"These are a few of my favorite things..."

When I used to tell people that I was working in downtown Los Angeles, the reaction I would often get would be a slight pause, a look of disdain or disappointment, or a blank stare. Back in 2003, downtown LA was not the most sought-after locale for a dental practice. Images of rampant homelessness, crime, and unkempt streets would come to mind rather than a place to work and play.  However, what others saw as a limitation, we viewed as an opportunity! My husband and I thought that growth and development would soon come to downtown. With progress, we envisioned more businesses and condominiums, more people, and more need for health care providers. We decided to take the gamble, and it seems to be paying off. In the last 7 years, we have seen exciting changes in downtown LA. Indeed many more businesses, condos, lofts, and restaurants are popping up everywhere. In my quest to not only "work" downtown but also "play" downtown, I have started to try to do some more exploring, although I still have a lot more to do....

Some of my favorite places I would like to give special mention to:

Neihule Salon
www.neihule.com
607 South Olive Street

My favorite hairstylist works here, Christian King. He works gorgeous miracles into my hair every 8 weeks so I can try to maintain my "hip and edgy mom in Glendale" image....lol  Our office manager, Nadia, also sees Christian for her haircuts. Christian listens to your wants and needs, takes his time, and is extremely meticulous. He takes pride in his work and always gives me a fabulous color and style. I highly recommend this modern and cool salon!

Farmer's Market at 7th and Fig Marketplace
This is in our building in the upper plaza, every Thursday. The market offers fresh produce, flowers, tacos, tamales, crepes, hot dogs, and of course the famous Kettle Korn! There are all kinds of vendors here, also selling jewelry, clothing, cupcakes...you name it! I recently discovered that they carry my favorite fruit, the pluot (a combination of a plum and apricot) in many different varieties. It's a great meeting place with co-workers and friends, and always fun to try new foods. I usually come back with wayyy too much food and treats. As my mom always told me, my eyes are bigger than my stomach!

Bottega Louie
www.bottegalouie.com
700 South Grand Ave.

OMG OMG OMG. This place is a little slice of heaven. I could spend days and days here and be completely happy! I stopped in for some of their famous French Macarons (not a typo, they spell it with one "o") and was overwhelmed with the beautiful decor. I'm not talking about the walls and tables, mind you, I am talking about the counters filled with every decadent dessert you can imagine, e.g. macarons, cupcakes, eclairs, fruit tarts....In addition to that splendor, there were endless offerings of fresh pasta salads, lunch items, meatloaf, mac and cheese....the list goes on, and I haven't even had a sit-down meal there yet! This is a place I would love to lounge with a girlfriend for many hours. That is definitely on my "to do" list.

Pho Siam Spa
www.phosiam.com
1525 Pizarro St.

This hidden gem is not exactly downtown. It's a little bit on the outskirts, and I pass it on the way to work on Glendale Blvd.  If you are at all familiar with Glendale Blvd, there is much to be desired in terms of a scenic view. However, Pho-Siam Spa puts a little smile on my face whenever I have the pleasure of enjoying one of their fantastic massages! It is a very tranquil and beautiful setting. Your massage therapist will lead you to a private room with curtains surrounding your space. You will lie down on a silky mattress pad and pillow, and a tiny Asian woman will come in and give you an unbelievable massage! She will use all her muscles, her arms, legs, and feet. She may even hang from the ceiling while walking down your back! You will stretch muscles you didn't even know you had! The only downside is that it is cash only. But they do have an ATM machine conveniently located inside. While prices have gone up slightly since last year, an hour massage at $50 or a 90 min massage for $75 is a great deal! For a dentist like me, my knots and tense neck and shoulders need all the help they can get. Pho Siam is my savior!

