The FINANCIAL — “Healthy, good-looking teeth are a very important factor both in everyday life and in business”, says Levan Chkhikvishvili, dentist of Dental Design Studio Ekadent. “If a person has good teeth it means that that person respects himself and thus he becomes more self confident.”
Director Eka Kutalia established Ekadent in Georgia 5 years ago. located in the heart of most prestigious district of Tbilisi – Vake, Dental Design Studio now is one of the most popular clinics in the city serving high and lower income patients.
Ekadent is helping people to have a fresher smile and healthier teeth throughout the year. Dental studio delivers a wide range of dental services, it provides businesses, local people and the general public with a professional Dental Service and relaxed atmosphere.
Dental Studio works every day for eleven hours, except Sundays. On its two dentists’ chairs clinic serves about 11-12 patients a day.
Ekadent plans to enlarge the clinic and offer services that they do not have at the moment.
Orthopaedist George Avalishvili and Ekadent dentist Levan Chkhikvishvili speak about the importance of having healthy teeth. They say that people should visit the dentist once every 6 months in order to look after their mouth’s hygiene and teeth.
There are generally two types of dentistry; adult and child. Ekadent has a paediatric dentist for children however it mostly serves adults.
“The majority of our visitors are women”, says dentist Levan Chkhikvishvili. “they seem to care more about looking after their teeth”, he also believes.
“Actually teenagers seem to be looking after their teeth better than adults or the elderly. 70% of our customers are young patients and 30% only are adults,” Levan Says.
“Practical procedures are the most popular. Most of our patients are people who visit us because of some trouble with their teeth or just wanting to look after their mouth’s hygiene.
“We always try to explain to our patients how important it is to regularly visit the dentist in order to check the state of their teeth.
“We always try to help teeth before their state worsens. We explain to our patients why they should pay attention to even a small problem in order not to increase their suffering in the future.”
Levan says there is a bigger demand for therapy service than cosmetic or surgical.
“We also provide prosthodontic treatment which includes Veneers and inlay-onley treatments. We can divide the demand for this treatment in to two parts. The first is those people who just want to look after their teeth in order to look good and have a successful person’s image. The second is those people who intend to have prosthodontic treatment for the restoration of teeth. Teeth are not only for aesthetic beauty, but are for a person’s overall health as well”, Orthopaedist George Avalishvili says.
“We provide all kinds of dentistry services that exist except for prosthodontic or the correction of teeth with the help of braces, however we plan to add this service to our package very soon”, Levan says.
Q. How frequently do you see extreme cases where teeth have to be removed rather than just being treated?
A. Unfortunately we see many such cases. That’s why patients need to know how important it is to visit the dentist in time.
Q. Most patients are afraid of dentists; a dentist’s drill is a cause of fear for many. How should people combat this fear and actually how painless is the medical treatment of teeth today?
A. All of the procedures are completely painless, there is nothing to be feared. Most patients are afraid of dentists because of dentists they visited in the past who must have hurt their teeth, and that’s why they don’t visit us as often as they should.
One’s first visit to a doctor or dentist is very important. If a patient does not feel positive toward their dentist then it’s very hard to work with them. It is important that a good dentist encourages a feeling of confidence in their patients so that their relationship develops on a basis of trust.
NEWS insert
Researchers have found links between oral health and overall health. Now they think tooth and gum disease may be related to memory loss.
Richard Crout researches gum disease at the West Virginia University School of Dentistry. He says in recent years, oral health researchers have found that tooth and gum disease have links to many other health problems – from heart disease to premature birth and pregnancy complications. Now they think there might be links to memory loss.
Crout told Voice of America that many dentists see older patients with memory loss who come into their offices with teeth that are a mess. Often that's because these patients have forgotten to do the basics of self care.
Q. How safe is it to professionally whiten teeth?
A. It’s a completely safe and painless process; patients just feel a bit of discomfort in their mouths after a whitening process. A dentist who whitens teeth should be well experienced in the procedure.
