Michael Blasek, D.M.D., and Paul Laurito, D.D.S., are the minds behind Aesthetic Dentistry, the successful Maple Glen-based practice that has been treating families from southeastern Pennsylvania at their current location since 2000. In reality, the practice has been treating patients even before that; the practice itself was started by Dr. Blasek’s father, Lee Blasek, D.D.S., who is now retired, in 1971.
Drs. Blasek and Laurito have known and respected one another as professionals for even longer than 2000—30 years, in fact, 17 of which they have spent practicing together in Maple Glen. They met while at dental school, as the two men were in the same graduating class of Temple University’s Maurice H. Kornberg School of Dentistry.
After graduating, Dr. Blasek joined his father’s practice. When his father was ready to retire, he invited his old classmate to join him in practice. Dr. Laurito had established his own successful practice in the Kensington/Port Richmond area of Philadelphia, but when the opportunity to join Dr. Blasek arose, Dr. Laurito decided it was too good an opportunity to turn down. Now, they have been neighbors for the last 16 years.
From working in a setting focused largely on fillings and root canals, Dr. Laurito moved on to more cosmetic work and less extractions.
Dr. Blasek completed extensive postgraduate studies at the Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies (LVI). “I did a ton of training with [LVI],” he notes. “I’ve done countless hands-on training workshops. LVI is probably the biggest investment in my dental training,” Dr. Blasek continues, noting the skills he learned included placing veneers and crowns, realigning bites, handling complicated jaw issues, relieving jaw pain and changing smiles, all of which can change people’s lives. Now, both dentists are well versed in a variety of treatment options for patients of all ages.
Treatment for the Whole Family
“We cater to families,” says Dr. Blasek. Aesthetic Dentistry’s range of services includes cleanings, sealants, fluoride and preventative dentistry, as well as nonsurgical gum treatments including scaling and root planing for bacteria and tartar removal and early detection of problems to minimize needed treatment.
“We do see a lot of families, and I take pride in that,” Dr. Laurito adds. “Seeing the whole family, and keeping them as patients for a long period of time to see how things progress, allows us to see before, during and after; we can monitor patients as they grow up. We can help them grow into their smile, so to speak.”
This “lifetime of care” philosophy benefits the patients greatly as with many issues, earlier is better than later when it comes to detection and treatment. Orthodontia, for example, is one area where it is possible to intervene early for effective treatment.
“We can determine at a young age whether or not orthodontics are in order,” Dr. Laurito says. “It’s pretty gratifying when we can guide patients and their families as to what may be necessary to make sure their bite is correct and their teeth are healthy.”
A Spectrum of Services
At Aesthetic Dentistry, Drs. Blasek and Laurito offer a host of general dentistry services, as well as the placement of crowns, restoration of implants, veneers and orthodontic treatment.
The doctors stay informed of the latest advances in the field and, as such, can offer materials that are light-years ahead of the materials offered just 10 or 20 years ago. “We have a lot of new materials that allow us to provide a result that looks more lifelike,” Dr. Laurito notes.
Additionally, for issues such as alignment, Aesthetic Dentistry can offer patients ClearCorrect, a means of aligning a patient’s bite with a series of, as the name suggests, translucent correcting trays called aligners. “Again, that’s been very gratifying,” Dr. Laurito says of his orthodontic work. “We’ve been very successful in the ClearCorrect area. For someone who doesn’t need to move a lot of teeth around per se, or doesn’t wish to have brackets and wires, ClearCorrect offers a chance to have [their teeth aligned] without those brackets and wires.”
The Aesthetic Dentistry team has been particularly successful in the field of cosmetic dentistry. One way the team succeeds in helping patients is via technology. Machines such as the CEREC™ (Chairside Economical Restoration of Esthetic Ceramics), for example, use CAD/CAM (computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing) to manufacture crowns in the office while a patient waits.
“The CEREC machine is an in-house crown maker,” Dr. Laurito explains. “We can have a crown cemented for a patient in one visit, which saves an extra trip and saves the patient having to wear a temporary crown.”
While this technology can’t necessarily be used in all cases, it has sped up treatment and recovery times for many patients. Another piece of advanced technology at Aesthetic Dentistry’s disposal is the CAD/CAM equipment.
The in-office technology can be used to custom fit a crown for a patient and can also be used for single onlays or inlays. “We can make crowns in the office while patients wait,” Dr. Blasek says. “It usually takes about an hour to an hour and a half.”
Perhaps even more remarkable than the technology available to the Aesthetic Dentistry patients is the warm and welcoming environment the office strives to maintain.
“From an expertise standpoint, I think we’re really good and tech-wise, we always keep up,” Dr. Blasek says. “And our staff, our team, is really excellent.
“We provide treatment in a comfortable atmosphere where people are joking, laughing,” Dr. Blasek continues, adding with a laugh, “Sometimes I have to remind people they’re at the dentist’s office.”
Dr. Blasek explains that, at Aesthetic Dentistry, the team tries its best to keep consistent with scheduling patients with the same doctor for each visit so the practice can “keep a ‘country doctor’ feel.”
“Nobody likes getting teeth worked on,” Dr. Blasek says, “but especially in cosmetic cases, we can change lives.”
“Working with people and helping them is very gratifying,” says Dr. Laurito, who was inspired by his grade school basketball coach to pursue a career in dentistry. “That certainly is the best part of it for me—when someone comes in [to the office] in pain or for whatever reason and I’m able to help them and they are relieved and happy.”
Drs. Blasek and Laurito invite the readers of Suburban Life to experience what thousands of patients have enjoyed for many years.
Aesthetic Dentistry
520 Limekiln Pike
Maple Glen, PA 19002
215-643-0666
www.mapleglendentist.com
Photograph by Kim Billingsley