Sushi Gen
www.sushigenla.com
422 E. 2nd St. (Little Tokyo)

Located in Honda Plaza, this is the go-to place in Little Tokyo for excellent and fresh sushi. It serves sushi traditional-style. No gigantic baked and fried rolls with names like "Crazy Roll" or "911 Roll" will be on the menu here. They do have a California roll but it is small and minimalistic. I love basically everything I eat here, which is usually the same thing. We start by ordering Chawanmushi (Japanese egg custard filled with mushrooms, fish cake, shrimp...) because it takes about 15 minutes. While we wait we snack on soft shell crab with ponzu sauce, tako sunomono (an octopus, cucumber, seaweed salad in a vinegary cold sauce, and yellowtail sashimi ( melts in your mouth!). After eating our egg custards, then we move onto the mouth-watering sushi and sashimi selections. Their salmon, uni, tuna, unagi, spanish mackerel, red snapper, and albacore are soooo fresh are so delicious. I particularly LOVE their spicy tuna roll. It is also a small roll, which is just how I like it. Most sushi places either make it or break it for me based on the spicy tuna roll. The big mistake is when the roll is too large and the spicy tuna is so mushy and unappetizing. Sushi Gen gets it just right. I could eat their spicy tuna roll all night! To top off a great meal, we always end with a scoop of green tea or red bean ice cream. Ahhhh.

Got milk?

Remember Emily? She is one of my fabulous Invisalign patients! To refresh your memory, she has a sister in Colorado who is also undergoing Invisalign treatment. Emily and I were engaging in some "friendly competition" with her sister (unbeknownst to her :)) to straighten Emily's teeth first! I am all for healthy sibling rivalry! Update: Emily has started on her "refinement" aligners, meaning we are doing a little more "tweaking" by adding some more trays. Her sister is still waiting for her refinement aligners to arrive....awww, too bad.... All in good fun, all in good fun. I hope to meet her sister one day!

For now I was excited to meet Emily's boyfriend, John. He came along to Emily's appointment and he immediately impressed me with his quick wit, good looks, and outgoing demeanor.  I could see why John and Emily were a couple-they both share these same qualities! After chitchatting a bit,  John told me that he had "very strong teeth and bones." I thought, well that's great! It's nice to know yourself inside and out! He then informed me, (or was it Emily?) that he loves to drink milk. I went along, saying,  "Oh yeah,  eating cereal with milk is really good." He looked at me quizzically, remarking, "No,  just milk." I looked back at him and continued, "Yeah, but with a brownie or a cookie, a glass of milk is so refreshing." He responded,"Well sure, that tastes good too but nothing is as delicious as a big, cold glass of whole milk."

Pause.

I looked at Emily and asked, "Whole milk?"

Emily said, "I know! Can you believe it? John LOVES whole milk! He drinks a gallon of whole milk every week!"  John continued to explain that he has loved milk since he was a young boy and can drink it all day, every day. His mom even stocks her fridge with several gallons of whole milk when she knows her lactose-tolerant son is coming to visit! I mumbled something about skim milk and John  went on a "skim milk is not milk-it's-bluish-grey-it's-like-drinking-water" rant. He described how he loves the white creamy texture of whole milk, that it gives him more satisfaction than skim or even 2% could ever provide.

While John said he has no idea what his cholesterol levels are, he did mention that once when he fell off of his bike onto his face, no teeth were sacrificed. Not a chip or a scratch. No cavities. No broken bones.  Made me think, "darn, why didn't I indulge in a whole milk beverage for lunch?"

It seems this young woman feels the same about whole milk:

http://blogs.experiencelifemag.com/signs-of-life/2009/01/why-whole-milk-is-the-healthiest-choice.html

Hmmm....Got whole milk??

Become a "Follower" of InvisalignGal's blog!

I created a "following widget" on my blog page because well, the Blogger site explains it well:


"Do you want to know who regularly reads your blog and develop a public fan base for your blog? Well now you can do that and more with the Blogger Following feature! In Blogger, users can publicly Follow any URL to tell the blog's author and the world they are a fan. With the Followers gadget, you can display your blog's Followers on your blog to show your blog's popularity and encourage more readers to stay updated with your posts. Readers can now go your blog and become a follower! Tell all your friends and grow your fan base. Once your readers become followers of your blog, their profile picture will be displayed in your Following widget."


