The Toothboss’ New New Patient Special

New patients are special at the Toothboss. That’s why we provide a thorough, comprehensive exam during your first visit. That includes:

• X-Rays
• Blood Pressure Screening
• Oral Cancer Screen
• A complete evaluations and written report of findings and options for treatment

A follow up cleaning appointment will be made on completion of the exam. New patients will receive a complimentary Sonicare toothbrush, a $25 value, at the conclusion of your follow-up appointment.

Now isn’t that special?

And if you were referred by a current Toothboss patient, just mention them when you check in and they will receive a $50 gift card to Stockholders in Weymouth.

To schedule your initial visit, call 781-335-0604.

December is oral cancer screening month

According to the Oral Cancer Foundation, 42,000 people in the United States will be newly diagnosed with oral cancer in 2013. To raise awareness among current patients and new patients, we have has declared December "Oral Cancer Awareness Month".

Sure, the national Oral Cancer Foundation has an awareness month that takes place in April but heading into the holidays where people partake in many of the habits that can lead to oral cancers-smoking and drinking-we thought it important to create some additional awareness.

As part of Oral Cancer Awareness month, we will be speaking to patients about the behaviors that can lead to oral cancers, which includes, tongue, tonsillar, and throat cancer. Oral cancers can be genetic, but primarily people who smoke or use other tobacco products, drink alcohol or are exposed to the HPV-16 virus (human papilloma virus version 16), are at increased risk for developing the disease.

Just as we have done for the past 25 years, we will continue to provide an oral cancer screening exams as part of each comprehensive exam that includes examination of the inside part of the cheeks, roof of the mouth the back side and underneath the tongue. As part of their exam, our hygienists, as a result of current research findings, will palpate the lymph nodes located in your neck and underneath your jaw to make sure the usually soft nodes are not hard which can be sign of a problem.

As it is with any cancer, the earlier you detect it the faster you can treat it. And as the numbers indicate, oral cancers are treatable if detected soon enough and that's why we are taking these extra steps to make our patients aware of this risk and be proactive by checking our patients annually.

According to the Oral Cancer Foundation website, "When found at early stages of development, oral cancers have an 80 to 90 % survival rate. Unfortunately, the majority are found as late stage cancers, and this accounts for the very high death rate of about 43% at five years from diagnosis, and high treatment related morbidity in survivors."

For more information, you can visit the Oral Cancer Foundation's website at http://oralcancerfoundation.org/.  you due for your next check-up? Please call 781-335-0604 to schedule an appointment.

The Toothboss: A Veteran’s Story

Colonel Richard Wolfert, AKA The Toothboss

Like a lot of veterans, I don’t often talk about my experience in the military. Yet for those who ask where did you come up with a name like “The Toothboss”, you have heard the story about some of my military service. Specifically, the Commander who gave everybody a title and if you were in charge of something, you were the boss. If you ran the mess or cafeteria, you were the mess boss. I took care of teeth, so I was the Toothboss.

What can I say, the name stuck.

For this Veteran’s Day, I thought I would share my story of military service.

I joined the military since 1981 and have served 32 years total. I took a one-year sabbatical in 1988 when I made the transition from the Active Navy and Reserves to the Army National Guard Reserve.

I guess the main reason I joined was I come from a military family. My Dad was involved with making munitions at National Fireworks in Hanover. My two older brothers are Vietnam vets (Marines and Army). Coming from a patriotic family, I felt I should serve.

I think my most significant achievement (other than coming home from Iraq in one piece, physically and mentally) was achieving the rank of a full-bird Colonel about 15 years ago.

I suspected that was going to be my pinnacle and that I'd get out when I got my "20 year letter". When I got to the 20-year point, I realized that duty was somewhat easier at this rank and time in life. With the kids being older (no more missed soccer games, etc. with weekend duty and summer camp) and me enjoying the break it gave me from a solo private practice, remaining in the service enabled me to continue the camaraderie, the testosterone, and the general feeling that I was providing a service to our soldiers with my special training. It gives me a good feeling. 