All teeth have individual limits beyond which teeth can’t become any whiter. A patient should certainly be informed about the possibilities of whitening, so as not to entertain any false hopes.
Q. Which toothpaste do you recommend to your patients?
A. I can’t give any specific names, it depends on the individual conditions that different teeth have. The main point is to pay large attention to the hygiene of one’s mouth.
It is worth mentioning that teeth need to be brushed a minimum of twice a day, in the morning and at night. Teeth need to be brushed for about minimum 3 minutes. People should also use floss, which few actually do.
Q. Please list the sort of bad habits that most commonly harm one’s teeth?
A. I would have to name tobacco as the most harmful thing for the teeth. Irregular hygiene, and paying little attention to the mouth also badly affects the state of your teeth.
There are many theories on why different diseases are widespread in the mouth. They are connected with ecological and social conditions and also how healthy a person’s lifestyle is in general.
Q. How often should a person visit the dentist in order to keep their teeth healthy?
A. People should visit the dentist every 6 months in order to look after their mouth’s hygiene and teeth’s health.
Q. How important are healthy, good looking teeth for a happy life and business success?
A. Healthy, good looking teeth are a very important factor so in everyday life as in business. If a person has healthy teeth it means that that person respects himself and therefore becomes more self confident. What we are seeing is that people who are connected to the arts and the media generally pay more attention to their teeth.
We could say that good looking teeth invoke positive feelings in people. Therefore healthy teeth are important for one’s success.
Q. What do you think, do Georgians pay much attention to their appearance in general?
A. Georgians look after their appearance more nowadays, however they cared about their appearance in the past too. What we can say though is that the bigger priority in people’s minds is clothing rather than the health of their teeth.
Georgians really pay a lot of attention to their appearance, but whether they are paying it in the right direction or not is another point. I have seen people abroad who pay more attention to their teeth than to clothing. When you have good looking teeth it’s not only aesthetically pleasing, but it also speaks well of a person’s health.
Q. What can you say about your personnel, how experienced are they?
A. We have doctors and doctor’s assistants at our clinic. All who are working here have quite good experience. One of our biggest plusses is our sterilization room, which is of the highest standards. In dentistry good sterilization is very important, and that’s what we offer to our patients.
We have worked during the worse times of our country’s recent history and we think that it is to our merit that we have not lost the aim of amelioration.
Q. Please name the standard tariffs for a consultation, filling, whitening process?
A. A consultation at our clinic is free of charge. The whitening of teeth starts from USD 500. Every person has their own limit to teeth whitening after which teeth can’t be whitened any more, however after this process they should continue to visit the dentist often. A filling costs from GEL 80 to GEL 150, these costs are determined by how injured the teeth are.
Our service is a bit expensive, but this is due to its high quality. We work hard and if we want to continue to function as a business, then the prices we charge are quite acceptable. The people visiting us know that if they pay a bit more than the average in our clinic today, then they’ll save more by having healthy teeth in the long run.
Q. Where do you import the necessary medical and technical equipment in the clinic from?
A. As I mentioned above we tend to import new technologies from European countries, but there is a wide choice of different companies in Georgia providing things for everyday usage.
Q. Do you plan to enlarge your clinic or to open a new branch in the near future?
A. We are not planning to open another clinic of ours yet, but we do plan to enlarge our current clinic. We will also offer our patient services that we do not have at the moment.
NEWS insert
Swiss dental implant makers look set to report another weak quarter in the upcoming earnings season, analysts say, after U.S.-based rival Biomet Inc. (BMET) booked write-downs on its dental implants unit 3i which was hit by weak demand, Dow Jones reported. Dental implants makers are still suffering from weak demand amid the global downturn, as the market for their expensive treatments largely depends on out-of-pocket spending. The bleak Biomet revenue report confirms our view that the dental implant market remains in a depressed mode due to the difficult economic environment and the discretionary nature of dental implant procedures," said Credit Suisse analyst Christoph Gretler.
Written By Tako Khelaia
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