So please go to the tab on the right side of our blog and click "Follow." 
Spread the word....and thank you for your support!

 Your invisaligngal

What I learned from my patients today...

"What did you do this weekend?" ( I like to chat with my patients, especially when their lives are way more exciting than mine!)

An Invisalign patient said he spent the weekend in Osh Kosh, Wisconsin, something you don't hear everyday in LA. He was with his father and brother who are pilots and wanted to fly planes. I thought, there must be a much closer location than Osh Kosh??? Little did I know, they were attending the EAA Aircraft Airventure Osh Kosh, a great international aviation event! You can see about 2,500 different types of aircraft, old, new, borrowed, and blue....There's an afternoon airshow, kid-friendly educational presentations, and you can learn how to fly (planes, that is :))!

www.airventure.org


My next patient, Jill, was actually not a patient today, but I saw her sitting in the reception area and had a nice chat. She had brought in a friend of hers who needed a "tooth consult."  Jill hasn't been in for a while after her orthodontic treatment, as she has been busy with her new start-up company. It is called Automated Man, which targets college guys who are too busy (or lazy...lol) to get to the store for tolietries, etc. For a small monthly fee, you can have the goods delivered right to your door! What she and her partners discovered was that most of their new clients were actually mothers who were buying the service for their not-quite-so-independent sons. These moms were essentially already providing this service (free of charge mind you) for their sons who lived either 10 or 100 miles away! They were spending much of their time, energy, and money finding the different toiletries, lovingly packing them up and mailing them to colleges all over the country! Soon Jill decided it was time to create another site just for these devoted mamas, called Automated Mom! Moms everywhere can continue to provide for their "adult-children" just by hitting  "Place Order." As the site states, they can "Show your love. Save your money." How cool is that?

www.automatedmom.com

:) invisaligngal

Going Green!

No, I am not becoming a Celtics fan...my husband and daughter would kill me! Lakers rule! I am talking about our office. We are trying to make small steps in going green at Esthetic Dentistry, starting with PAPER. My husband has a hate-hate relationship with the stuff! Because of that, we hide all of our little post-it pads where he can't see them, and if for some reason we just have to waste an envelope and use snail mail, I sneak the goods to one of the ladies up front and they run over to the post office when Dr.M isn't looking! It also doesn't help that first class stamps will be going up to 46c each!

At our office, we try to be as paperless as possible, by utilizing dental software to organize our patient files. No large, overstuffed filing cabinets for us. We already offer digital x-rays, and file electronic insurance claims as often as possible. We have recently introduced a new email/phone/text appointment confirmation system, which we are testing out right now. While our office is still using paper for new patient forms, the dental assistants scan everything in to each patient's computer file, and then the paper can be recycled. It is our goal to eventually have everyone fill out the forms online before their first appointment, which would save a lot of paper! And make for a happy Dr. M!

In an effort to continue our "going green" mission, we are offering online magazine/website options while you wait. We may not have the most recent magazines to peruse in the reception area, but once you are in the chair you have many choices! So far we have bookmarked cnn, espn, people, tmz, la times, and sports illustrated. Did you know the latest Bachelor is going through a bitter breakup? Lindsay Lohan serving jailtime? Can you tell which sites I have been browsing???

What are some of your favorite online magazines? What magazines would you like to see at your dental office?

your invisaligngal

INVISALIGN DAY!!!

Hello fabulous fans!

