best dentists

Top Dentists 2009

photos by Dan Bishop Visits to the dentist had always been a problem for Judi Smith. As a youngster, her parents could not afford routine dental care, so in adulthood, Smith suffered through root canals, partials and bridges. Visits to the prosthodontist, the dental specialist who handles such problems, were not uncommon. As her teeth continued to deteriorate, she was advised the best course would be to pull all her remaining teeth and replace them with implants. “I hated wearing false teeth anyway,” says Smith, a retired Badger Meter customer service rep who lives in Sussex. “I don’t have a…

Tooth Picks

Many of us will be chomping Granny Smiths with perfectly straight, white teeth right through our golden years. But even with tarter control, whitening treatments, anti-plaque gels, sensitive-teeth pastes, even with pulsing, sonic, ionic, electric toothbrushes, a biannual visit to the dentist is still necessary. But today, thanks to modern breakthroughs in technology and techniques, going to the dentist for a checkup doesn’t have to be like going to the Grand Inquisitor for confession anymore. While there is evidence that ancient Sumerian, Babylonian and Egyptian cultures practiced dentistry, modern American dental science is a relatively new discipline. Before the 1830s,…