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Hudsonville Relay for Life:
We are going to be participating in the Hudsonville Relay for Life June 26-27.
The event is located at the Hudsonville Fairgrounds and runs from 9:00 am Saturday to 9:00 am Sunday.
We welcome you to join us by either walking with us in the event, or by making a contribution to fight cancer.
If you would like to make a donation, you can drop it by our office, bring it along to the event, or make a secure donation by clicking here: Make a Donation
We'd love to see you there!
One in three people will be diagnosed with cancer during their lifetime. The American Cancer Society Relay For Life® is a life-changing event that brings together more than 3.5 million people across the country each year to celebrate the lives of those who have battled cancer, remember loved ones lost, and fight back against a disease that takes too much.
The Relay For Life of Hudsonville/Jenison had an amazing year in 2008. The community came together and raised an outstanding $59,543.59! This was a 60% growth from the previous year, and a truly remarkable achievement, especially at a time when fundraising wasn't always easy. To learn more about some of the amazing programs, research, and education this money helps the American Cancer Society provide, please visit the
Mission
page. Learn more about about
Relay For Life
®
and how together we can Celebrate, Remember, and Fight Back against cancer!
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Would you like to read one of our past newsletters?
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FIRE!
As you may have heard, on Friday, April 11, 2008 our office suffered a devastating fire.
Patients were scheduled until 1:00 p.m. that day, and all of the staff members had left the building by 1:30.
Around 4:00 p.m. a call was made to the Hudsonville Fire Department that suspicious looking smoke was coming out of our roof vents.
The fire was determined to be electrical in nature.
All of the contents and equipment in the office were a total loss.
If items were not burned or melted, they were so damaged by the smoke and soot that they were unusable.
The structure of the building was still sound, due to fire walls that were put in when the office was built, but inside the entire office had to be demolished down to the studs.
Here is a photo of just some of the damage the fire caused.
We are in the process of rebuilding our office, but are expecting it to be late fall/early winter before we are able to move back in. The new office will be even more high tech/high touch office than it was before with the best in new dental equipment and diagnostic technologies.
Because all of our patient records are digital, all patient charts, x-rays, and information are secure and intact.
While our office is being rebuilt, we have set up a temporary office just a few doors down, within the same building.
With a lot of help from our dental suppliers, and thanks to our digital records, we were able to start seeing patients within a week after the fire.
This used to be a DVD player and a laser printer located in the hallway. As you can see, they completely melted from the heat.
We sincerely appreciate your understanding and patience while we make this transition.
To adjust for the reduced chair capacity, we have extended our patient hours for your convenience.
Firetrucks the day of the fire
 Firetrucks the day of the fire
The hole in our roof that had been boarded up.
Fire damage in the hallway
Photo of reception desk after everything had been torn out
This is a photo of the hallway-you can see that everything has been stripped down to the studs and sealed.
Photo of the roofers putting on a new roof
Reception area with new insulation put in
New Windows!
Reception area-you can see they have started bringing the drywall in!
New Impression-Taking Technology:
Do you hate having those messy, goopy impressions taken while you are having a crown procedure done? Recent advances in technology now allow us to capture impressions of your teeth digitally, rather than with the traditional messy impressions. We now have at our office a digital impression-taking machine called the Cadent iTero. The system uses a special camera to take digital images of your teeth, which are then processed by the computer to design a digital model. After the scan is complete, it is sent to the lab, where it is processed and milled into a very precise model of your teeth. The lab will then construct your crown and send it to us upon completion.
What is the advantage for you? Primarily, your comfort! The digital scan usually only takes about 5 minutes, which is less than the amount of time the traditional impressions take. Also, you will not need to have the messy impressions taken, which can be uncomfortable for some patients. Because the model is an exact replica of your mouth, the crowns generally fit much better and require fewer adjustments.
New Cancer Screening Technology:
Did you know that oral cancer kills one person every hour, 24 hours a day in the United States?
Now we have new wellness exam technology that dramatically improves our ability to screen for oral abnormalities that could lead to cancer. Because early detection is essential to increase chances for successful treatment, we always check your whole mouth for any abnormalities (tongue, lips, cheek lining, and gums). We have acquired
VELscope
, a state-of-the-art, painless, non-invasive screening tool that helps us to see what we can't see with the unaided eye during your routine oral cancer exam.
What can you expect during a VELscope examination? After conducting a thorough oral cancer examination, we'll use a handheld device to shine a blue light into your mouth and examine the tissues through a special eyepiece. This technology takes advantage of your mouth's natural fluorescence which is normally invisible. Using the blue light, however, we can look for specific changes in the color or structure of your oral tissues that might be indicative of abnormal cells. It takes only about five potentially life-saving minutes.
We want all of our patients to have a bright and smiling future. Recently, more than 25% of oral cancer victims have been under age forty and have none of the known lifestyle risk factors like tobacco, alcohol use, diabetes, or HIV. And because in its earliest, most treatable stages, oral cancer usually causes no pain or discomfort, we recommend the VELscope examination for all of our adult patients each year. Ask us about it at your next appointment.
Learn more facts and statistics here:
www.oralcancerfoundation.org
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