Dr. Erin Gustafson

Dr. Erin Gustafson was born and raised in northeast Texas, relocating to Lubbock to complete her undergraduate degree in Zoology at Texas Tech University.

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9630 North Sam Houston Pkwy E. Bldg B
Humble, TX 77396
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Posts for tag: dental care

By Gustafson Dental
June 20, 2020
Category: Oral Health
Tags: dental care  
ACommonSenseApproachtoManagingYourDentalCareCosts

It's a sad fact: Many people postpone needed dental treatment because of their finances. There's no doubt that treatments for many tooth and gum problems can be expensive. But delaying treatment can make matters worse—and when they do see their dentist to address the issue, the costs can skyrocket.

The thriftiest way to manage your dental health is to prevent disease before it occurs or seek treatment as early as possible. You may incur some initial expense, but you'll pay less in the long-run and have better health to boot.

Here's a common sense approach for easing the impact of dental care on your budget.

Form a customized care plan. The key to keeping your dental expenses in check is to be proactive, not reactive with your care. Don't wait until you begin noticing problems—instead, invest in regular dental visits where your dentist can assess your ongoing individual risk for dental disease. Using that assessment, your dentist and you can then create a care plan that lowers your disease risk and promotes optimal health.

Adopt sound hygiene practices. A simple toothbrush and a roll of floss could save you thousands in dental care costs over a lifetime. Using them daily removes dental plaque, the top cause for both tooth decay and gum disease. Couple that with regular dental cleanings and your risk for costly dental disease will go down significantly.

Try less expensive, short-term restorations. Even with the best prevention strategy, there's always a chance you'll encounter a problem with your teeth or gums. Unfortunately, the best permanent fix may be more than your budget can handle. In that case, consider a less expensive restoration (like resin or glass-based fillings) to protect and restore your problem teeth until you can afford a better permanent solution.

Talk with your dentist about long-term financing. Spreading out the bill for dental treatment over several payments can help you manage unforeseen costs. Talk with your dentist about treatment financing options they offer or sponsor. If possible, have a contingency plan for payment in place before you need it—just in case.

Any kind of dental care, even preventive maintenance, can cost you. But if you manage your care wisely, you can keep that cost to a minimum.

If you would like more information on managing your dental health, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation.

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By Gustafson Dental
October 09, 2014
Category: Oral Health
Tags: dental care  
DentistryisChangingtoMeetDentalCaresEmergingChallenges

Today’s dentist can not only treat most dental diseases and conditions, but can almost prevent disease completely. Our true needs as a society, however, go beyond the dentist’s chair — to the lack of availability and affordability of care for every American.

That’s of grave concern to dentists — so much so that dentistry itself is already changing to meet these challenges.

In one of the most visible changes, we’re seeing accelerated technological advancement that could lower costs and extend our range of care. Advances in 3-D digital imaging are giving dentists amazingly detailed views of patients’ mouths that surpass the accuracy of traditional imaging. Telecommunications and the internet are enabling dentists in distant locations to examine patients and even review dental x-rays to guide treatment, providing a new level of care access for patients.

The means for delivering that care are also changing as the traditional paradigm of the solo practice becomes more difficult for new dentists to achieve. With educational debt and practice setup costs reaching as high as $1 million — before earning their first dollar — many dentists are joining larger groups or dental corporations. In these arrangements, practitioners don’t have the burden of overhead expenses and can concentrate mainly on their clinical work. On the downside, patients seeing multiple providers may not easily build that all important dentist-patient relationship that’s the hallmark of a solo practice. This alternative model could, however, increase the number of practicing dentists over time, making dental care more widely available.

Finally, we’re beginning to see greater collaboration between physicians and dentists. There’s an emerging understanding of the true interconnection of the body’s various systems: diseases of the mouth can affect other diseases of the body, and vice-versa. We’re also experiencing a growing development in salivary diagnosis, using this vital oral fluid to detect conditions and disease in other parts of the body. Dentists and physicians will be working more closely than ever to treat the whole person, not just individual systems — a collaboration that will improve patient care all around.

As these changes continue to emerge in dentistry, you may soon see their effects during your visits. One thing, however, won’t change — the commitment of dentists to provide the highest level of care, for both your oral and general health.

If you would like more information on how changes in dentistry could affect your care, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation.

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