Welcome to the Los Altos dentist office of Dr. Ken Schweifler. Our team is committed to providing dentistry that is designed to meet your oral health needs while supporting overall physical health and wellness. Dr. Schweifler offers patients the opportunity to be active participants in their dental care and has developed our unique Dental Fitness program for establishing and achieving oral health goals.
From disease prevention through comprehensive general dental services to addressing your restorative and aesthetic needs with advanced treatment options, we are your local dental home in Los Altos.
YOUR FIRST VISIT
Our desire is to help you achieve a higher level of health and overall wellbeing by creating stability of the tooth-supporting gums and bone, the teeth and bite relationship, as well as enhancing comfort level and appearance. Our goal is to help you become as healthy as YOU want to be. Instead of telling you how healthy you should be, we will help you understand the choices you have about your dental future and let you make free, informed decisions.
You have unique dental needs, and we will address them objectively and honestly. We will identify and carefully consider your feelings and preferences. We consider it far better to prevent diseases than to simply treat them after they occur. The success of our efforts is assured through a proper examination and through goal setting to achieve an effective MASTER PLAN.
THE PRECLINICAL INTERVIEW: what to expect
No two people are alike. That is why Dr. Schweifler begins every new patient relationship not by rushing you quickly to a treatment room and looking in your mouth like an auto mechanic looks at your car. This relationship starts with a candid conversation. We understand that to fulfill our patient’s dental health goals, we need to really understand what those goals are. With years of experience interviewing new patients, we have discovered that generally, people want NO DENTISTRY or as little as possible. They want to avail more time and money for other life pursuits. Taking the necessary time to create a MASTER PLAN guarantees that.
Many people get stuck in an insurance-driven dental trap. They receive enough treatment to put out a “fire,” but without understanding what causes disease progression and their role in that progression, they frustratingly go from quick fix to quick fix in a downward spiral. We want to reveal to you an individualized risk assessment for your dental future. We also want to empower you with education on how you can best control disease progression and achieve and maintain dental health over the course of your life.
THE “CODISCOVERY” EXAM
Most U.S. dentistry is repair-oriented. 10-15 minutes are spent looking for the most immediate, fixable “problems” and a treatment plan is no more than a “To-do List” that never attempts to diagnose how those “problems” arose in the first place. The dentist may talk over your head and you consequently don’t feel very involved in your own care.
Dr. Schweifler performs a thorough initial exam, evaluating not only the teeth but the supporting gums and bone and the bite. This exam is done in an interactive way, involving you and allowing you to visually see what’s happening in your own mouth. His goal is for you “to own” your dental condition and decide whether you want to treat it and how. Our goal is always to work WITH you, not ON you.
REVIEW OF FINDINGS
Following the exam, Dr. Schweifler will invite you back to review the findings of that visit. Special emphasis is placed on visual aids to help you understand your unique condition. Dr. Schweifler relates the findings of the exam to your originally verbalized desires and values during the Pre-clinical Interview. By total involvement in the entire process, Dr. Schweifler can guide you to your available options for treatment and you can develop a Master Plan for your own dental future.
Your Master Plan will focus on your choice of:
• Patchwork dentistry – focusing only on the urgent
• Phased long term health – stabilizing, protecting, and preventing disease
• Rejuvenation – once disease is controlled, rejuvenating defects to ensure ideal comfort, function, and esthetics over the long haul
Everything that we do is focused on you and ensures that you make the best decision that is in your own best self-interest.
Schedule A Dental Appointment in Los Altos
We welcome new patients and families to our office. Contact us at (650) 489-4620 to schedule an appointment or request one online.