Dr. Colin Suzman

I have been meaning to write this for a long time and for my existing patients you probably already know this about me. Some of these comments are blatant and might be offensive to my colleagues, but please keep in mind that I am generalizing and this is merely my opinion based on 25 years of dental practice.

To my disappointment, the practice of Dentistry has become a big business rather than a health care profession, with the selling of unnecessary procedures to unsuspecting patients in exchange for financial gain. Every week I am giving second opinions to patients who have been grossly over-diagnosed not to mention the scare tactics used to push patients to make appointments immediately for unnecessary dental work. And to make matters worse, I see a good percentage of this unnecessary work being done at a sub-standard level.

I believe in treating all patients the way I would want to be treated. I have your dental health at heart. I practice honestly and abide by the Hippocratic Oath of do no harm. I am only interested in doing what is dentally needed to the best of my ability. I have seen the so called famous ‘dentist to the stars’ dentistry and it’s no better. I will merely inform you of the procedures I feel you need in order to maintain optimum oral health and it’s your decision whether to proceed.

I consider myself a conservative dentist with a philosophy on early intervention of dental work that is needed. Early intervention allows the dentist to conserve tooth structure. Preservation of tooth structure is the key to keeping your teeth for a long time. I believe the dentist of the future will be one that does less and not more. When I see a patient who has been seeing a dentist every 6 months and they have almost every tooth capped (crowned), I regard this as a failure.

I don’t recommend the removal of amalgam fillings unless it is absolutely necessary. To date, there is no material available which has such long term success as amalgam. I believe dentists who recommend the unnecessary removal are providing a disservice to their patients. These alternative ‘white fillings’ wear and leak more than amalgam fillings and should not be used to replace very large silver fillings especially in the back teeth. There are other more durable materials available but these as expected are not covered by most insurance companies.

I do not accept HMO insurance. The method of practicing in a HMO environment encourages dentists not to do required maintenance such as cleanings and fillings, but rather sell unnecessary dental services like gum therapies and caps in order to make up for the financial loss. Because dentists lose money by seeing HMO patients, they don’t want to see them and that’s why it takes months to get an appointment.

I will do my best to see you at your appointed time and respectfully request that you come to your appointment on time and give us at least 48 hours notice if for any reason you are unable to attend.

I will only recommend what you truly need to have done and guarantee my highest standards. If you are looking for a dental bargain or are leaving your dentist you trust to find one that will save you a few dollars, please look elsewhere.