More Smiles Dental Spa Dentistry Blog | James A. Moreau, Jr., D.D.S.

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The Pure Power Mouthguard company, Makkar Advantage, has updated their website, and guess who's on the homepage testifying to his very positive experience with the PPM?? Our very own Tracy Porter! If you want to check it out, you can go to either www.ppmmouthguard.com, or go directly to their portal at www.makkaradvantage.com.

Ever heard it said that "happy cows make better milk"? Well, according to a survey of some of America's top dentists, perhaps that theory applies to dentists as well.

In a survey that was conducted among several hundred doctors who are engaged in ongoing post-graduate dental education at the Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies (LVI), 85% of respondents said that they are happier in their profession since attending LVI.

The reasons why may be almost as varied as the number of respondents, but from my experience and observation, here's what I think. Dentistry, especially with the state of insurance and economic pressures today (particularly on young dentists who need help surviving from the get-go), can lead a doc down a self-destructive path of high volume, crank-em-out dentistry that feeds the bank account and takes focus off patient care. Burnout is certain; it's only a matter of time.

LVI preaches sticking by your ethical guns and doing what's best for the patient...and the curriculum is designed around HOW to do what's best for the patient. The coursework and hands-on experience at LVI equip the dentist with the technical skill to achieve excellent, long-lasting results with aesthetics and advanced restorative. It instills the confidence to reach for a higher level of professional performance.

Does this eliminate stress and create happiness? No, in fact, technically, the stress level should go up because you end up seeing more challenging cases and patients with problems you never even knew how to diagnose pre-LVI. But the stress is manageable because you have the knowledge, understanding and confidence to competently diagnose and treat these patients...and help them. Ahhh...therein lies the happiness. In knowing with certainty that you're doing a good thing, doing it well and being fairly compensated for that expertise.

-Julie

If you still think that Cha Cha is just the name of a rhythmic ballroom dance that originated in Latin America, then you may need to bone up on the latest techno texting tool. Admittedly, the only reason I happen to know about Cha Cha texting is because I have teenagers, insatiably curious ones at that.

The new form of Cha Cha, which is more about rhythmic thumbs than rhythmic feet, is a mobile source for conversational answers to any question you can come up with. It combines technology with human "backups" in case the questions require more detail. When some mystery of the universe would happen to come up at the dinner table, I was uber-impressed when one of my kids would quickly produce a very believable, rational-sounding explanation or definition. Turns out they were texting Cha Cha under the table.

Example: I picked the kids up at school this afternoon. After we dispensed with the fact that one of the twins had his phone taken away at school and now I had to present myself at the assistant principal's office to retrieve it AND make sure he shows up for his 1-hour detention for the infraction, my daughter told me she Cha-Cha'd daddy today. She actually Cha-Cha'd the PPM mouthguards first and received back a thoroughly detailed and totally accurate account of Pure Power Mouthguards, invented by Anil Makkar, a neuromuscular dentist. Very impressive. Then she told me she Cha-Cha'd to inquire what was Dr. Jim Moreau's connection to the PPM's. Cha-Cha, once again spot on, began to recount how Dr. Moreau had gone to the Saints camp for several days last fall to fit the NFL players with the PPM's. Pushing a bit further, she then asked Cha-Cha, "Is Dr. Moreau known to be a good dentist?" Cha-Cha's response: "He is know to be an EXCELLENT dentist and received the Award of Excellence from the American Dental Association's grassroots organization. Like I said - spot on.

So there you have it.

-Julie