Category Archives: Dental Continuing Courses

Utilizing a Restorative Approach to Correct an Adult Skeletal Class III Malocclusion | New York, NY

Gerard J. Lemongello discusses all the steps taken to correct the malocclusion

Edward H. Angle described class III malocclusion as one in which the mandibular first molar is positioned mesially relative to the maxillary first molar (Angle 1900). A class III skeletal relationship can occur as a result of a normal maxilla with mandibular protrusion, maxillary retrusion with a normal mandible, or a combination of maxillary retrusion and mandibular protrusion. A class III dental relationship can exist when the maxillary/mandibular relationship is normal.

A pseudo class III malocclusion is caused by a forward shift of the mandible to avoid incisal interferences (Proffit 1986). For many class III malocclusions, both surgical and orthodontic treatment are required. Depending on the amount of skeletal discrepancy, surgical correction may consist of mandibular retraction, maxillary protraction, or a combination of both procedures. For some minor class III malocclusions, or in the case of a pseudo class III malocclusion, surgical intervention may not be necessary.

To read more about this restorative approach, including a case study, click here.

Aesthetic Advantage has state of the art educational facilities that can help you take your career to the next level, call us at (212) 794.3552 for more information.

Aesthetic Advantage proudly serves New York, Atlanta, Florida, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Boston, Rhode Island, California, South Carolina and all surrounding areas.

When It’s Time to Enhance Your Skillset | New York, NY

If life has taught us anything, it’s that time and progress doesn’t stop. And if you don’t change with it, it will leave you behind. The same can be said for our professions. Technology and evolution are always going to be, so if you want to keep up with your competition, you may need to seek further education to continue to be successful. That’s where the Dental College at New York University College of Dentistry’s State of the Art Rosenthal Institute comes in. It is the perfect opportunity to provide you and your team with a completely unique outlook on dentistry with hands-on dental courses, professional guest speakers and mentors from various dental backgrounds.

Senior Instructor Dr. Alvin W. Neff states, “Dr. Larry Rosenthal transformed my practice from average to excellent by implementing the principles he teaches. As a result, my Northwest Arkansas practice is a highly successful general dentistry practice which focuses on restorative and cosmetic procedures.

Having personally attended over 2,000 hours of continuing education, I can tell you that Dr. Larry Rosenthal’s seminars, year after year, are the most inspiring and educational of any offered in our profession. He takes great pride in helping others achieve success. This is the true example of a leader. I have met dentists from all over the world at his seminars. The high caliber of dentists who come from all corners of the earth to hear Dr. Larry Rosenthal and to learn about his techniques consistently impresses me.”

Dr. Neff is one of the many individuals who has benefited from the dental college courses offered by Aesthetic Advantage. If you are looking for a way to enhance your professionalism, consider enrolling today.

Aesthetic Advantage has state of the art educational facilities that can help you take your career to the next level, call us at (212) 794.3552 for more information.

Aesthetic Advantage proudly serves New York, Atlanta, Florida, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Boston, Rhode Island, California, South Carolina and all surrounding areas.

Steps in Creating a Beautiful Smile | New York, NY

We all want the smile of our dreams – a smile that lights up every room we walk into. But for many of us, it doesn’t come naturally. We need the help of trained dental professionals to produce the smile we’ve always wanted. The following is Dr. Hamlett and Dr. Rosenthal will take us through those steps:

The single most important factor in creating a beautiful smile is the ability to visualize the final result before you begin. Laboratory communication, including photographs and models of the approved temporaries, is key to success. A thorough lab prescription detailing shade, texture, central length, incisal translucency, and any other pertinent information helps to facilitate a predictable result. To develop properly proportioned teeth, it is essential to properly address many characteristics, such as contours, shade, size and length of centrals, phonetics, and occlusion. This leads to a key artistic technique—the art of recontouring—with both temporaries and, if necessary, the final restorations.

To read more about how to get the smile you’ve always wanted, click here.

Is Cosmetic Dentistry Vain? | New York, NY

No one wants to be thought of as vain, but in this day and age, a large stress is placed on the way we look. If we don’t like something about ourselves, we try to change it. We go on diets, we dye our hair – there is a myriad of options we can do to improve our appearance. Cosmetic dentistry is the branch of dentistry that mainly deals with the appearance of teeth. There are several procedures involved, like teeth whitening, teeth straightening, veneers, crowns, bleaching and reshaping. While it is true that cosmetic dentistry is “elective” in more ways than one, in just as many ways, cosmetic dentistry also offers plenty of benefits from an improved smile.

