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Articles by Steven Pigliacelli
Finding joy outside of dentistry: A real-life story
Finding joy outside of dentistry: A real-life story After 45 years in the dental lab industry, one professional proves it’s never too late to chase a lifelong dream. From building a successful independent dental laboratory to publishing his first novel after COVID, this inspiring story highlights career longevity, work-life balance, and the courage to reinvent yourself at any age.
Implant malposition: A new, easy-to-use radiographic aid for prevention
Although restorative and laboratory correction is possible, the best method continues to be prevention—i.e., placing the dental implant in the proper position at the time of surgery.3 Many clinicians still use freehand placement for single- and multiple-unit implant placement, and even with guided surgery, care must be taken when using information from perioperative radiographs to guide the surgical procedure.
7 tips to encourage participation at dental team meetings
If you dread team meetings because they’re repetitive, unproductive, and painful, then you can feel pretty confident your employees dislike them even more. The question becomes, how can you transform team meetings from something everyone can barely endure into productive conversations that move your practice forward? Through my many years of consulting, I’ve observed that employees and dentists adopt personas at meetings that help and hinder the meeting effectiveness.
Stress levels through the roof at your dental practice? Take time to celebrate the wins
Meditation. Breathing exercises. When you’re having a busy day in a busy practice, it’s hard to find a moment to catch your breath, let alone do exercises. Dental offices are like mini emergency rooms. The team works hard to take care of people and to alleviate discomfort and fear. Even though there’s a schedule, at the end of the day, it rarely looks like it did when the practice doors opened.
Practice Sales Today: These lesser-known deal terms make all the difference
We often hear from prospective sellers, “How much more can you really improve my offer? Why would I pay someone to negotiate on my behalf if I already have a deal in front of me that I’m happy with?” In truth, most of our job isn’t to ensure you get a valuation that you’re happy with. It’s to ensure the valuation you receive holds up, and that you’re protected from the other trapdoors built into letters of intent (LOIs) that will impact your value down the road.
Top 5 mistakes with intraoral scanning
When using an intraoral scanner, be careful in these five areas. You’ll be able to prevent inaccurate impressions and other scanning issues by following these tips. No. 1: Camera obstructions The number one rule of taking a digital impression is, “If you can’t see it, you can’t scan it.” The intraoral scanner is just a camera that stitches together tons of pictures to form the scan. A mistake too many dentists make is not packing cord and exposing the finish line to the camera.
How ClearChoice came to be in the dental profession
My private dental office in Denver was the perfect place to start a new experiment in implant dentistry—or at least, that was what I had been told. I would be inserting dental implants for patients, who’d then be chauffeured to another office for placement of fixed-denture prostheses. I would simply squeeze the patients into my already busy daily schedule, or work through lunch or late to get them done. After all, how many patients could there be?
5 crisis-proof metrics to improve the resilience and solvency of your dental practice
Every successful dental practice owner is familiar with their production and their profit. But if you’re playing the long game, how do you shore up your practice for prosperity through bull and bear markets? Beyond production, you need a strong understanding of your profit and loss statement as well as your balance sheet. Five of the metrics derived from your financial statements can help you get a handle on the solvency of your practice.
5 reasons dentists don't write their own blog posts (and why you shouldn't, either)
Blogs about dental hygiene are probably not the first thing you think of when brainstorming ways to grow your practice. Many dentists neglect this vital piece of a robust dental marketing, but it’s an important tool for improving website performance and boosting overall SEO. Blogging is a lot like flossing—the more you do it, the better the results. Just like flossing is essential for great teeth, blogging is essential for great dental SEO results.
Successful removal of a damaged dental implant
This is a case of a dental implant placed over 20 years ago that now needs to be removed as the internal thread pattern was damaged and is no longer useful. An explantation driver from the Salvin Explantation Kit was used to try to remove the implant. When that procedural attempt failed because the implant platform fractured, the Salvin Trephine bur was used to remove the implant en bloc resection style.
