Dr Betz's Blog

Staff beach party

Dr. Betz — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 16:46:30 +0000

Saturday, Aug, 21 was the scene of our be-annual beach party on the Balboa Bay beach. We had a lunch of Maria’s wonderful chicken tortilla soup and sandwiches with ice cream cookies and bon-bons for dessert. We spent several hours sitting on the beach and watching the boats go by. Several of us took kayak rides around Bay Island, some several times.

Laser desensitizing

Dr. Betz — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 21:50:22 +0000

One of the most common complaints we hear from our patients is thermal sensitivity of their teeth. This problem can be a simple annoyance or even effect a person’s quality of life. Common causes of this situation are recession of the gums and/or aberrant tooth brushing techniques.
Many treatments are available, from desensitizing tooth pastes and mouthwashes, to special coatings and fillings. We can also now use our Soft Tissue Laser to quickly and painlessly desensitize sensitive areas of the teeth. This is quick, painless and much less expensive than some other forms of desensitizing. Depending on many factors, it can provide many months of relief. If you have thermal sensitive areas, please feel free to discuss it with Dr. Betz or any of our hygienists.

USC Orofacial Pain Symposium

Dr. Betz — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 23:46:01 +0000

Feb 19 and 20, 2010 Dr Betz attended the USC Orofacial Pain Symposium on the campus of the USC Dental School. Chief presenter, Glenn T. Clark, DDS, MS is the professor of the Orofacial Pain clinic at USC. Topics included signs, symptoms, and treatment of chronic orofacial pain neurogenous disease, and various types of headaches. This type of disease has been hard to diagnose, sometimes confused with Temporomandibular joint disorder (“TMJ”) or Atypical trigeminal neuralgia. Symptoms, for example, may include:

Difficulty or discomfort in chewing or biting
Clicking, popping, or grating sound on opening or closing mouth
Dull, aching facial pain
Earache
Headache
Jaw pain or jaw tenderness
Impaired ability to open or close mouth

When not caused by a neurogenous disease, these symptoms can sometimes be precipitated by a sleep disorder called bruxism, or teeth gnashing.

In this symposium, new diagnostic methods, tools, and treatments for orofacial pain neurogenous disease were shared. We hope this new diagnostic information will enhance our ability to treat patients with these special problems. We have always had the ability to refer difficult cases to Dr. Clark. His clinic has helped several of our patients.

USC Implant and Periodontal Symposium

Dr. Betz — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:37:32 +0000

On January 29 – 30, 2010, Dr Betz attended the 35th annual USC Periodontal & Implant Symposium at the Wilshire Grand Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. There were prominent researchers from all over the world who presented clinical and research finds which Dr Betz can incorporate into our practice for the benefit of our patients. One such presentation provided additional proof as to the effectiveness of the soft-tissue laser therapy for periodontal disease. It was reassuring to see additional scientific verification of what we have seen in our own office over the last 4 years since we incorporated the soft tissue laser into our armentarium. On the implant side, continuing research confirms that implants have a 95-98% success rate. New developments are the use of bone grafting to augment ridges that have been too narrow or shallow to sustain implants.

Your Dentist in Whittier!

Dr. Betz — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:42:08 +0000

Hi, I am Leslie R. Betz DDS, I am a general dentist working in Whittier, CA. For over 40 years, my professional staff and I have been providing comfortable, quality dentistry that you can afford.