Ask for our new Zoom teeth whitening in just one hour.

We are a certified office!

April 2004: We are proud to announce Dr. Niloo Rostami joining our Seattle office. She is a graduate of the UW Dental School.

Dr. Dzon Nguyen ranks one of the top 100 Invisalign dentist in the US and was awarded the "Invisalign Innovator 2003 Award."

Dr. Dzon Nguyen is now 1 of 17 CEREC instructors nation wide. He teaches a two day CAD/CAM CEREC course to certify doctors to use this amazing technology.

Dr. Dzon Nguyen has been awarded his Fellowship in the Academy of General Dentistry (FAGD). He is one of 5 in Washington State to receive the distinguished Fellowship in 2003. The Fellowship takes a minimum of 5 years to complete, at least 500 continuing education hours, and a written one day exam. This Fellowship is one of the few academic advances available for dentists outside dental school.

"Keeping Issaquah athletes smiling" by Jamie Swift

In the Media

Protect your pucker: To prevent lip cancer, don't forget to keep 'em covered
By Jon Brodkin / News Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 13, 2004

While the danger of excessive sun exposure causing skin cancer is well known, lip cancer, which often appears to be a cold sore, often goes undiagnosed, according to the Massachusetts Dental Society.
     Oral cavity cancers are generally caused by tobacco use. But sun is the major cause of lip cancer, said David Emanuel, a dentist and oral surgeon.
     Emanuel, who practices with MetroWest Oral Surgical Associates in Framingham, Northborough and Milford, has treated a half-dozen cases of lip cancer in the past five years, he said.
     Surgery to excise the cancer, followed by reconstruction of the lip, and radiation are the primary treatment methods, he said.
     "As with any cancer, if it's allowed to go ahead and spread, it can certainly be devastating to one's health," Emanuel said. "Fortunately, if you were to pick a type of cancer to have in the head or neck area, your conventional lip cancers are very very treatable in the early stages. And they are treatable without much morbidity."
     Lip cancer, often discovered by dentists, appears most often on the lower lip and most commonly affects people over 45, according to the Massachusetts Dental Society. But fair-skinned people and anyone exposed to sunlight for long periods of time are at risk, the group warns. The cancer is most prevalent in men.
     Lip cancer often looks like a crusting or sore on the lip that does not go away, Emanuel said. If left untreated, the cancer can spread to lymph nodes and lungs, he said.
     Emanuel recommended not smoking and protecting oneself from the sun by wearing hats that provide cover for one's face, using sunscreen of SPF 30 or higher and lip balms with an SPF. Limiting sun exposure is important not only in the summer, but also in the winter when people are likely to be exposed to the sun while skiing or snowboarding, he said.
     "The higher you go with the SPF, the better," Emanuel said.
     It's unclear how many cases of lip cancer there are in the United States. The American Cancer Society expects 28,260 Americans to be diagnosed with all types of oral cavity cancers this year, but does not track how many of those cancers affect the lip, said Dr. Lisa McCoy, director of cancer detection for the society's New England division.
     More than 1 million cases of skin cancer are expected to be diagnosed annually nationwide, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
     Health officials have observed a steady increase in skin cancer cases over the past two decades. The World Health Organization and United Nations Environmental Program last year warned that depletion of the Earth's protective ozone layer increases the risk of skin cancer.
     Emanuel blamed skin cancer's prevalence on increased outdoor activity, as well as increased longevity.
     McCoy said increased outdoor activity may well play a role in a rise in skin cancer.
     "I'm just hoping our increased efforts on skin cancer awareness are keeping up with increased physical activity," she said.
     Lip cancer facts:
     Lip cancer is most commonly a squamous cell carcinoma, affecting areas of the body that have been exposed to the sun for prolonged periods. Warning signs of squamous cell cancer include:

A wart-like growth that crusts and occasionally bleeds.

A persistent, scaly red patch with irregular borders that sometimes crusts or bleeds.

An open sore that bleeds and crusts and persists for weeks.

An elevated growth with a central depression that occasionally bleeds. A growth of this type may rapidly increase in size.

Regardless of appearance, any change in a preexisting skin growth, the development of a new growth or an open sore that fails to heal, should prompt an immediate visit to a physician. If it is a precursor condition, early treatment will prevent it from developing into a squamous cell carcinoma. Often, all that is needed is a simple surgical procedure or application of a topical chemotherapeutic agent.

Source: The Skin Cancer Foundation

Ready to quit flossing? Read fine print in Listerine's claim first

Tuesday, July 13, 2004

By Terri Finch Hamilton

The Grand Rapids Press

When dentist Thomas Sommerdyke saw the TV ad that says you can skip the floss and just swish with Listerine, it set his teeth on edge.

"I was a little taken aback," says Sommerdyke, who practices at Dental South Family Dentistry in Wyoming . "The way Listerine is presenting this, it's like it's a revolution. Do I think people should stop flossing? Absolutely not.

"It's a dangerous message," says Sommerdyke, 72, a dentist for nearly five decades. "I think they crossed the line."

Listerine's latest commercial says its product is as good as flossing when it comes to wresting germs that cause plaque and gingivitis from between your teeth.

"It's incredible news. And we just can't keep it bottled up. Listerine's as effective as floss," declares the narrator. "Clinical studies prove it. So, even if you don't floss like you should, now you can get its healthy benefits from simply rinsing. Listerine kills the germs that cause plaque, even between teeth."

But before you ditch your floss, read the fine print.

In teeny letters at the bottom of the screen, it reads "Floss daily." And "Ask your dentist."

The ones we asked said keep on flossing.

"If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is," says Chris Smiley, 42, a dentist at Smiley Family Dentistry on East Beltline NE. " You have to read that fine print."

"A rinse can flush off things on the tooth surface, but it will only penetrate a couple of millimeters into the gum line," says Smiley, a dentist for 18 years. "Floss goes along the root's surface and scrapes off that debris. No matter how hard you swish, you can't blow some of that stuff off."

The commercial is the result of two clinical studies, sponsored by Pfizer Consumer Healthcare, the Morris Plains, N.J.-based maker of Listerine, that show a couple of 30-second rinses per day is "at least as effective" as flossing once per day for reducing plaque and gingivitis between the teeth.

Following an extensive approval process from the American Dental Association, which required the six-month clinical studies, the ADA gave the nod to Pfizer to publicize the claim to consumers.

But that was with the caveat the company needed to promote the importance of continuing to brush and floss every day, according to Clifford Whall, director of the ADA 's Acceptance Program.

� 2004 Grand Rapids Press. Used with permission

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