User:Lmitro2010/Dr Harvey Silverman

Dr Harvey Silverman is an American cosmetic dentist. After graduating from the Washington University School of Dental Medicine in 1978 Dr Silverman began looking for ways to perfect the current concept of dental bonding, developed by Michael Buonocore in 1955. The concept of dental bonding found great initial use for placing dental sealants in the grooves of children’s molar teeth to reduce the incidence of dental decay. In the 1960’s and 1970’s bonding found limited application for restoring fillings in the anterior dentition. In 1979 “tooth bonding” became common when Dr. Irwin Smigel of New York City published the book “Dental Health/Dental Beauty” and provided the first national demonstration of tooth bonding on the television series “That’s Incredible”.

Early Life
Born in Brooklyn, New York City 18 November, 1952, Dr. Silverman experienced "old fashioned" dentistry as a child, performed without local anesthesia (i.e., novocaine) and the notorious unpleasant slow speed belt driven handpiece. This preceded today’s concept of contemporary pain-free dentistry. Years later, after graduating from dental school, Dr. Silverman worked to establish the concept of pain free dentistry. He aimed to perform dental work with no shots and no drilling, but was aware that technology needed to be refined and developed to achieve that goal.

Work In The 1980's and 1990's
By 1983 Dr. Silverman had refined many of the initial tooth bonding technologies and was already a national clinician for Den-Mat Corporation, Santa Maria, California. He taught education seminars to his colleagues there. Later that year he was approached by the IPCO Corporation, a national chain of independent dental laboratories, to help refine and develop the concept of bonding porcelain to the facial surfaces of teeth. By early 1984 Dr. Silverman had created a thin porcelain veneer technology with the IPCO dental laboratories that he shared with others in the dental profession through continuing educational courses on this newly developed technique. It provided many dentists now had an alternative to composite bonding or placing crowns on teeth.

Establishing Public Awareness
During the subsequent years Dr. Silverman felt public awareness needed to be established that cosmetic dentistry could be achieved without shots or drilling. There was still ample skepticism on behalf of the public and the dental profession. To overcome these misconceptions, Dr. Silverman opened the country's first dental spa in a beauty setting after working with the country's largest salon and spa developer, was a consulting and contributing editor to Dental Management Magazine to stimulate his colleagues interest in no shot, no drilling cosmetic dentistry, continued lecturing to the dental profession as a national clinician for the Dentsply/Caulk Company, Milford, DE, introduced and pioneered Extreme Dental MakeOvers to the dental profession and had opened the Institute of Dental Aesthetics in Cleveland, Ohio to train dentists who wanted personalized one-to-one training in the field of cosmetic dentistry. According to dentists interviewed by Dental Management Magazine, these training programs helped dentists think from a patient's perspective, not just a dentist perspective and provided marketing, management and technique simplification training.

Developing A Whitening Technique
The concept of no shot, no drilling pain free cosmetic dentistry had become widely accepted by the dental profession in the late 1980’s. However, cosmetic dentistry entailed more than just bonding and veneers. Many consumers still wanted whiter teeth without the time or expense associated with composite bonding or porcelain veneers. In 1989 Dr. Silverman invented and applied for a patent for one of the country's first OTC (over the counter) tooth whitening systems. In 1993, along with visionary entrepreneur Paul Ruffino, infomercial developer Guthy Renker Corporation and television celebrity Vanna White, Dr. Silverman's Perfect Smile Tooth Whitening System helped create today's OTC tooth whitening category[. Following this project, Dr. Silverman worked on numerous advanced tooth whitening systems Including Kim Alexis' Rapid White, Telebrands' WhiteLight and Deborah Shelton's Smile. The tooth whitening category has grown significantly since Dr. Silverman introduced the Perfect Smile System.

Today
Through the use of bonding, bleaching and no preparation porcelain veneers, dentistry is becomeing the least invasive it can. It is becoming more popular as more dentists' chose to provide non-invasive veneers that do not require the destruction of healthy enamel to correct smile problems. As a result of his work on refining, developing and inventing cosmetic dentistry systems that do not require shots or drilling, Dr. Silverman has been consistently listed as a top clinician in CE for the dental profession for his work in cosmetic dentistry. In recent years the Silverman Institute of Cosmetic Dentistry has taken over the initial pioneering work of the Institute of Dental Aesthetics where dentists can still refine the cosmetic dentistry skills outside of a large lecture hall. As a result of consumer demand for a simpler, easier way to change their smile without braces or porcelain veneers, Dr. Silverman recently invented the LifeLIke Veneer™ system that allows dentists to create natural looking smiles in just one visit - without shots, drilling, or the expense associated with porcelain veneers. Dr. Silverman continues to develop new tooth whiteners for OTC and professional use as well as simplified veneer systems that will continue to give consumers access to having a bright, self-confident smile.