GREG IN HOLLYWOOD

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How Greg In Hollywood got his Hollywood smile




I received one of Power Up Film’s Amazing Men in Showbiz awards earlier this month and I was smiling from ear to ear the entire night.

I’m usually standing behind the velvet ropes of a red carpet at splashy Hollywood events like this but on this night, there I was with a group of photographers  taking my photo.

I did not feel the least bit self-conscious and I have my amazing dentist, Patrick T. Yoshikane, to thank for that!

Three months ago, it would have been a different story. Instead of a broad smile, those photographers would have been met with the closed-mouth grin I had resorted to when I began to feel embarrassed about the condition of my teeth.

I’ve always been excited to get a photo with people whose work I enjoy (like the ones with Suze Orman (left) and Matt Bomer, below) but I was getting less and less excited when I’d see our photos and compare their pearly whites to my dingy yellows.

I needed some extensive dental work on my back teeth, work that had been delayed after three years without dental insurance. My brother, Roger, suggested Dr. Yoshikane since he had begun working in the office part-time.

I made several trips from Silver Lake to Orange (an easy commute straight down I-5) until Dr. Yoshikane and his assistant, Cherry Limjoco, finished bridge work on both sides of my mouth. It was stellar. So good in fact that it made my front teeth, darkened as a child from taking the antibiotic tetracycline, look even worse.

Then, a real unexpected and unbelievable gift.

While I’ll be paying off my bridges for years (superstar office manager Linda Schweers-Hunn is an absolute whiz at figuring out financing options and guiding you through them), Dr. Yoshikane wanted to give me a great smile and decided to make me his one gratis case a year for porcelain jacket crowns.

I already knew from my previous work that it would be as comfortable an experience as dental work can be. I get a little anxious in the chair if a procedure goes more than an hour so I was put into a feel no pain zone with oral conscious sedation and didn’t have a care in the world.

“I believe that in treating a patient, it’s not just treating their teeth but it’s also treating their emotions,” Dr. Yoshikane says. ” We offer oral conscious sedation here, an oral method of sedation, where you have full control of your body and we monitor the vitals and it’s our responsibility to make sure that you transition through this with the least amount of anxiety and the least amount of discomfort or post-operative pain, little to none.”

I can vouch for the minimal post-operative pain part. I’ve had procedures where I’m sore for days and very uncomfortable and in some serious need of a pain killer. After each of my procedures with Dr. Yoshikane, at most I had a Motrin or two and suffered no ill side effects.

Dr. Yoshikane knows all about the desire to be dazzling in Hollywood because prior to opening his own practice in Orange in 2000, he spent nine years at Toluca Lake Dentistry, an entertainment-driven practice where clients included many actors and actresses from movies and television.

“I think everyone should be treated as if they’re famous,” he says.

He strives to give his clients a look that is what he calls “natural plus.”

“If are teeth are healthy and aesthetically pleasing, then it helps compliment the rest of your structure,” he says. “In this type of practice, we’re very aesthetically minded. We’re not looking so much for over-treated. I want it to be aesthetically pleasing where it’s natural plus. I think when we classify and define what’s cosmetic and what’s aesthetic, cosmetic may not necessarily be natural. Aesthetic is taking what the facial structure is and kind of creating the balance where everything is synchronized: shade, shape and color.”

“Natural plus is when we have teeth that are not monochromatic where it’s more natural gradation despite the brightness,’ he adds. “It doesn’t look artificial or foreign, it looks like you were born that way – plus.”

So now, it’s been three months with my new smile and it’s better than the one I had in my 20s! What a tremendous psychological lift. I find myself smiling during conversations and in photos without the least bit of thought and I’ll always be grateful to Dr. Yoshikane and his staff for that priceless gift.

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Patrick T. Yoshikane DDS practices aesthetic and general dentistry (includes reconstructive surgery and treatment for headache and pain caused by Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders).

Address:
Batavia Woods Medical Center
845 West La Veta Ave. Suite 103
Orange, CA 92868

(The practice is located conveniently near the 5 freeway – a quick hop, skip and a jump for LA folks – door-to-door transportation can also be arranged upon request on day of dental procedure)

(714) 516-1600
patrickyoshikanedds@gmail.com

Visit him on Facebook!

Comments

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2 Remarks

  1. Looks Great Greg! – A million dollar smile! Thanks for sharing your experience……..

  2. That was a great read and congrats on finding a good dentist, I have been looking for one for 10 years since I left So Calif and have had no luck at all after going to 3 or 4 and have more or less given up, so, its great to know there are still good dentists to be found!

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