I can't say the military has made me a better dentist, but it certainly made me realize how important a pain-free mouth was for soldiers to be better decision makers. You don't want the guy with his fingers on an M-16 or a nuclear weapon having a toothache!

The military certainly gave me confidence in myself and in my craft--enough to begin and maintain a private practice for 25 years. It's a good training ground for learning to be a leader and a manager of people. Although I have to admit, managing soldiers (mostly men) is a lot easier than managing a bunch of woman in private practice!

When I go to Veterans Day services, I mostly think about my brothers and those whom served in the Vietnam War. I came home to a United States that was positive about what we were doing in Iraq. I can't imagine what it must have been like for those poor guys getting off the plane from their tour in Vietnam and being lambasted for missions that were not so popular and a military that was not held in the highest esteem. When I came off the plane we were met with people holding flags and handing out paid phone cards so we could immediately call our loved ones. And when I got home the Veteran Service Agent handed me a check for a thousand bucks for duty served.

I’m proud to be a veteran and proud of my family’s history of service. I guess what I think about most on Veteran’s Day is how lucky we are to live in a country where so many of its citizens have been willing and are still willing to serve.

The Toothboss adds full mouth periodontal probing once a year to hygiene services

Years ago, periodontitis was the number one cause of adults losing their teeth. While detection and treatment of periodontitis have dramatically improved over the years, those treatments can be quite expensive. That’s why we recently included periodontal probing as an annual part of our hygiene services.

Periodontitis is essentially plaque and tartar buildup under your gums. When the tartar buildup occurs under the gums, the bacteria within the tartar have a byproduct of acid that causes degeneration of the supporting structures of the tooth. Unfortunately, many dentists don’t include full mouth periodontal probing as part of their hygiene services. So, many cases go undetected until the condition becomes serious.

One out of every two American adults aged 30 and over has periodontal disease, according to recent findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A study titled “Prevalence of Periodontitis in Adults in the United States: 2009 and 2010” estimates that 47.2 percent, or 64.7 million American adults, have mild, moderate or severe periodontitis, the more advanced form of periodontal disease. In adults 65 and older, prevalence rates increase to 70.1 percent.

As a preventative step, we recommend periodontal probing once a year. Periodontal probing involves the dentist or dental hygienist examining six sites on each tooth. This enables the dentist to detect a problem in its earliest stages when it’s treatable with better brushing and flossing and other non-intrusive procedures.

If it’s been a while since your last exam or if you are unsure if you’ve ever had a check for periodontitis, please give us a call at 781-335-0604 to set up an appointment. 

Sugar-free doesn’t exactly mean cavity-free

For those who drink diet soda and other diet drinks, one of your primary arguments for doing so is reducing your sugar intake. While there’s been some documentation that some of the chemicals in diet sodas can play a role in weight gain, there’s mounting evidence that diet drinks with artificial sweeteners can play a role in tooth decay.

The common perception is that if there’s no sugar in a drink then it’s better for your teeth. In theory, that’s true. A regular soda with sugar is worse for your teeth than a diet soda, but that doesn’t tell the entire story.

The bacteria in your mouth will not use artificial sweetener to form acid the way it does with regular sugars. But that doesn't mean a diet soda can't harm your teeth. The diet drinks are acidic on their own without the aid of the bacteria to help form the acid. Both regular and diet soda can demineralize a tooth, causing erosion and cavities. So, although a soda with sugar may be slightly worse at causing cavities and erosion, diet drinks are not without consequences.

So what should diet-conscious consumers drink if sugar and sugar sweeteners are both bad? Good old fashioned water from the tap doesn’t cause any erosion of your teeth over any amount of exposure. It also has no calories. And, depending on your community, even offers fluoride.