A better-looking smile helps improve your self-confidence and self-esteem significantly. This then makes it easier for you to go out, smile and socialize with other people. By helping you become more confident about yourself and feel more attractive, you have a much better chance of living a better and more positive life.

The word “cosmetic” always gives off the impression that the main, and only, beneficiary is one’s appearance and that it’s only done to improve one’s look. Though, as far as cosmetic dentistry goes, it’s not always just about esthetics, it’s also about improving your oral and overall health.

Not only that, but there are many other cases where cosmetic dentistry helps in improving the overall function your teeth. Those with misaligned teeth or bites often develop worse dental problems that may result in painful areas outside of one’s teeth and this is something that cosmetic dentistry can help with.

Aesthetic Advantage has state of the art educational facilities that can help you take your career to the next level, call us at (212) 794.3552 for more information.

Aesthetic Advantage proudly serves New York, Atlanta, Florida, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Boston, Rhode Island, California, South Carolina and all surrounding areas.

Utilising a Restorative Approach to Correct an Adult Skeletal Class III Malocclusion | New York, NY

Gerard J. Lemongello discusses all the steps taken to correct the malocclusion

Edward H. Angle described class III malocclusion as one in which the mandibular first molar is positioned mesially relative to the maxillary first molar (Angle 1900). A class III skeletal relationship can occur as a result of a normal maxilla with mandibular protrusion, maxillary retrusion with a normal mandible, or a combination of maxillary retrusion and mandibular protrusion. A class III dental relationship can exist when the maxillary/mandibular relationship is normal. A pseudo class III malocclusion is caused by a forward shift of the mandible to avoid incisal interferences (Proffit 1986). For many class III malocclusions, both surgical and orthodontic treatment are required. Depending on the amount of skeletal discrepancy, surgical correction may consist of mandibular retraction, maxillary protraction, or a combination of both procedures. For some minor class III malocclusions, or in the case of a pseudo class III malocclusion, surgical intervention may not be necessary.

Treatment objectives, whether utilizing surgery, orthodontic treatment, or restorative treatment, are the same: to correct the class III crossbite, create an ideal overjet/overbite relationship, achieve a dental class I occlusion, correct the occlusal/incisal plane, correct the midline, and restore the teeth to proper size and proportion. The objective is to provide the patient with an acceptable functional-occlusal relationship and an aesthetic dental/facial appearance.

Malocclusions are common. Patients with crowded and rotated teeth, spacing, or a crossbite who are unsatisfied with their appearance may not be interested in traditional orthodontic treatment or surgical correction. Their objections can be related to the length of time needed to complete treatment, or fear of extensive surgery with extended recuperation.

To read more about this case study, click here.

Aesthetic Advantage has state of the art educational facilities that can help you take your career to the next level, call us at (212) 794.3552 for more information.

Aesthetic Advantage proudly serves New York, Atlanta, Florida, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Boston, Rhode Island, California, South Carolina and all surrounding areas.

Esthetic and Functional Provisional Restorations Big Cases | New York, NY

by Dr. Marc Schlenoff

For the past ten years, I have had the honor and privilege to be an Instructor at the Aesthetic Advantage Hands-On Symposium, at the NYU College of Dentistry in New York, as well as an Instructor at the General Practice Residency at Morristown Medical Center. During this entire time, the most asked question from students and residents has been “How can I do more of the big cases in my practice?” I feel that in today’s world of economic uncertainty, the answers to this question are significantly different than even several years ago.

There was a time not that long ago that I would have answered by using examples of advertising and marketing to draw patients to the office specifically for esthetic treatment. There was a buzz about cosmetics, and the primary goal was to attract those people who had already made the decision to have these procedures done. The times have obviously changed, however, and the answers that I now give to the above question are very different.

The keys to being able to attract the large restorative cases in today’s world are communication and treatment planning. The number of patients coming in exclusively for esthetic dentistry has declined significantly in most practices, but the need for restorative care continues to grow as our baby boomer generation (myself included) continues to wear and break their dentition. This is the patient population that needs comprehensive, and thus esthetic dental treatment.

To continue reading this article, click here.

Aesthetic Advantage has state of the art educational facilities that can help you take your career to the next level, call us at (212) 794.3552 for more information.

Aesthetic Advantage proudly serves New York, Atlanta, Florida, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Boston, Rhode Island, California, South Carolina and all surrounding areas.

