By: Anna Giacalone, DMD

It is 10 AM Monday morning and already the week is off to a bad start.  The phone is ringing off the hook, your co-worker called in sick, you need a file from the cabinet and the drawer is stuck.  In frustration you tug that drawer with all your might and wammo the drawer gives way and smacks you square in the face.  A quick glance in the mirror and your worst nightmare,.. a broken front tooth.

Twenty minutes later you are sitting in the dental chair sure that your front tooth is history.  So many things are racing through your mind.  How will the tooth be replaced and when???  The dentist enters with the good news.  Even though half of the front tooth is broken off it can be fixed immediately. An hour later you return to work with your smile intact.  You can’t even tell the tooth was ever broken.

This is exactly what occurred to Dr. Giacalone’s patient.  See for yourself the beautiful results from direct bonding.

Direct Bonding of tooth colored composite resin , commonly known as “bonding”, is one of several methods available for changing the shape and size of teeth or restoring fractured  or decayed teeth.  Bonded resin materials chemically adhere to existing tooth structure both the outer enamel and inner dentin.  The advent of this bonding chemistry has made conservative dentistry possible.  Formerly the dentist needed to remove healthy tooth structure to create mechanical “locks or undercuts” to retain the filling material.  Old silver fillings required this type of mechanical retention.

Direct bonding is a wonderful choice for creating a beautiful smile when healthy teeth are misshaped or too small for the patient’s mouth.  Teeth can be reshaped or enlarged in one visit without local anesthesia “Novacaine” or discomfort.  The material is added on to the tooth.  No tooth structure is lost to the procedure.

As with all procedures, direct bonding is not the best choice in all situations.  The advantages include that it is the most conservative, quickest as it is done entirely in the dental office, and  most economical. When a large amount of tooth structure needs to be replaced or function is heavy a stronger laboratory made restoration is preferable.

Dr. Giacalone  attended Chestnut Hill College earning a B.S. in biology in 1978. In 1982 she graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, receiving the Pennsylvania Dental Association Award of Excellence.  After graduation, she served four years in the U.S. Public Health Service, providing dental care to the underserved.  Since that time, she has been working in private practice providing a wide range of dental services to the people of Delaware County.  In December, Dr.Giacalone celebrated a milestone, 20 years of dental practice in the Olde Ridge Village.

Dr. Giacalone puts a good deal of effort into continuing dental education. She earned Fellowship status in the Academy of General Dentistry after completing the required five hundred hours of specified education and passing the national exam. Currently she is pursuing the next level, mastership.  Other scholarly pursuits include publication of an article in a major dental journal, lecturing and teaching.  In 1993 she completed the program in Complete Dentistry at the prestigious Dawson Institute for Advanced Dental Studies, an experience which had a major impact on the way she practices dentistry.

Dr. Giacalone has been honored by patients, peers, and consumer groups with the following awards:
•“Top Cosmetic Dentist Main Line Today 2007 (chosen by  peers)
•“Top Dentists Delaware Valley 2008, Delaware Consumers’ Checkbook (chosen by patients)
•“America’s Top Dentists 2010, Consumer Research Council of America

www.GiacaloneDMD.com