By Amy Gutierrez
As you recline in a luxurious, leather massage chair, it’s easy to forget you’re in a dental office and not a spa. That’s just part of the effort that Dr. Luz Hernandez, D.D.S., and her staff have poured into the office of Dental Arts by Dr. Luz Hernandez, conveniently located off Commerce Park Blvd. in the Tampa Palms Professional Center.
From the moment you step into the office’s foyer, the calm surroundings and décor — along with the immensely friendly and helpful staff — allow Dr. Hernandez’s patients to relax and partner with their dentist to maintain a beautiful smile.
Dr. Hernandez and her family, including children Adam and Nina, moved to Tampa Palms eight years ago from New York, after she graduated from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook with a B.S. in Biochemistry and later from SUNY Stony Brook’s School of Dental Medicine with her Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) degree in 2004. After that, the bilingual Dr. Hernandez worked in a group practice, but soon decided to open her own practice, which has been in the same location since 2009.
With careful consideration for working in the same area that she lives, Dr. Hernandez’s office thrives and continues its rapid growth, as she treats and delivers spectacular results to patients as young as age nine.
“Preventive dentistry is the key,” she says. “The more regularly a young patient is seen, the more likely he or she is to maintain a healthy smile as an adult and continue having routine check-ups and ongoing maintenance.”
In addition to cleanings and prevention, Dr. Hernandez’s office provides the full range of cosmetic dental services, including porcelain crowns, bridges, veneers and teeth whitening. She also diagnoses and treats periodontal (gum) diseases, such as gingivitis, and performs restorative dentistry.
It’s great news that the incidence of tooth decay has significantly diminished over the years, due to the use of fluoride toothpaste and fluoridated water and an increase in patient awareness, Dr. Hernandez says. However, teeth are still susceptible to decay, infection and breakage and, sometimes, they need to be restored back to health. Through improved techniques and modern technology, Dr. Hernandez says that she and her staff are able to offer more options for restoring your teeth back to their normal shape, appearance and function.
She also notes that she has completed hundreds of hours of continuing education and training so that she always is able to offer her patients the latest advances in dental treatment.
She notes that much of that continuing education has been conducted at the prestigious Dawson Academy in St. Petersburg. The Dawson Academy has limited locations throughout the world and brings together an interdisciplinary group of specialists who each are dedicated to educating and developing a full spectrum of dental techniques. Specifically, Dr. Hernandez trained at the Dawson Academy with primary concentrations in dental occlusion (contact between the teeth and gums), the temporomandibular joints (TMJ) and comprehensive aesthetic restorative dentistry.
In addition to her commitment to training, Dr. Hernandez has designed her office around state-of-the-art dental equipment and technology. At Dental Arts, patients can take advantage of digital radiography — a technique that uses an electronic sensor (instead of x-ray film) to capture and store the digital images of a patient’s teeth on a computer. This image can then be instantly viewed and enlarged, helping the dentist and dental hygienist detect problems far more easily than by using traditional film. Digital radiography helps reveal any abscesses, bone loss, tumors, decay between teeth, developmental abnormalities, poor tooth and root positions and/or problems inside a tooth or below the gum line.
With a carefully selected office staff comprised of practice manager Tara Moore, dental assistant Aliza Ayres and hygienist Patricia Gonzalez, Dr. Hernandez says her primary goal is to provide you and your family with knowledgeable, friendly, personalized, state-of-the-art dentistry right in your own neighborhood.
Reducing Your Stress
Worried or anxious about visiting the dentist? There is a quick, two-minute video on the practice’s website that may help ease your fear of the unknown.
Joyce, a Pebble Creek resident, says, “I am not one that looks forward to going to the dentist. Even the promise of lollipops and toothbrushes when I was younger could not get me excited about (a visit to) the dentist. However, after visiting Dr. Hernandez for extensive dental work and two cleanings during the past five months, my view has changed. While I still don’t get excited about going to the dentist, I no longer become paralyzed by anxiety and fear. Dr. Hernandez treats her patients as part of her family. The office is state-of-the-art and I NEVER have to wait. Her staff is friendly and accommodating to cowards like me. I have recommended Dr. Hernandez to my family and friends.”
One of the many great perks of Dental Arts is that appointments are not double-booked.
“We provide time for each individual patient and don’t believe in patients having to sit around in the waiting room,” Dr. Hernandez explains. “We value our patients’ time and, likewise, they value ours. New patients generally can be seen within a week and with our convenient office hours, most people can be seen during a time that works with their schedule.”
Moore says that she is happy to file through most PPO and Indemnity Dental insurance plans for your convenience and is even happy to work through insurance appeals on your behalf to obtain a successful claim resolution. So, again, thanks to highly specific digital x-rays and intraoral photography, Dental Arts always has the most advanced technological images that often help explain to you, the patient, and to your insurance company, the medical necessity of particular treatments and procedures. “This saves you money!,” says Moore.
A proud, active member of the American Dental Association, Florida Dental Association, West Coast Florida Dental Association and the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC), Dr. Hernandez says that she is excited to partner with you and your family to obtain your brightest, healthiest smile for a lifetime.
The Dental Arts office of Dr. Luz Hernandez is located at 17427 Bridge Hill Ct., Suite A, and is open Monday – Thursday, 8 a.m.- 5 p.m. Emergency visits also can be accommodated. Call the office today for your consultation appointment at 903-8888 or visit LuzDDS.com and click “Appointment Request.”
For the latest news, reviews and articles, ‘Like’ the office’s Facebook.com page at Facebook.com/LuzHernandezDDS.
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