I have been out most of this week on babysitting duties for my little nieces. I got a crash course in what it would be like to have 3 girls! So far I realized it's a lot of playing mediator in little arguments and listening to who can out-talk the other! In other words, DRAMA! But even though it has been challenging at times, it is so nice that my daughter and her cousins are like sisters, fights and all.:)

I wanted to talk about the upcoming Invisalign Day in our office, on Monday, April 26. We are so excited about this day! Why is it different from any other day? Well, for one, it's all about Invisalign! What could be more exciting than that? We have seen so many smiles transformed with this product. And without pain and suffering! Patients who come for Invisalign are usually there because they can't wait to get their next set of aligners. They can't wait to see their updated photos and see the changes in their mouth. It is so fun for me (and the patient) to look at these photos. Not only do the teeth change, but usually you see big changes in the gums, especially if there was a lot of crowding. The gums begin to be less puffy and red, and the patient can clean and floss more easily, and then the teeth somehow appear whiter. As an Invisalign patient gets further into treatment, he or she starts to pay closer attention to their smile and take better care of it. It's amazing! These are patients who actually want to be there, are excited to be there, instead of most people who dread their dental visits. It is very rewarding to be able to provide this service to our patients.

So for Invisalign Day, we try to get as many candidates ready before the actual day. If anyone is interested, we make an appointment for the consult before the Invisalign day, and take any records that may be needed.  If the patient has treatment to be completed, we will get everything finished before starting Invisalign.  Then, on Invisalign Day, we can take impressions for these patients and they are on their way to getting their aligners!  Of course we will also see any interested patients for consults on that day as well. For patients who get started during the month of April or on Invisalign Day, we are rewarding them with a $500 match and complimentary teeth whitening. For any patients who take their impressions on Invisalign Day, we are also offering a 5% discount!  We will have some raffles, goody bags, refreshments, and fun! It's a day to celebrate these patients!

We have done Invisalign Days in the past and they are usually quite successful. They are very motivating for our staff and are a great team-builder! We at Esthetic Dentistry, have seen the power that these little plastic trays hold!

Hope to see you on Invisalign Day!

:) invisaligngal

Electric Toothbrush...do I REALLY need one?

The simple answer is YES. I am a big proponent of electric toothbrushes.  I think everyone should have one! When I see a new patient, I usually deliver my little "electric toothbrush" speech after I give the "floss daily" speech and "brush tongue" speech and "don't forget to see us every six months" speech. But people generally don't want to hear too much preaching from their dentist, so sometimes I refrain from the electric toothbrush talk. If a person has relatively good oral hygiene and seems to be in control of his/her manual toothbrush, I might not mention it in the first visit. But believe me, I will bring it up at some point, fanatic that I am.

I am not promoting any particular kind of electric toothbrush, but I will tell you why I LOVE MY SONICARE in a bit....

The benefits of an electric toothbrush are many:

1) an electric toothbrush is more effective at removing plaque than manual brushing

2) gum recession can be prevented or reduced

3) gum health can improve significantly

4) it can whiten your teeth

5) it encourages longer brushing times, usually at least 2 minutes

So you can see why I tout this wonderful invention! ( I also happen to love the Waterpik, but I will save that discussion for a later time). With the constant motion at a constant speed, plaque comes off much more readily and easily with an electric toothbrush. Also, many many people suffer from receding gums. Most of the time this was caused by aggressive or incorrect toothbrushing technique. Many of us grew up thinking the harder we brush and the harder the bristles are, the cleaner our teeth will be. Granted, it probably does take all the yuck off your teeth but at the same time it abrades the outer layer of the teeth and starts to wear down the gums. If the recession is severe, a gum graft may be indicated, which is not the most pleasant experience. Usually though, we are just trying to prevent the general gum recession from getting worse. A lifetime habit of aggressive brushing can be hard to break, so why not let an electric brush do the work for you?

It would make sense then, if plaque is coming off more readily, then that means there will be less plaque in your mouth, less plaque irritating the gums....hence, less gum disease! Yippee! Less bleeding, less swelling, healthier gum condition, good breath...even better!

Also, because the electric toothbrush is so efficient, it takes off those darned surface stains people get from drinking all those delectable drinks like coffee, red wine..etc. It really does make your teeth whiter and stay whiter!

