Dental history will be made on Tuesday, October 28, when Dorothy Gleason, a Florida resident staying in Willow Grove, becomes the first patient in the northeastern United States to benefit from a new procedure that offers fixed, implant-supported replacement teeth in just one hour.
Thomas J. Balshi, DDS, FACP, one of a select group of North American practitioners trained in "Teeth In An Hour," will perform the ground-breaking procedure at 1 p.m. at Prosthodontics Intermedica, the Fort Washington research facility and clinical practice operated by Dr. Balshi and Glenn J. Wolfinger, DMD, FACP.
Created by Nobel Biocare, the international leader in dental implant creation, "Teeth In An Hour" is a completely new system that allows 3-D radiology, virtual surgery and extraordinarily sophisticated laboratory technology to compact a patient's life-changing implant procedure to approximately one hour. Prosthodontics Intermedica, recognized worldwide for its dental innovations, has partnered with the radiology department of Montgomery Hospital to launch the procedure on the East Coast.
"There are a variety of factors that have prevented patients from taking advantage of the benefits of fixed, implant-supported replacement teeth over the years," said Dr. Balshi, co-author of "A Patient's Guide To Dental Implants." "The beauty of 'Teeth In An Hour' is that minimizes the scheduling and anxiety obstacles presented by multiple-visit procedures by compressing the implant process into a single hour."
"Montgomery Hospital is pleased to be a partner in this revolutionary new concept in dentistry," commented Cheryl Cleveland-Steward, director of diagnostic imaging at Montgomery Hospital.
Prosthodontics Intermedica specializes in the reconstruction of missing, periodontally hopeless and severely decayed teeth. The practice offers such traditional solutions as crowns, bridges and dentures, but focuses on the Branemark System of dental implants, a procedure that enables patients once again to enjoy non-removable teeth. The Fort Washington center is a major source of research information about dental implants (http://www.dentalimplants-usa.com).