Of course, it’s probably not realistic to think that people can drink only water and never have a soft drink. Moderation, as it is with everything, is the key. And if you want to have a diet soda, be sure to brush or at least rinse your mouth out with water shortly after to lessen the exposure to those acids found in diet drinks.”

Beyond drinking water and careful brushing, select drinks that utilize sweeteners made from natural ingredients, like Stevia.

The news on artificial sweeteners, however, is not all bad. In fact, there are sweeteners out there that utilize sugar alcohols that can actually protect against dental cavities, for example, Xylitol.

Xylitol is a natural sweetener sourced from strawberries and other fruits. It’s not in drinks yet, but you can find Xylitol in chewing gums, syrups, candies and tooth pastes. Bacteria in your mouth are not able to breakdown Xylitol when you chew gum or eat candy containing the ingredients. Therefore, no bacterial acids are produced. In the absence of bacterial acids, the process of cavity formation is nullified before it even begins. This makes Xylitol that rare thing – a sweetener that’s actually good for your teeth.

A donation with some teeth to it. Rasin Foundation helps The Toothboss go paperless.

When my dental practice went to paperless files, our primary thought was making the office run more efficiently and being greener. We didn’t realize how this conversion could benefit fellow dentists thousands of miles away in Haiti. Yet that’s exactly what happened when we discovered the Rasin Foundation.

I first heard about the Rasin Foundation, a Milton, MA-based non-profit from a fellow National Guardsmen, Dr. Fidel Gabriel. Fidel is a native of Haiti and he told me of the Foundation’s efforts to get supplies to start a dental practice in Leogane, Haiti. When I asked what types of items the Foundation would accept and mentioned my filing system, it was a no-brainer on this end as to what to do.

The filing system itself costs approximately $2500 but I was prepared to eat the cost of that because I believe going paperless far outweighed the cost. To find an organization like the Rasin Foundation that could benefit from the donation of the filing system was icing on the cake. The fact it was going to help a dental practice was the cherry on top.

As you can imagine, the equipment and technology that we enjoy and perhaps take for granted here in the U.S. aren’t available in remote places like Leogane, Haiti. I encourage dentists, doctors and other health care professionals to visit The Raisin Foundation’s website to see if they need other items. One man’s upgrade is another’s treasure.


For more information, visit www.RasinFoundation.org.

Is a sports drink worse than a soda? Ask the Toothboss.

There’s the perception that sports drinks are good, soda is bad. Sports drinks hydrate, soda dehydrates you and, worse, is loaded with sugar. While you probably won’t find any dental health professional recommending a soda any time soon, it might surprise you to know what dentists view as the lesser of two evils—at least when it comes to the well-being of your teeth.

Most sports and energy drinks are loaded with sugar. In the short-term, they can re-energize you and rehydrate you somewhat. But if you drink several a day you are putting your teeth at serious risk. How? The sugar in the sports drink can combine with the bacteria in placque that has adhered to your tooth’s surface. These acids erode the enamel surface leading to cavities.

So is soda better for you than a sports or energy drink? According to a study contracted by the Academy of General Dentistry it is.

The AGD study considered what continuous exposure to a variety of “soft” drinks would do to your teeth, specifically the enamel portion of the tooth, over a 14-day period. Continuous exposure was considered several servings over the course of a 12-hour period.

The results revealed the erosion of a tooth’s enamel in milligrams:

·         Snapple Classic Lemonade – 30mg

·         Red Bull – 22mg

·         Gatorade (lemon-lime) – 20mg

·         Propel Fitness Water – 14mg

·         Arizona Iced Tea – 9 mg

·         Coca Cola – 3mg

So, technically, soda is better for your teeth than the sports drinks that promise to restore your electrolytes and other health benefits. But does that mean dentists endorse soda over sports drinks? Hardly.

The lesser of two evils is still an evil. What that study doesn’t reveal is that good old fashioned water from the tap doesn’t cause any erosion of your teeth over any amount of exposure. It also has no calories. And, depending on your community, even offers fluoride.

