CLM Fall 2018

MIND, BODY & SOUL
YourBeautifulSmile
TEXT BY DR. RAMESH SUNAR, DMD
They say your eyes are the window to your soul, but the window to your health
is your mouth. Let me add the following new axiom: the window to your personality
and confidence is your smile.
A smile adds an unfathomable amount of confidence to one’s personality. You
cannot put a dollar value to it. In today’s business world, one’s confidence can be
the difference between joblessness and boundless success. And, one of the currencies
for this confidence is, needless to say, a beautiful smile.
No wonder Americans spent $8 billion dollars just last year on cosmetic dentistry
alone, and that figure is only going to go up. One may blame our vanity for
this splurge, but we cannot rule out our obsession to buy confidence. If you analyze
the flip side of this argument, one will be pleasantly surprised to find the
dawn of a new awareness in the world of dental/oral health. Americans overall
are better today in their oral/dental health than ever. So, this stampede to a
better smile is doing some good in the long run.
Let’s talk about dental implants. There is no need to pontificate about what
implants have done to dentistry. One simply has to google the words “dental
implant” and will come away with a wealth of information and, perhaps, welleducated
as well.
Allow me present to you the example of Kathy, the editor-in-chief of this magazine.
She came to me with her concern of being very self-conscious of her smile
because she was missing one of her teeth, and the gap showed when she smiled.
Kathy had done her homework and knew about implants, plus she was a perfect
candidate for implant-based restoration. The result came out perfectly, and now
Kathy can’t stop smiling. I asked her the secret of her confidence, and her answer
was: A New Smile!
I am a firm believer that God-given teeth are the best implants in our mouth.
Being an Endodontist, a root canal specialist, I do my best to save teeth; however,
there are times one must resort to implants. Implants have certainly changed the
way I look at a clinical case. I have been placing and restoring them since 2007,
and it has been a very gratifying experience. Implants are the best way to restore
missing teeth in your mouth.
As mentioned above, I am first and foremost an Endodontist, a profession that
deals primarily in relieving people from pain and preserving the teeth. However,
when I realized that there are some teeth that cannot be saved, it bothered me
that I could not offer an alternative. So after intense training in implant dentistry,
I established Charlotte Dental Implant Center and have been doing implants for
over ten years.
Implants that are needed in the front part of the mouth, also called the
esthetic zone, require a dentist who is very well versed in their technique and
knowledge. Therefore in 2015 I went to Los Angeles for a full 2-year residency to
train in cosmetic and full mouth rehabilitation which completed my training to
give a full knowledge and experience not only implant dentistry but also cosmetic
dentistry.
If you are self-conscious because of your teeth, check out the options available
to give you back your smile. It is the window to your health and happiness.
At Charlotte Dental Implant Center, we provide all phases of dental implant
dentistry, cosmetic dentistry and full mouth rehabilitation. For more information
visit charlottedentalimplantcenter.com or call 704.375.4252.
60 | CHARLOTTE LIVING