Like fingerprints, everyone’s tongue and tooth print is unique to each individual. They’re uniquely yours, so this is why dental records are sometimes used to identify human remains.

To Our Valued Patients, We hope you and your family are in good health. We are happy to announce the reopening of our office and eager to welcome you back! Our community has been through a lot over the last few months, and all of us are looking forward to resuming our normal habits and routines. While many things have changed, one thing has remained the same: our commitment to your well-being and safety. Infection control has always been a top priority for our practice and you may have seen this during your visits to our office. Our infection control processes are designed so that when you receive care, it’s both safe and comfortable. Our office follows infection control recommendations made by the American Dental Association (ADA), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). We closely monitor these agencies to make sure that our infection control procedures are current and adhere to each agencies’ recommendations. You may see some changes when it is time for your next appointment. We made these changes to help protect our patients and staff. For example: Our office will communicate with you beforehand to ask some screening questions. You’ll be asked those same questions again when you are in the office. We have hand sanitizer that we will ask you to use when you enter the office. You will also find some in the reception area and other places in the office for you to use as needed. You may see that our waiting room will no longer offer magazines, children’s toys and so forth, since those items are difficult to clean and disinfect. Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients. That might mean that you’re offered fewer options for scheduling your appointment. We will do our best to allow greater time between patients to reduce waiting times for you, as well as to limit the number of patients in the reception area at any one time.Thank you for being our patient. We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbors and friends. We look forward to seeing you again and are happy to answer any questions you may have about the steps we take to keep you, and every patient, safe in our practice.

One of our AIP team member’s family made a video on the importance of washing hands, especially during this time. Join the Atkins family in “tackling germs head on”! IMG_2927

To Our Valued Patients, Advanced Implants and Periodontics is committed to keeping our patients well-informed and healthy as we face this challenging time together. In light of the rapidly growing novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the American Dental Association (ADA) and the Maryland State Dental Association (MSDA) have recommended that dental practices provide only emergency care to patients in the coming weeks. This recommendation reflects concern for the safety, health and well-being of patients and dental team members. The goal is to decrease the exposure and spread of COVID-19. We are being proactive within our office and have decided to postpone non-emergent dental care at this time to try and alleviate the possible spread of the virus and support the dental associations during these unforeseen and extraordinary circumstances. We are staying abreast of the updates as this situation evolves and will continue to closely monitor it. During our office closure, we have developed a plan to provide emergency dental care to our patients as needed. As always, if you have an emergent dental situation and need to speak with one of our doctors, please call our office at 240-651-5478. Our office remains a very safe and clean environment to administer care. We are constantly cleaning and disinfecting our facility and equipment while adhering to universal precautions recommended by the CDC. We are taking additional precautions during these emergency hours in order to practice as much social distancing as possible. To improve patient safety, we will triage your COVID-19 status prior to entering the office. The following criteria are being used to determine if a person should come to an appointment. If you or someone you have been in close contact with has traveled outside of the country (specifically China, Iran or Europe) in the past 2 weeks https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/map-and-travel-notices.html If you or someone you have been in close contact with has recently become ill If you have the following symptoms: fever, cough, shortness of breath, or unexplained fatigue Please continue to check our website and Facebook page for updates to this information. Thank you for your understanding. We hope that you and your loved ones remain healthy! We also pray that this global pandemic is short-lived and that our communities emerge stronger.

Everyone knows that grinding your teeth isn’t good for them, but elephants don’t seem to have much of a problem with it. In fact, elephants grind their molars and regrow new ones! On average, this will happen about 6 times throughout an elephant’s lifetime.

We are excited to announce that Board Certified Periodontist Dr. Lisa Shoff joined our practice here at the Advanced Implants & Periodontics in February 2020. She is be available and eager to help patients with a wide range of implant and periodontal services. Dr. Shoff was born and raised in York, PA and has returned to the area to be closer to family. Dr. Shoff completed her bachelors in Biology at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, PA where she was the valedictorian. Dr. Shoff received her dental degree and Masters from the University of Pennsylvania. After graduation, she entered the Air Force and completed a 1-year Advanced Education in General Dentistry (AEGD) residency in Northern California. Dr. Shoff served her country with the Air Force in Guam for 3 years, then entered the Periodontal residency at the University of Texas Health Science Center and Air Force Post Graduate Dental School. Dr. Shoff graduated top of her class from residency and was selected to teach an AEGD residency in Northern California. Dr. Shoff is a Diplomate of the American Board of Periodontists, and an active member of the American Academy of Periodontology. Dr. Shoff has lectured to local study clubs and presented her research at national meetings. Dr. Shoff continues to serve her country as a member of the Air National Guard.   Thank you for your continual trust in our practice. We are confident that our state-of-the-art facility, Dr. Shoff’s experience, expertise, warm personality, and commitment to delivering  dental care at the absolute highest level will continue the tradition of excellent implant and periodontal services to our referring doctors and patients.

Contrary to popular myth, President George Washington never had wooden teeth. His dentures were made from ivory, gold, and other human teeth.

Brushing within half an hour of eating or drinking certain foods can actually damage enamel. So be sure to wait an hour before brushing after eating.

Some scientists believe that humans were using toothpicks 1.8 million years ago. Curved grooves found on many ancient teeth are said to indicate that they used grass stalks to clean between their teeth.

Cotton candy was co-invented by a dentist. Before it was cotton candy, it was called “Fairy Floss.”