Most of these fancy brushes have a built-in timer as well. It is fantastic, because they give a 30 sec pause so you can brush each section of your mouth for the same amount of time. Two minutes go by in a flash! Try doing that with a manual brush. Most people brush for about 20 seconds, tops. Time yourself! See how you do!

The Sonicare is my electric toothbrush of choice. I cannot live without this thing. When I try to brush with a regular brush now it feels so awkward and archaic. I feel like my teeth are still dirty for crying out loud. I am not trying to say one cannot brush well manually. It is definitely possible. I am saying I have become so incredibly spoiled by my Sonicare that I can't go back!

This device is amazing. It moves in a quick sweeping motion, which is very effective at removing plaque while at the same time very gentle on the gums. I was once one of those aggressive toothbrushers (chalk it up to my Type A personality, oldest child in a Korean family, etc) so I have quite a lot of gum recession. It has the timer, and even a UV sanitizing station for the brush heads! Love it!

I wish I could just give these to all of my patients but alas, I am not the Donald Trump of dentistry. But I do offer it at a reduced price from the retail shops. I'm telling you, it is an investment well worth it...the best insurance you can get for a lifetime of healthy gums. Cheesy, I know. But I speak the truth!

All the best,

invisaligngal

What are ATTACHMENTS?

Hi! Today I thought I would talk about these little things called, "Attachments." Maybe not the most exciting blog topic of the year but it is a question that potential Invisalign patients have on their mind! So what are Attachments? And why do we have to use them? Basically, there are 3 main components of the Invisalign system:

1) the aligners (the clear trays)
2) IPR (Interproximal reduction, or "polishing" in between the teeth to make space)
3) ATTACHMENTS

Attachments are small "tooth-colored fillings" that are placed on the outer surface of certain teeth. My patients like to call them, "knobs", "blobs", "thingys", or "thingamajigs." They are made of the same material that we use for tooth-colored composites. The purpose of attachments are many. Sometimes the aligner alone cannot effectively move a particular tooth in the way we want. Attachments may be used for:

1) rotating teeth
2) pulling a tooth down
3) pushing a tooth up or sideways
4) helping to keep the aligner in place
5) pushing teeth back

As you can see the role of attachments can be really important! So although it would be great to just wear the aligners and get straight teeth, in many cases at least a couple of attachments are necessary. Coupled with the aligner, the attachment helps to create forces to push/pull/rotate a tooth. These little knobs are more helpful than they look! And they are still wayyy better than wearing a mouth full of brackets!

Attachments usually stay on for the duration of the Invisalign treatment. They vary in shape and size. Most of my patients say that after a short while they get used to them and don't really notice them at all. Also, once you place the aligner over the teeth, it is even less visible.

One similarity with brackets that I have noticed: you have to really brush well around the attachments during your treatment. Just like brackets, the attachments can be receptacles for plaque and all that icky stuff. If it doesn't come off, then eventually you may see those little white spots or decalcified areas that can become permanent after the brackets or attachments are removed. But that is what is so great with Invisalign. You can remove the aligners so it is so much easier to clean around the attachments! No wire to try to get under and wrestle using that darned floss threader!

I just read through this post and actually counted 6 exclamation points. I never thought I could get that excited over attachments!

I must be a true Invisalign geek.

Your invisalign gal :)

Who Does Invisalign?

Hello fans!

I am keeping to my New Year's resolution and updating my blog. I hope you are all reading it! :)

I thought I would talk about the kinds of patients we generally see, the people who come through our doors asking for Invisalign, or those people who didn't even know about this fabulous treatment. Doesn't the saying go, "You don't know what you don't know," right?

