring Laurence Olivier as a sadistic dentist.
At this convention, there was even dental art, a term some might consider oxymoronic. Ron Wicks, an artist from Austin, Texas, who works under the name Ronadro, was exhibiting porcelain figurines and bronze sculptures depicting the profession. He said he created the statues to project a gentler image.
“Most often the art pieces you would see were the type that showed the dentist with his knee in the chest of the patient pulling on a tooth,” Wicks said. “I never show pain in my pieces because that’s not what dentistry is about.”
Negative attitudes are changing, however, say those in the field.
“We are seeing more kids who think it’s fun to come in,” said Sabrina Bauer, a hygienist who works in a dental practice in Naperville.
“I think you will have some of the kids growing up now who have had, I won’t say pleasant experiences, but comfortable ones,” said UIC student Gallos.
