Do
you have insurance?
You may be about to LOSE your INSURANCE BENEFITS. Collectively, and without warning,
last year our patients lost several hundred thou-sand dollars
of benefit! Most
plans don’t allow you to carry over your unused benefit past
December 31st. So if, for example,
you have $500 of benefit left, and some needed treatment not
yet done, it’s
literally like they’re reaching into your pocket on January
1st and stealing $500 of your
money!
Because so many of our patients
realize this at the last minute, it sometimes can be very
difficult for you to get December appointments. Rather than waiting
until the last minute, we hope that this reminder will
encourage you to call today to schedule your most convenient
time.
Thanks again for being our
patient.
Why I
don’t offer a stop-smoking
program
I’m a former pipe-smoker.
I
realize that people smoke for a reason---they get some level
of satisfaction from it. We all know
about the dangers of smoking, since we’re constantly bombarded
with that information.
If we based our decisions solely on logic, no one would
smoke.
The reason I don’t have
smoking-cessation programs in my office is that people stop
smoking if and
when they decide
to, not when they’re bullied into it.
My responsibility is to tell people
the dental risks
of smoking. You
make your own decision in your own time. I’m not asking you to
stop, just to stop and think.
Smoking causes an increased risk in
two dental areas:
? Smoking is one of the main risk
factors for oral cancer.
We all know that.
If you smoke, please make absolutely
sure that you get a
yearly Vizilite oral cancer screening in our
office.
? Smoking puts you at a
substantial increased risk for developing gum and bone
(periodontal) disease, and it doubles the risk of implant
failure.
Floss and brush fanatically, since there’s a
link between untreated gum disease and heart
disease.
A bit of
history
Many years ago the mobster Al Capone virtually owned
Chicago. He controlled
everything from bootlegged booze to prostitution and
murder.
Capone had a lawyer named “Easy
Eddie.” Eddie was
a great lawyer;
his skill at legal maneuvering kept Capone out of jail
for a long time.
To show his appreciation, Capone paid
him very well, and not just in money. Eddie and his family
were provided with a fenced-in mansion with live-in help and
all of the conveniences of the day. The estate was so
large that it filled an entire
Chicago city block.
Eddie lived the high life of the
Chicago mob and gave little consideration to
the atrocities that went on around him. Eddie did have one
soft spot, though.
He had a son on whom he doted. He saw to it that his
son had clothes, cars, and a good education. Nothing was withheld
and price was no object.
Despite
his involvement in organized crime, Eddie made the effort to
try and teach his son the difference between right and wrong. Eddie wanted his son
to be a better man than he was. However, despite his
wealth and influence, there were two things he could not give
his son: he
couldn’t pass on a good name or a good example.
One day Easy Eddie reached a difficult
decision. He
wanted to rectify wrongs he had done. He decided that he
would go to the authorities and tell the truth about Al
Capone. He’d try
to clean up his tarnished name and offer his son some
semblance of integrity.
To do this, he’d have to testify against The Mob, and
he knew that the cost of this would be
great.
So, Eddie testified. Within the year his
life ended in a hail of gunfire on a lonely
Chicago street. But in his eyes, he
had given his son the greatest gift he had to offer, and the
greatest price he could ever pay. Police removed from
his pockets a rosary, a crucifix, a religious medallion, and a
poem clipped from a magazine. This is the
poem:
“The clock of life is wound but
once,
And no man has the power
To tell just when the hands will
stop
At late or early
hour.
Now is the only time you
own.
Live, love, toil with a
will.
Place no faith in time,
For the clock may soon be still.”
Our
latest $50 winners
Every
month
we have a drawing for a $50 office credit. We do this to thank
our patients who make appointments that begin between
11
AM
and 3
PM. By scheduling
during a less popular time period you help our office run more
efficiently, so we enter you in our drawing. Congratulations to
Melissa Hance for winning the April drawing, to May winner
Kathy Jacovini, and to June winner Donna Martz.
Our
team
Gina Albert
EFDA
Peggy Carroll
treatment coordinator
Beth Davis
person Friday
Lynn James
chairside assistant
Debbie Marker
chairside assistant
Michelle McClain
dental hygienist
Lisa Murphy
treatment coordinator
Caroline Talarico
dental hygienist
