Our office is located in downtown Winnipeg in the Medical Arts Building. The office has been around for a long time and came under the ownership of Jeffery Schau Dental Corporation in the summer of 2007. Since then the office has undergone numerous upgrades including a complete overhaul of the layout and facilities, and full computerization including digital x-rays and intraoral cameras.The goal was to create an office that was warm and friendly with accessibility to all who want to come to our office. Based on user experience and feedback, we hit the mark.
Mercury Free
Our office is a mercury free office. This means we no longer place amalgam fillings (silver in color, mix of mercury, copper, nickel, and other metals).
Why have we done this? As you are likely aware mercury is a known toxin to humans. Mercury is also a key component to silver fillings. Once one of these silver fillings is set (hardened), the mercury is bound in the filling and only released with heavy grinding or drilling. This means that unless you have a severe mercury allergy (roughly 1 person in 1 million have this) this will have little to no effect on you. However, with the manufacturing of this product, its placement and removal from teeth, and when people are cremated, this mercury is released into the environment. This is where our major concern comes from and why we have banned the use of mercury fillings from our office.
Latex Free
As the number of people with Latex allergies and sensitivities increases we have decided to become one of the few dental offices in Winnipeg to do away with Latex altogether. As of August 30′ 2007 our office became 100% Latex free. To do this we have switched all our gloves and other Latex products to materials such as Nitrile. These products are highly effective and don’t pose the same health and safety risks associated with commonly used Latex products.
For those with Latex allergies this will bring great relief. No more having to remind the staff that you have a latex allergy as we will always be using a non Latex product.
Additionally, I have found over the years that some individuals are hypersensitive to latex and/or the powder found in gloves and would end up with cold sores after their dental visits. With switching to Latex and powder free gloves, many of these patients have found relief.
Perfume Concious
More and more people these days, including Dr. Schau, are becoming more sensitive to perfumes and colognes. For some people, it is so severe they can not be around anyone who is wearing perfume, or even go into a room someone wearing perfume was just in. At Schau Dental we want to be a safe office for anyone to come to. To help us with this, we ask all our patients to avoid using perfumes or colognes the day they have an appointment at our office. If you are coming to our office and have a sensitivity to perfumes and colognes, please let us know so we can make every effort to remind our other patients that day to avoid the use of any perfumes or colognes.