Top 5 mistakes with intraoral scanning
When using an intraoral scanner, be careful in these five areas. You’ll be able to prevent inaccurate impressions and other scanning issues by following these tips. No. 1: Camera obstructions The number one rule of taking a digital impression is, “If you can’t see it, you can’t scan it.” The intraoral scanner is just a camera that stitches together tons of pictures to form the scan. A mistake too many dentists make is not packing cord and exposing the finish line to the camera.
Regenerative medicine: Better bone growth biologics for periodontists
Dental implants restore a patient’s ability to chew when a native tooth has been damaged beyond repair and must be extracted. When an implantation is successful, an onlooker would never know that the implanted tooth is not a natural part of the patient’s smile. In the US alone, approximately 5 million implants are placed every year.1 However, their failure rate remains unacceptably high.
How to use a dental implant verification jig to ensure an accurate final framework every time
Editor's note: Originally published April 9, 2018. Reviewed May 24, 2022. How can you ensure that your screw-retained dental implant restoration frame will fit properly? First, it's critical to take a good impression. There is much debate about the accuracy of closed- and open-top impression copings. We will cover both methods in this article. Open-tray impressions For the open-top—or open-tray—style of impression, place the impression copings on top of the implant or implant abutments one at a time.
What implant is this? How to identify dental implants
What implant is this? How to identify dental implants When you’re trying to identify a specific dental implant, it can be helpful to refer to the history of implants. This author's implant identification protocol will make things easier.
The Art of Communication | Inside Dental Technology
Pursue positive, collaborative relationships with dentists Steven Pigliacelli, MDT, CDT Our industry has changed so much in my 40 years as a dental technician. I was 16 when my brother-in-law, Lenny Marotta, introduced me to the profession and asked me to work for Marotta Dental Studio, which at the time was just the two of us and my sister in their basement. In 1981, the industry was very adversarial; the dentist had contempt for the laboratory, and the technician had contempt for the dentist.
Why do we get dental crowns that don’t fit?
When a crown doesn’t seat, the question of why it doesn’t will go back and forth between the lab and the dentist. Inevitably fingers are pointed, and blame assigned. The lab technician always asks the dentist, “Does the crown seat on the die?” This usually angers the dentist. I had a conversation with an ex-account years ago where I was told, “My friends and I always make fun of the labs, because they say it fits the die. It doesn’t matter if it fits the die.
The crown the lab made doesn't fit: Why does this happen?
Part 1: High bites In dental prosthetics, there are many reasons why a dentist may send a laboratory crown back to the dental lab for a remake. This article is the first in a series. We will start with the subject of high bites. Unfortunately, both dental technicians and dentists tend to point fingers and get defensive when problems arise. But there are many reasons why a restoration may not fit.
Factors to consider when choosing between a bar versus a Locator implant overdenture
Which is the best method for implanting an overdenture? The clip bar or direct attachment method? The subject has been debated for years, and each method has its proponents. Steven Pigliacelli, MDT, CDT, examines several clinical scenarios and explains the deciding situational factors to consider between a bar and a Locator implant overdenture that will determine final case design.
How to use a dental implant verification jig to ensure an accurate final framework every time
How can you ensure that your screw-retained dental implant restoration frame will fit properly? First, it's critical to take a good impression. There is much debate about the accuracy of closed- and open-top impression copings. We will cover both methods in this article. For the open-top—or open-tray—style of impression, place the impression copings on top of the implant or implant abutments one at a time. Place the screw guide pin through the impression coping. Tighten with your screwdriver.
Price, quality, and volume
What does digital dentistry mean to you? Do you own an intraoral scanner? Do you have an in-office mill? Does your lab have CAD/CAM scanning, milling, and printing capabilities? If you have any of these things, chances are you invested a lot of money and time into them. Why did you invest in these systems? Perhaps it was to increase efficiency, reduce time to completion, lower costs of lab work, or maybe just to be on the cutting edge of new technology.
Are you ready for the transition to digital dentistry?
Steven Pigliacelli, CDT, MDT, explains how in-lab scanners and intraoral scanners have evolved-and it's time to make the transition to digital dentistry.
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