Begin with the end in mind.
It doesn't matter whether your goal is long-term health or a beautiful new smile; to be effective, we must understand the current condition of your teeth and gums, how they got to be the way they are, and where we want to end up. We diagnose your condition - a finding of fact. You define the goal. Together we develop a plan.
Your First Visit
In our office, the first visit is almost always for a complete examination, with appropriate x-rays, to determine the condition of your teeth and gums. This visit gives us an opportunity to get to know you, to evaluate your medical and dental condition, to help you understand the findings of our examination, to answer questions and to decide what treatment is appropriate for you.
Exceptions to this first visit, generally fall into one of the following three situations:
Patients who know they need or want complex or cosmetic dental treatment, occasionally want to interview and meet Dr. Chyz prior to scheduling an examination. In this situation a meet and greet consultation can be scheduled.
Dental emergencies/urgencies may be evaluated and treated or referred with an evaluation of the specific problem.
A patient who is new to town and had been on a periodontal therapy schedule wants to stay on schedule. In these situations, we agree to schedule the periodontal maintenance visit with the full examination.
For Complex/Cosmetic Treatment
For complex/cosmetic treatment we have some additional steps that we rely upon to ensure that we are able to meet or exceed your long-term expectations. With this in mind, we believe in a four step approach to having cosmetic treatment (for someone who simply wants whiter teeth, this process is simplified and some patients go straight to step two):
For conditions that may require more than simple bleaching and a dental prophylaxis, we schedule a visit to take digital photos and models of the teeth, to be mounted to a jaw simulator (dental articulator) for study and possible mock-up.
A consultation visit follows. Patient photos and simulated (imaged) new smiles are used to help define the patient's desired final result. At this visit our goal is to form a "vision of the end". Once we have a common vision, Dr. Chyz can finalize a treatment plan that will achieve the desired result.
Once we have agreed on our plan of treatment, we begin.
Complex treatment almost always involves treatment with one or more of the specialists in our multi-disciplinary treatment team. We refer to the best of the best for Periodontal treatment and Implant placement, Orthodontic treatment (braces or invisalign), Endodontic (root canal) problems and Oral surgery. Many of the examples in our Smile Gallery could not have been successfully achieved without the participation of our team of specialists.