Facial Esthetics—The Framework | New York, NY

Using facial landmarks to dictate tooth position can enhance esthetics and conserve tooth structure.
By Michael Apa, DDS
Facial Esthetics

In order to create individual smiles that compliment patients’ facial features and enhance their overall facial beauty, clinicians can adopt a technique that uses facial landmarks to dictate tooth position. This method not only can enhance the esthetics, it can also ultimately allow the practitioner to be more conservative in tooth reduction.

Curious about learning more about the intricacies of the facial framework? Click here.

Aesthetic Advantage has state of the art educational facilities that can help you take your career to the next level, call us at (212) 794.3552 for more information.

Aesthetic Advantage proudly serves New York, Atlanta, Florida, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Boston, Rhode Island, California, South Carolina and all surrounding areas.

Snoozing Your Way Through Dental Appointments | New York, NY

Of all the health professionals feared most by adults, the dentist is at the top of the list. Dental Anxiety (DA) is the actual diagnosis for this fear and adults everywhere have it. Dental professionals everywhere have been busy making huge strides in order to calm those fears. Some are turning their dental offices into more of a spa feel than a dental one. Aromatherapy, soothing music, weighed blankets – if you can think of a soothing way to relax, chances are your dental professional has it. And if you still need “something stronger”, there’s sedation dentistry.

Sedation dentistry is the way your dentist relaxes you enough to handle the dental procedure through the use of medication, in addition to the numbing agent applied to the area that will be worked on to alleviate any pain caused by the procedure. The use of sedation is to make you as comfortable as possible as they do their job and to make recovery time minimal.

If you don’t need much to relax you, chances are you will receive nitrous oxide, or laughing gas. It is given to you as you breathe through a mask, so zero pain or needles are involved. If you need to be calmed with more than a little gas, the next step up is an oral sedative so no pain or needles are involved to make a patient groggy, but you will be awake during the procedure. IV sedation takes affect a lot quicker, but the dentist also has the ability to adjust the amount as needed. Administered by medications prior to your procedure, deeper sedation methods will render you unconscious and unable to be awakened easily.

Aesthetic Advantage has state of the art educational facilities that can help you take your career to the next level, call us at (212) 794.3552 for more information.

Aesthetic Advantage proudly serves New York, Atlanta, Florida, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Boston, Rhode Island, California, South Carolina and all surrounding areas.

Smile Design Enhanced with Porcelain Veneers | New York, NY

by Dr. Dean C. Vafiadis, DDS

Porcelain veneers within reason allow for the alteration of tooth position, shape, size and color. They require a minimal amount of tooth preparation – in this case reduction (approximately 0.5 mm of surface enamel) – and are, therefore, a more conservative restoration than a crown, which requires significant removal of sound tooth structure. Although not the only alternative for all esthetic abnormalities, they are truly a remarkable restoration when they are the treatment of choice.

To read more about smile design, click here.

Aesthetic Advantage has state of the art educational facilities that can help you take your career to the next level, call us at (212) 794.3552 for more information.

Aesthetic Advantage proudly serves New York, Atlanta, Florida, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Boston, Rhode Island, California, South Carolina and all surrounding areas.

Clinical Instructor Showcase: Dr. David Ward | New York, NY

Today we take some time to highlight one of our fantastic clinical instructors, Dr. David Ward.

A Rhode Island native, Dr. Ward is proud to have followed in his father’s footsteps, and has practiced in Woonsocket, RI for twenty-two years. He graduated with honors from Tufts University School of Dental Medicine. His practice focus is cosmetic dentistry and implantology. Combining these passions, he creates beautiful smiles.

Dr. Ward is a proud member of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, and is Treasurer of The New England Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, The American Dental Association, The American Academy of Implant Dentistry and The International Conference of Oral Implantologists. He is an Associate Fellow in the American Academy of Implant Dentistry and a Fellow of the International Congress of Oral Implantologist. Dr. Ward is a Fellow of Pierre Fauchard Academy.

He has received commendation from The Rhode Island Foundation of Dentistry for the Handicapped for his work with disabled and elderly citizens and lectures locally.

Academic Affiliations

  • American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry
  • New England Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry
  • American Dental Association
  • American Academy of Implant Dentistry
  • International Conference of Oral Implantology
  • American Academy of Implant Dentistry—Fellow
  • International Congress of Oral Implantologists—Fellow

Aesthetic Advantage has state of the art educational facilities that can help you take your career to the next level, call us at (212) 794.3552 for more information.

Aesthetic Advantage proudly serves New York, Atlanta, Florida, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Boston, Rhode Island, California, South Carolina and all surrounding areas.