Of course, it’s probably not realistic to think that people can drink only water and never have a soft drink. Moderation, as it is with everything, is the key. And if you want to have a sports drink or soda, be sure to brush or at least rinse your mouth out with water shortly after to lessen the exposure to those sugars can do.

What’s missing in bottled water for kids? Plenty.

Give parents a choice between soda, a juice box or a bottle of water for their children and most would probably go for the bottle water. What many people don’t realize is that opting for bottled water, though better for their children than soda or sugar-loaded fruit juice, is missing a key ingredient their children need: fluoride.

Fluoride is critical for growing strong, healthy teeth. For younger patients, fluoride actually hardens teeth, making them more cavity-resistant. Unfortunately, more and more people are opting for bottled, filtered water, which has no fluoride.

Some communities, like Weymouth, have fluoride in the water—a great way to help their children grow strong healthy teeth. Because of the taste, many people prefer bottle water or filtered water over tap water and pass that habit on to their children. But kids still need fluoride to help their teeth develop.

How much? According to the American Dental Association, children should consume fluoride through drinking water or supplements in the following amounts:

·         Birth to six months – none

·         Six months to three years - .25 mg/day

·         Three to six years - .5 mg/day

·         Six years to 16 years – 1 mg/day

Many dentists have younger patients take fluoride supplements, whether they live in a community where the tap water has fluoride or not. If your child is under 10 and not taking supplements, please contact our office at 781-335-0604.


To find out whether or not your town is a fluoridated community, please click on this link to go to a map from the Massachusetts Dental Society website, www.massdental.org. You can also call your town’s Water Department.

Celebrate National Tooth Fairy Day--with ice cream?

: Dr. Richard Wolfert, AKA “The Toothboss” (far left) poses with Friendly’s Chris Lund, Kelsy Bannon and Owner Bobby Arruda. Dr. Wolfert and Friendly’s locations in Weymouth are celebrating National Tooth Fairy Day the week of March 4.

For most children and their parents, the celebration for losing a tooth involves a visit from the Tooth Fairy and some monetary reward. Left out of the equation is the person who cares for your children’s teeth: your dentist. That’s why we decided to join the celebration of National Tooth Fairy Day, February 28, with local Friendly’s restaurants in Weymouth.

The Toothboss donated 200 toothbrushes to the two Friendly’s Restaurants in Weymouth. The toothbrushes were given out to customers under the age of 12 who visit Friendly’s at 1021 Main Street and 415 Washington Street in Weymouth the week of March 4.

Now, I know what you're saying. This may seem kind of an unusual alliance, but an occasional sweet like ice cream isn’t the end of the world as long as you are consistently taking care of your teeth. That means brushing, flossing and regular checkups at the dentist.

In addition to toothbrushes, the gift bags given out included a coupon for a free checkup, X-rays and a cleaning that can be used by any member of the family, not just the kids.

“On behalf of our younger customers, we’d like to thank Dr. Wolfert for his generous donation of the toothbrushes and free exam. It’s a great reminder for kids and their families to brush their teeth and get regular checkups at the dentist,” said Bobby Arruda, owner of both Friendly’s locations in Weymouth.

As part of his Tooth Fairy Day, we're also handing out Friendly’s coupons to younger Toothboss patients with one stipulation: you must brush after every meal.

You are never too young to start taking proper care of your teeth. But with all the studies linking dental hygiene or lack thereof to serious conditions, it’s critical for everybody to take better care of their teeth. Especially on National Tooth Fairy Day.   

For more information on the Toothboss, visit Dr. Wolfert’s website at www.toothboss.com or call 781-335-0604 to schedule a consultation.

Dr. Wolfert discusses dental implants

Need a tooth replaced? Dr. Wolfert, AKA "The Toothboss" explains the differences between bridges and dental implants.

Do you know what your dental insurance covers?

