In light of past events of poor medical judgment found in the Las Vegas community, I felt that I should assure everyone of the protocol of my office to ensure your safety.

Number One: We do not re-use needles; we do not draw medicine from a bottle. We use single-use needles that are disposed of after they are used. We utilize medicines that come in unit dose containers; this means that there is no possibility of contaminating the medicine that you receive. The unit dose is used only for you; if there is any remaining medication it is disposed of.

Number Two: Every instrument that is utilized on a patient is either disposed of, or it is sterilized by being placed in a Heat Sterilizer. We monitor the heat sterilizer with spore strips that are sent to an outside company, on a scheduled routine basis to ensure that it is functioning properly. The instruments are packaged in Heat Sensitive Pouches that change colors when they are exposed to the proper cycle in the sterilizer, so we know that the instruments were exposed to the proper sterilizing cycle.

I also wanted to take this opportunity to comment on an article in the Las Vegas Review Journal, Wednesday March 5, 2008:

NEW LEAD FEAR FOR CONSUMERS: DENTAL WORK
Foreign-made devices prompt warning.

The article reported, and I quote,

In the wake of a Mid-Western woman being sickened by lead-tainted dental work that was outsourced to China, consumers are being asked to inquire about the origins of their crowns, veneers, bridges and dentures. Millions of dental prosthetics are being prescribed by dentists in the United States but are made in labs in China, India, the Philippines, Mexico, Eastern Europe, Costa Rica, and elsewhere. Many experts are concerned about the raw materials used abroad might not meet the U.S. standards. Etc&

I can assure you that I always have and will continue to use only the finest U.S. based laboratories that fabricate the prosthetics utilized on my patients here in the United States.

The metals used in my restorations only contain Certified - Precious, (i.e. - High Nobel Metals).

The particular metals used on my crown restorations are:

Porcelain Fused to Gold Crowns - I utilize two different metals

One by Dentsply Co.  Degudent G  Gold 86%, Platinum 10.4%

The other by Argen Co.  Bio 2000  Gold 99.7%, Indium 0.2%, Zinc 0.1%

Cast Gold Restoration:

Dentsply Co.  Ney-Oro B2  Gold 74%, Silver 11.5%, Palladium 4%