BEST CHOICE DENTAL IMPLANT CENTER
Accepting New Patients. No Referral Necessary
Our Story:
In 1993, after a distinguished career in the US Air Force as an educator and clinician, Dr. Timothy C. Moore, D.D.S., M.S.D. returned to his home town of Grand Rapids to realize his dream of developing the most successful Prosthodontic practice in the Midwest. His dream required an unwavering commitment to education, quality and providing state-of-the-art comprehensive prosthodontic and dental implant treatment in a caring and friendly environment.
After 12 years of dedicated care to his patients and his dream, Dr. Moore made several important discoveries that led to the opening of Best Choice Dental Implant Center.
First, he discovered his most troubled patients were often complete denture wearers. Many had lost their confidence in business and social settings, because it was difficult to eat and speak for fear that their dentures would slip, pinch or move.
Second, implant care was complicated to plan and implement. It was difficult to plan and co-ordinate treatment with other specialists involved in his patient's care, because they were not physically present to plan the complex treatment.
Third, implant care was time consuming and confusing for patients, because of the fragmented way treatment was delivered.
Fourth, dental implants, without question, are the BEST CHOICE for the replacement of missing teeth...better than crowns, better than bridge work, better than removable dentures.
The advantages of dental implants are numerous:
1. Unlike complete dentures, implants preserve bone.
2. Implants cannot get cavities like teeth.
3. Implants do not get gum disease like teeth.
4. Implants can restore normal biting forces.
5. Implants provide secure anchorage and support for complete dentures.
6. Implants restore confidence in eating and speaking.
7. Dental implant treatment changes lives for the better.
After analyzing the problems, Dr. Moore developed a new dream. His dream was to develop a practice focused on the complete denture wearer who is struggling with their handicap. The goal was to make implant treatment faster, safer, less complicated and more successful.
To achieve this goal, four components were necessary, a Prosthodontist and an Oral Surgeon to jointly plan implant treatment, technology able to transfer implant planning from models to the actual patient, a dental laboratory able to provide the sophisticated laboratory work necessary to realize the plan and finally a single location for all the above services.
Two of the components were already in place. Since 1996, Dr. Moore had his own dental laboratory staffed by Mr. Rod Crane, a Certified Dental Laboratory. Mr. Crane has extensive training and experience with all the major dental implant systems.
In 2003 we moved into our new state-of-the-art facility and our new dental laboratory. The clinic has 5 comfortable treatment rooms, sterilization, intraoral photography and computer monitors in every treatment room.
In 2006 we began to search for the third pillar of our dream, an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon with the same vision and philosophy of care as Dr. Moore. We are pleased to announce that we have been successful.
In April of 2008, Dr. Richard Panek joined our team. Dr. Panek is a Board Certified Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon with over 20 years of dental implant experience. Joint treatment planning between Dr. Moore and Dr. Panek will now be faster and more effective, making it less complicated and time consuming for the patient.
The final pillar of our dream is technology. Until recently, there was no accurate way to transfer implant position, planned by the restorative dentist, to the oral surgeon, so that the planned treatment could be implemented during the surgery. This all changed in 2007 with two major technological advances.
The first technological advance was Cone Beam Tomography. Cone Beam Tomography is similar to the three dimensional xrays taken by hospital CT scanners. The images provided allow visualization of the upper and lower jaw on a computer screen which makes Computer Aided Design (CAD) of the implant surgery and implant surgical guide possible.
The images are provided by Smart Beam 3D, which operates a New Tom Cone Beam Scanner. It is one of the few Cone Beam Tomography Scanners available for dental use in West Michigan. These machines cost about two hundred thousand dollars, and we are fortunate enough to have the scanner located directly across the hall from our office.
The second piece of technology is implant planning software. We use Nobel Procera Implant Planning software. With the software and the data provided by Smart Beam 3D we are able to do all of the implant planning on a computer as noted above. Once the planning is done, we are able to design and computer manufacture (CAM) a surgical guide (Nobel Guide) that the surgeon uses at the time of implant placement. The surgical guide is so precise that the surgeon is able to place the implants almost exactly where the the oral surgeon and the prosthodontist have planned. This makes the surgery more efficient, safer and more precise. Using the guide also means less surgery, often without stitches, so that healing is faster and easier.
After 12 years in planning, all of the components are now in place to realize our dream.
We are pleased to announce the opening of BEST CHOICE DENTAL IMPLANT CENTER, one of the few clinics in the entire country with all of the services necessary to provide safe, efficient, state-of-the-art dental implant treatment available under one roof. Schedule and appointment today.