Dr. Ken Schweifler is a general dentist in Los Altos, CA. He has over 15 years of experience helping patients enjoy optimal oral health. Our family dentist office is your local resource for the long-term maintenance or repair of your natural smile. Dr. Schweifler offers personalized dental care with a holistic approach focusing on healthy teeth, gums, and overall physical health.
Routine dental care is the foundation of lifelong dental health and also supports the maintenance of your physical health. A healthy and stable smile plays an important role in disease prevention and can decrease your risk of cardiovascular and systemic diseases. Visit us twice a year for dental exams, teeth cleanings, and screenings for oral health concerns such as tooth decay and gum disease. We believe in minimally-invasive dental work and a patient-centered approach.
Dr. Schweifler uses a comprehensive diagnostic approach to your dental care using the Dawson Academy principles of complete dentistry. A more thorough evaluation takes into account the condition of your teeth and gums, the function of your jaw joints, and the fit of your bite. These latter aspects of your smile can play a key role in long-term dental health and the comfort of your bite.
Dental Fitness Program
When Dr. Schweifler asks his patients what they want for their dental future, their responses tend to center on the same goals. They want NO DENTISTRY. Patients want to prevent dental problems, avoid tooth loss, avoid pain, and preserve what they have. They want to avoid the unnecessary expenditure of time and money on dentistry and avail that time and energy for other life pursuits.
We believe that helping patients achieve this goal of “NO DENTISTRY” requires a complete exam and a dental health master plan. We believe that without a plan, patients tend to make reactive, short-term decisions that aren’t consistent with their long-term desires.
Holistic Dental Care: Health is a function of participation
The majority of dental disease (gum disease, tooth decay) is caused by bacterial plaque and our immune reactions to that plaque. The dental hygiene experience in a typical dental process. It emphasizes teeth “cleaning,” spending all or the majority of a visit removing the bacterial plaque from a patient’s teeth. Very little or no time is spent on preventive education and coaching about effective home care techniques. A patient can better control their own oral condition on a daily basis with this knowledge.
The problem with this model is that once removed, bacterial plaque can return within 24 hours. Especially if a patient’s oral home care practices are inadequate. So, the rationale for 2 covered “cleanings” per year from the typical insurance company clearly isn’t centered on achieving health and preventing future disease.
It’s an arbitrary frequency that’s purely a business decision. In essence, it’s NOT designed to give patients what they want- NO DENTISTRY. In Dr. Schweifler’s experience, many patients who only have 2 hygiene appointments per year are far from healthy and aren’t even aware of it.
Our dental philosophy coincides strongly with the old English proverb: “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” The focus of our hygiene program is to actually help you achieve your desired dental future that’s free of disease. This occurs through raising your awareness of your own condition. We give you more effective strategies to control plaque and coach you to a higher level of oral health.
The Dental Fitness Program is a computerized tool that will do just that. Much like a tangible cholesterol score, we can score three specific markers in the gum tissue:
- Plaque
- Pockets
- Bleeding
Patients that can control plaque and inflammation at 90% or greater on their own have far less disease and far less dental intervention over the course of their lives. From visit to visit, our hygienists can coach you to help raise these scores as you become healthier from your own improved self-management. This program works ideally for those patients who want to be active participants and want to take their healthcare into their own hands.
Early Detection and Prevention
Our smiles are always growing and changing. Visiting the dentist regularly is the best way to avoid further oral healthcare problems. Many teens need orthodontic intervention, and seniors have a lot of specific dental care problems. It’s our goal to clock these ahead of time and work on conservative treatment and prevention options. This follows our philosophy of “NO DENTISTRY.” Conservative treatments are less invasive and less expensive. They help you avoid more intensive treatment options in the future.
When we’re doing a dental exam, we’re looking for early warning signs of conditions that you may not notice on your own. The early signs and symptoms of oral cancer and gum disease are mild and painless. If you don’t know what you should be looking for, it may not come off as a warning sign. We’re trained to know these early signs, and they’re what we’re looking for when we do a thorough oral exam.
General Dental Treatments
Dr. Ken Schweifler offers the following general dental services at his Los Altos dental office:
To learn more about these dental services and to discuss your personal goals, please schedule a visit with Dr. Schweifler. We welcome new patients and can help you to achieve your goals. Contact our office at (650) 489-4620 or request an appointment online.