Dr. J. Peter St. Clair

Last week I discussed the importance of communication in any relationship; specifically, the healthcare provider/patient relationship. Trust is mutually built as this relationship develops over time. “There’s not enough time in the day.” Have you ever used this...

Patients see things differently than dentists. Often, what is important to dentists is not important to patients and vice versa. This seems like the hysterical discovery of the obvious, but dentists often have a blind spot when it comes to seeing things from a...

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends! While we may be giving thanks for the many blessings in our lives, we also often need to battle the stressors. This time of year always seems more stressful, but stress in general is hard to avoid. We...

November is almost over! It’s crunch time to get everything done that we haven’t gotten done during the rest of the year. For those with remaining dental benefits, it’s also the time of year to consider utilizing those so you don’t lose them. Unused dental benefits go...

It seems I have more and more patients telling me about their upcoming shoulder, hip, and knee replacement surgery. There are other parts that people have replaced, but those are the top three. Most of these people decide to go under the knife to improve their quality...

Despite the generalized notion that people should visit a dentist bi-annually, I am more a proponent of individualized frequency recommendations based on a few factors. We are not all the same; therefore, each of us has our own specific needs. Results from a recent...

This is the story about a woman I met recently named Carol. Carol’s story is the reason I do what I do every day and brings me back the next day. The interesting thing is that it has absolutely nothing to do with performing the actual physical work of dentistry. Carol...

There are five major reasons that people do not get the necessary dental care they need; six if you count the recent pandemic. The other five are money, time, lack of concern, fear and trust. Let’s take a quick look at each one and see if any of them fit you, and what...

The two things you’re supposed to do to clean your teeth: Brush & Floss. Any of you have your hygienist get on your case about not flossing? You may be the best brusher in the world, but if you’re not cleaning between your teeth, we know it. Cleaning between the teeth...

I have focused the majority of my career on family preventive and general dentistry. While I enjoy most aspects of what I do, I firmly believe that a good percentage of dental problems are avoidable, which means that dentists shouldn’t be as busy as we are with...