Happy Anniversary Team Pfister
Pictured above: Connie, Dr. Pfister, and a patient in the early days of Pfister Orthodontics
It’s August in Medina. And in any other year, we’d all be excited about our County Fair… the elephant ears, funnel cakes, sausage sandwiches, rides, Demo Derby… all of the warm thoughts I remember growing up in Medina.
Well, not this year, thanks to Covid-19!
But Covid can’t take away my Team’s excitement of the anniversary of our office’s opening on August 4, 1984!
Yep, 36 years ago this week we moved into our current office that, at the time, was only half the ground floor. We didn’t take over the entire floor until 12 years later. One front desk and one chairside and my wife as the bookkeeper and the rest is history.
I’d like to thank, from the bottom of my heart (and on behalf of my entire Team) the residents of Medina County for all their love and support they have given us over the years.
We are closing in on our 9800th patient treated over the years and it has been an exhilarating ride - professionally challenging at times - but warmly fulfilling all the same! When you start with an eight-year-old and help her get her permanent teeth in and then through the art and science of orthodontics create her special smile and she sends our team her senior photo or wedding photo… phew, it doesn’t get any better than that!
Things have changed in our delivery of care over the years, but I hope the fun and friendships that my Team and myself build everyday never does.
Now, if I could beg the reader’s patience, I’d like to take you on a quick trip down memory lane regarding the changes in orthodontic care (past-to-present) in our 36 years of practice.
The biggest change in orthodontics, I feel, is the way we move teeth today. Just 25 years ago, braces were large bands cemented all the way around the tooth and were backed up with external head and neck wrapping headgear. Today, we have micro-brackets with one point attachments and in the mouth skeletal anchorage. But, as Invisalign just celebrated its 20-year anniversary, we are getting better and better at moving teeth with trays and not brackets!
I spent 30 years viewing the jaws, TMJ, and teeth of my patients in 2-D, not truly knowing the importance of the third dimension. Now, with 3-D imaging, my team can unravel a jaw to find a missing tooth, predict the eruption pathway of a permanent tooth, find developing cysts and skeletal tumors, and even measure the volume of the patient’s airway. I do not like impressions, and yes I have a bad gag reflex. Today, our office is electronically scanning patients’ mouths to digitize models and appliances for their teeth. All Invisalign technology is executed electronically. And I went through college and dental school never owning a computer! Talk about teaching an old dog new tricks!
Through the 90s, we did a lot of jaw surgeries on deficient and excessive jaws in young 20- and 30-year-olds. Today, we can, with patient cooperation, stimulate and or suppress jaw growth prepubertally to achieve a more stable and cosmetically pleasing profile and smile.
Last but not least, physical therapists, with much research through watching teething children and puppies, have deemed gum chewing one of the best means of reducing felt pain with tooth movement! It truly helps, and I wasted years of correcting patients and scolding them to avoid gum at all costs.
Yes, in many ways we have changed, but in many ways I hope we never will as my Team and I stay focused on the principles and values that we based our practice on for the past three-and-a-half decades.
I have been blessed to have the most amazing Team to work with who share my enthusiasm and passion every day and in every way for our patients. Connie, Donna, and Deidra have been with me over 35 years apiece, Kelly has been with me 26 years, Jackie going on 16 years, Pam is going on 14 years, Nikki at 12 years and our newest member, Alexis, just completed her first year. We have Jackie’s daughter, Savanna, and Kelly’s daughters, Taryn and Lauryn, at inventory control. And yes, after all these years, my loving wife Terri, who started working with me four weeks after we got married, is still doing the books! I’ve been blessed to have this Team so dedicated and so able to put up with me over the years. Over the next couple of months, I’ll highlight and introduce each of the Team members to our readers.
There you have it! My career in a nutshell. What is ahead for orthodontics? The future is bright. We have just scratched the surface of aligner/trays moving teeth. Hybrid systems of braces combined with aligners are already here. Low-level electrical stimulation to energize the cells around teeth for faster movement is just ahead. I could go on and on but I’ll save the readers.
No, I’m not retiring and missing out on all this fun! Not on your life! Developments in orthodontics have me intrigued. But the relationships built in the years of running our practice - both with staff and the residents of Medina County - those relationships are life’s treasures that give meaning and purpose everyday to being an orthodontist.
With Gratitude for 36 Years,
Chuck Pfister