The most common expression I hear from patients is, "I had braces as a teen and I lost my retainer." These people probably had very straight teeth for a while, but without that retainer, the teeth like to MOVE. They get all confused and don't know where they are supposed to be. "Should I stay in this new place? But I kind of miss the old one...maybe I'll just inch a little closer to that space for awhile..." This is what we call, "orthodontic relapse." The teeth just want to go where it's more familiar, and that is why the retainer is SO important. The retainer tells the teeth and reminds the teeth where their new position is. It reminds them constantly. The philosophy is that eventually, the teeth will figure it out and stay there. These patients are usually the ideal Invisalign patient. They know how their teeth looked straight, and sometimes it doesn't take much to get them back to that place.

Another common thing we see is lower crowding of the front teeth. This can range from mild crowding to more severe. We tend to see this get worse as we age. People think this may be due to wisdom teeth coming in, but that is usually not the case. For whatever reason, people experience this "forward (or mesial) drift" and then lower crowding results. The consequences are several. One of course would be esthetic. Crowded teeth just don't look as nice as straight teeth! The second is hygienic. It is simply much more difficult to floss and clean crowded teeth than it is straight teeth. Plaque and tartar build up in these crowded areas more readily, and when stains occur in these places it can be more pronounced. As a result, the gums can become red, puffy, and appear generally unhealthy. In addition, a patient may notice that the edges of his teeth are uneven. This is often due to the bite being compromised in some way. By straightening out the teeth, it can improve the bite as well as the overall symmetry of one's smile.

Often, a person will come in wanting ONE tooth fixed. She might say, "I don't like how THAT (and she will point to it) tooth is sticking out." After we take initial photos, we talk about the tooth in question as well as other issues she may have. Patients are amazed at what they see in their photos. Some are fascinated, while others become self-conscious and horrified. When the Invisalign treatment is complete, most patients are pleasantly surprised at the results of fixing not only that one tooth, but the others as well!

Occasionally a patient might need an implant for a missing tooth, but maybe the tooth above or the tooth next to the space has drifted a bit too close into the space. Invisalign can help to push those teeth back to where they belong and even create a "fake" tooth while the patient is in Invisalign!

We have teens all the way up to adults in their 60's and up doing Invisalign. It can be quite transforming. People feel like their teeth even look whiter once their teeth are straight. It's really more like they are able to keep them cleaner!

The more I work with Invisalign the more I love it.

TTYL....

Invisalign Gal :)

Fashion forward and Invisalign?!?

Happy New Year! It's been a while since I have blogged. My resolution is to be a better blogger! My patient, Emily, came in the other day. I've talked about her in a previous blog entry. She went home for the holidays and spent some time with family. Remember her sister? She is in Invisalign treatment as well. Is this ringing a bell? So Emily tells me that they were "comparing" their Invisalign stories...looking at each other's aligners, seeing who has more ( her sis does), who has more "bumps" or attachments (Emily does). So Emily's sister is about 4 aligners ahead of Emily at the moment (Yes I have joined in on the friendly sisterly competition! Makes it more fun.). Being slightly more experienced in the ways of Invisalign, her sister gave her some tips on cleaning the aligners, what happens when you drink red wine (stains!) , and also presented Emily with a gift. It was a Kate Spade makeup bag! Now I know all you ladies are oohing and aahhing, because what gal doesn't love any Kate Spade bag? This was a really cute one, white with big black polka dots and a hot pink satin lining. Love it! But what Emily loved even more was what was inside. It was her own custom-made Invisalign Care Kit! Lip balm, a mouthwash spray, denture cleaning tablets (you can use these for cleaning the aligners), a cute purple aligner box, floss, toothpaste, and a toothbrush! The bag has a plastic covering, so it won't get wet. The size was perfect to fit in any purse or to even carry around on its own, and you can look stylish while still taking care of your Invisalign! And nobody has to know. When Emily showed it to me we were laughing like little girls. My husband came in, curious about all the commotion. When I excitedly showed him Emily's bag, he did that amused half-smile which stated, "I am glad you are having a good time but I really don't know what all this brouhaha is all about." That's fine. I'm used to that look!

See my invisaligngal page for photos of the fab bag!