Pain free laser dentistry

Last week I had a patient who needed cosmetic fillings on her two front teeth. Using the self anestitizing feature of the laser, the patient was in complete comfort. Upon reviewing the before and after photos, I was in amazement by how large the cavity was and that the patient had been taking a nap through the entire procedure. She walked out very happy with her new smile and not to mention that her whole face was not numb. We are seeing a lot of this when we use the laser. It provides good anesthesia for patients who have not let their teeth get overly sensitive before they seek treatment. If a tooth is already sensitive to hot and cold, sometimes we have to give normal local anesthesia. Patients who keep up with their routine hygiene appointments have another advantage, if we catch it early we are golden with the laser...
It is not universal, some patients that are apprehensive about treatment might also require the regular use of anesthesia as well as the laser. However, some of those patients do better with the laser because it doesn't have the old sound and sensation of the drill that created so much anxiety in the past!

The New Year

Hello all, I sit here looking out at our first snow. What a beautiful morning, great day to get out and play! Hope this letter finds you all well and ready for the up coming holiday season. Leslie, Perran, Mia and I are off to Boiling Brooke Farm to get our tree and play in the snow. I have to take a day off from the weekend surf once in a while, besides Ron’s report over at Kennebunk Surf and Skate says it will be small.


Lots have been happening here in the office if you have not been in a while. We have our five year anniversary coming up on the 27th of December. To think it has been five years already, it still feels like yesterday cleaning up the outside of the office house and painting it red so you could see it from the road. Mia was born and came home to the office while we were still living there; and now she is 4 this week. It is going by very fast and I am enjoying being your dentist!
Well, enough with all that. We have a lot to talk about. The staff has all been working real hard to make your life at the dentist a lot easier! And yes we are taking away almost all the excuses you have for not coming and seeing us regularly! The first one is perhaps the most exciting one.


Who likes needles? Not me, as you all know I am as big as a baby as they come. That’s why I go so slowly to try and make easier for you all. Well, we got a new laser and with it we will be able to more and more fillings with a lot less shots!! I did some real big fillings this last week and was happily surprised by the little to no anesthesia we had to use. It will not work for everything, but most routine fillings do not need needles anymore! How about that for a holiday gift, your running out of excuses to come see me!
Next up is a new video camera that takes images of you teeth that is then sent to a lab that makes molds and crowns and whitening trays or what ever else we need for your teeth! No more goopy impressions! How about that for patients who tend to gag on the old impressions?!! This imaging device can measure the wear on your teeth over time and we can study how much you lose and can now figure out if you are doing it today or in the past! It is a really amazing piece of equipment. One less reason to avoid coming to see us…
Todd has been up front working to make your appointments easier with the on line stuff and I hope you have had a chance to check out some of the updates we are making on the website. Confirmations via texts and e-mails and all that stuff seems to be going well for those of you who wanted to get information that way and thanks to Todd that is working great. He is also working hard with the patients who still have benefits left this year to get them scheduled so if you are one of them call him as soon as you can while there is still time!
Brooke is in her new home, she and her husband Mark will probably take it easy for a few days. He did most of the building, and Brooke has been painting non stop to try and get in before the holidays! We wish them well.
Kim is settling in well and enjoying the video camera for impressions. It is a lot like a video game and I see her smiling a lot more. It might also be that she does not have to pour and trim all the models anymore? Either way life seems good for all here at the little red house.


From all of us, we wish you the best and hope your new year is exciting, challenging and fun! I know one thing; with all these new toys we will make it fun when you come visit us in the New Year!

First Blog

Good evening all,
I am setting up this blog for patients of Trentalange Family Dentistry. This will hopefully be a place where our patients can have there questions answered and see what others have asked in the past. It can be a forum to help understand oral health and what that means for each individual patient. Please do not post specifics about your particular case or anything that will breach confidentiality. If you have a private question about your specific case please e-mail me at Doc@trentalange.org
Thanks for checking out the blog site! I will start this in the coming weeks with questions that come up in the office.
Doc Jim