General Dentist

>> My name is Anthony Zalis and I'm a general dentist. Well, the things that general dentists do are anything from preventative care which is your cleanings, x-rays, prevention, polishing, things like that, fillings which is called operative dentistry which are cavities and things like that, cosmetic dentistry which is like veneers, bleaching, stuff like that to make people's smiles better. Other things are endodontic treatment which is root canals, oral surgery which is extracting teeth or biopsies. And then prosthetic dentistry which is getting into more advanced like dentures. Personally I like prevention and I have three hygienists I work with who help me in that part of it. I do like the multi-facets of dentistry but if I had my druthers I like the cosmetic end of dentistry now, making people smile is better and make them happier with their appearance. Okay, so the hygienist has their patient. So after they're done for their cleaning, a 45-minute or an hour appointment I would come in and review and the x-rays that they took which we do digitally now on computers. That cuts down half the radiation and then I'll clinically do it, put on my gloves. I usually wear a mask and then I also wear an optic lens which kind of you know enhances the field of vision for me in the patient's mouth. And then I'll go through tooth by tooth and the gums around each tooth and do a clinical and radiographic examination and talk about the patient's needs or desires and then anything that might be bothering them if they have a sensitive tooth or cavity or tooth that's hurting them or gum that's swollen or something like that and then we'll address that and schedule it appropriately. To be on your own practice you can pretty much start whenever you want and then whenever you want. I work four days a week, Monday through Thursday so I'll get in usually around 8 o'clock and can then work to like 5-5:30 and then on Tuesdays I work until 7.