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Dr. Degel is
proud to offer BriteSmile state of the art bleaching system.
BriteSmile can whiten your teeth 8-10 shades in just hour.
There are no side affects and is completely safe for
children 13 years and up. The results are truly amazing.
There is no sensitivity with the product as with over
the counter bleaching systems.
He also
described bonding and an alternative method of doing
fillings which use no mercury in the filling material,
as well as porcelain laminate veneers, which are used
for both cosmetic and restorative procedures.
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Degel took
over the Astoria Dental Group office in 1990, about a year
after becoming a dentist. "When we came in here," he
explained, "the practice was totally renovated, upgraded and
modernized and we brought in all the most modern equipment to
make it one of the most modern dentist offices in Astoria."
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Born and raised
in Flushing, Degel graduated from Archbishop Molloy H.S. and
St. John University before attending Georgetown University
Dental School in Washington, D.C., where he met his wife, also
a student there. Dr. Carmen Every-Degel is from the island of
Aruba, where the Degels have established a second home. There
Dr. Clifford Degel pursues his other passion, golf. The
doctors have 3 beautiful girls who are always keeping them
busy. |
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It used to be
you would go to visit your dentist with some trepidation about
the pain you would have to endure. You would sit in the
waiting room bored, staring into space, dozing, or reading
last year's magazines.
The status
quo may exist for some dentists who haven't kept pace with all
the technological advances of recent years, but that's not the
case when you keep an appointment with Dr. Clifford Degel
and/or Dr. Carmen Every-Degel, the husband-and-wife dentist
team that operates the Astoria Dental Group office at 32-17
Broadway in Astoria. For starters, you can wile away the time
until your turn comes to see either Dr. Degel by watching an
old movie on a video cassette player in the waiting room.
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"We stock lots of old
comedy classics like The Honeymooners or Abbott and Costello
to get the patients in a good frame of mind," Dr. Clifford
Degel told us during a recent interview. If you're not
in the mood for a comedy or other movie, you can play one of
several tapes that explain the newer treatments or techniques
that are available in this new age of dental wizardry where
the Drs. Degel are among the practitioners.
"It's an
educational tool for the patient," Clifford Degel
explained.
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For instance, if
a person is considering a dental implant, seeing the tape on
that subject will give him a pretty good idea of how and what
is done. It eliminates a lot of misconceptions of this
procedure that many people have." |
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We looked and
found the tapes a concise, easy-to-understand explanation of
how, using the most modern method of replacing dentures, a
single tooth can be replaced. Implants can also be used to
support or anchor a bridge or set of dentures. We were amazed
and enlightened at the same time. But there was a lot more of
the same as we proceeded on a tour of the office conducted by
the Flushing-born Degel. |
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Included in his arsenal of equipment, most of the ultra-modern
high-tech variety, is an Intra-Oral Camera, with which the TV
perched above the patient's chair in each treatment room shows
the inside of the patient's mouth.
We couldn't believe how clear the picture of the inside of
patients' mouths are as transmitted from the slim pointing
stick held in Degel's hand, which has a minute camera on its
tip. |
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"Because of the
magnification, we can spot things in the mouth we wouldn't
ordinarily see," Degel explained. "For patients, they are able
to see what we are explaining to them; that is, our visual
diagnosis." He also demonstrated to us the TV system's
capability for freezing the picture wherever the dentist wants
to magnify a certain section of the mouth. Tapes, such as the
one we had viewed earlier on implants, can also be played on
this screen. If the dentist is telling you that you need an
implant, he can show you what it's all about at the same time. |
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In another
small room lives an X-ray machine called a tomograph which is
the most recent development in its field. Degel uses the
device exclusively in conjunction with dental implants because
"the best analysis I can make of a patient's gums or bone
structure is by using this machine." Degel said the tomograph
"gives a type of X-ray that you get with a CAT scan but it's
less traumatic than a CAT scan, which requires the patient to
lie still in a tunnel-like chamber. "The tomograph tells the
thickness of bone so you can see if it's capable of taking an
implant," he explained. |
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Degel said he
was the "first or second" dentist in New York City to acquire
the $25,000 X-ray machine and now "there are less than half a
dozen in use in New York City," he added. |
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Dr. Degel also has
set up a laboratory in the office so that any parts,
manufacturing or repairing can be done on the premises. This
allows for quicker and more efficient service for his
patients. |
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