Dental benefits first became available in 1974. Back then, the average benefit coverage was $1,000. Does that sound familiar? If you have dental coverage it probably does because the average dental benefit in 2012 is about $1,000.

To put that into perspective, in 1974, a brand new Mustang cost about $2500. Today, a 2013 Mustang starts at $22,200!

What this means for patients is you need to know what your dental insurance covers and up to how much. Then, when you visit the dentist for more than a cleaning or check-up, ask him or her if your dental plan covers the procedure. Or, how much will it cost out of pocket.

For example, some people prefer composite fillings, which are white, compared to the traditional amalgam fillings. There is a price differential between the two filling types, composite are more expensive. Most insurance plans will not cover the difference. Consequently, many people who want composite fillings end up paying $50 or more out of pocket.

That’s not to be completely critical of dental insurance plans. Many of the most severe problems patients come to me could have been avoided with better daily care on their part and regular trips to the dentist for check-ups. And dental insurance, if nothing else, does make it easier for people to get to the dentist regularly. But if you need more than a check up, a call to your dental insurance provider about what’s covered is a great start.

Win a gift card to Stockholders for new patient referral

Don't let the subject line fool you. Smiles by the Toothboss is not putting out any IPOs or looking for investors. We are looking for new patient referrals and the reward for each new patient referral is a $50 gift card to Stockholders Steakhouse Chophouse and Seafood, located at 1073 Main Street (Route 18) in South Weymouth.

To qualify, the person you refer must be a new patient, never been seen before by Smiles by the Toothboss. Your referral must mention you by name as a current patient. Better yet, forward a copy of this e-mail to them with your name and e-mail address on it. The person you refer must undergo a comprehensive exam, which will include x-rays, cleaning, for you to be eligible. After their appointment, we will mail out your gift card to Stockholders.

Some of the patients who have been with us the longest came by referral. Jeanne McCormick referred her daughter, who in turn referred her husband. Jeanne also referred her son who brought in his wife. She also told her brother about the Toothboss who then brought in his wife. And if that weren't enough, Jeanne referred two of her married friends who brought in their kids. Wow! 

So if you've been happy with the care you've received at Smiles by the Toothboss, please feel free to share that with friends and family. You don't have to refer as many people as Jeanne. Just one could make you the majority shareholder in a night out at Stockholders.

Startling facts about oral hygiene and heart disease

We all know that heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women. Did you know that forgetting to brush your teeth at least twice a day increases your risk of heart disease by 70 percent?

How about this: men and women with periodontical disease are almost twice as likely to suffer from coronary artery disease as those without? Or that a periodontical disease can greatly exacerbate an existing heart condition?

Perhaps that's why it's no surprise that nearly 20 million Americans who do visit their dentist each year do NOT have to see their doctor.

Smiles by the Toothboss switches to paperless records, renovates office space.

Some people just don’t like to go to the dentist’s office. As a dentist, that’s a fact you have to accept. Still, we’re doing everything n our power to make the visit to the dentist a more comfortable experience by undergoing a number of cosmetic and operational improvements.

The renovations began with a conversion to digital radiography so that all X-rays and records are now stored electronically. This makes treatments easier to diagnose and record-keeping more efficient. Also, removing large filing cabinets from the work area enabled the construction of a more spacious, ergonomically sound space for our staff, which has grown in numbers over the years.

Dentists realize the apprehensions people have about coming to the dentist are based on their own fears. Still, how an office appears and how work flows can affect how patients perceive the experience and exacerbate those feelings. These improvements have made us more efficient and ergonomically sound as we now have reception desk that can comfortably seat two staff members who aren’t reaching over each other while serving patients and that puts everyone at ease.

Being paperless is another huge benefit. Beyond the storage issues, just not having a paper record makes for a much more hygienic environment, as well as being more private.
We anticipate the renovations being completed over the next month. Thank you for your patience while we undergo these improvements.