Where did this passion come from?

“Moe Kirschner,” Buzz says. “He was a great role model. He was my dentist, but he always treated me like a member of the family. He so obviously cared about me. At nine years old, I was a terrible needle-phobic, and of course the technology was relatively primitive in those days. If he ever had to do anything that would cause discomfort, he would say, ‘I’m going to give you a couple of choices. You tell me what works for you. And you can feel free to change your mind later if it doesn’t work for you.’ He let me be in control. He was a phenomenal role model for empathy.”

Buzz was so impressed with Moe’s caring and compassion, he was inspired to align his commitment to lifelong learning with a dental career.

He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine in 1973, and since then has typically completed more than 75 hours of continuing dental education every year.

As an active member of the Internet Dental Forum and the Crown Council E-mail Network, Dr. Buzz receives an average of 150 e-mail messages daily from leading-edge dentists around the world.  His e-mail mentors include some of the world’s top speakers on implants, air abrasion, high-tech dentistry, and anesthetic techniques.  He subscribes to the two top newsletters on advances in dentistry, and also learns from continuing education videos online.  His weekly study group includes periodontists, an oral surgeon, an orthodontist and other general dentists. With all this expertise, he’s been called on to inform other dentists and the press.

Of all his achievements, Dr. Buzz is most proud of the many, many children he has seen grow up without dental fear; of the beautiful smiles he has created and the way he has made people feel better about themselves; and of the wonderful long term relationships of 10, 15, 20 years and longer, that he has achieved with some truly wonderful patients.

“Every day I walk into my office and look at the schedule. As my eyes pan down the list of names, I think, ‘Nice person. Nice person. Nice person.’ Many dentists consider dentistry to be very stressful, but I’m lucky. My patients make my job a pleasure.”

We feel best when we see our patients happy, healthy, confident, and comfortable about their visits with us. So we work as a team to treat each patient as we would a friend or loved one.

Dr. Buzz is an unusually caring person who happens to be a dentist. His caring is contagious. You can see it reflected in everything that goes on in the office.

We’re serious about serious things, with meticulous attention to detail and a passion for excellence in every facet of our work.

But we balance our professionalism with a sense of humor, so you experience a relaxed atmosphere. We work hard to make your smile beautiful and functional, so we want to see you use it! We enjoy making you smile.

Let us start taking excellent care of you! To schedule your appointment:

Call now: 610-891-1718
Or schedule online.

Special talents
I am privileged to have a very talented staff. Some of those talents are expressed in the office, and some outside the office. I’d like to introduce you to our “other sides.”

Meet Buzz Waterston
Buzz’s parents believed that learning is a lifelong experience, so he spends a great deal of time on dental continuing education and emailing dentists around the world, sharing information. He’s a woodturner and furniture builder, and has made a great deal of the furniture in his home. His salad serving bowls and Judaica can be seen at www.divinewoodwork.com. Buzz and his wife, Wendy, love to travel and to learn about other people and their cultures. They’ve visited an Embera indian encampment in Panama, gotten lost in sparsely populated Donegal in Ireland (and many other places), and stayed on an island with fewer than 100 permanent residents and hung out with the locals. He’s also had vocal training and has spent many Saturday nights singing at Downey’s piano bar. He enjoys gardening and cooking. Buzz is always on the lookout for socially acceptable ways to express his strange (and probably genetically predetermined) sense of humor. His latest project combines his love of travel, unusual dental and medical information, and humor at www.globetrottingdentist.com. When he travels, he’ll take videos of the area and finish with a dental tip. When not traveling, he’ll make up imaginary travel locations. He’s interviewed Natasha Badinov of Boris and Natasha (of Rocky and Bullwinkle fame), chatted with the caretaker of Ben Franklin’s restored home (shot in Middletown), and visited magnificent Victoria Falls in Africa (OK, it was Crum Creek in Swarthmore) and the headwaters of the Amazon (shot overlooking Ridley Creek).
On the serious side, Buzz has lectured internationally to other dentists on relieving muscle soreness. Honest.

Death Stinks
I’m going to take my “dental hat” off and put my “just another person like you hat” on now. I’ve known many of you for a long time. We’ve talked about and shared our life events; marriages, divorces, births, and deaths. I’ve found that many of our human reactions to the death of a loved one are normal and understandable reactions; yet, we make the mourning process even tougher on ourselves by feeling guilty about these things. Liberating Losses: When Death Brings Relief by Jennifer Elison and Chris Mcgonigle is a book my wife Wendy gave to me a couple of years ago. It has helped me and several of my patients tremendously. When a loved one dies, the survivor wrestles with many conflicting emotions. One of them may be relief that our loved one is no longer suffering; yet, we feel guilty that we feel this sense of relief. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is trying to deal with a chronically ill or recently deceased love one. It can help reduce the pain of a difficult process. When you meet what moves me, you meet me.

Our mission statement
We recently rethought our mission statement and would like to share it with you: “Our mission is to be the outstanding practice at forming longterm partnerships with dental patients; to use ever-improving knowledge, materials, and techniques to provide lasting restorations; to passionately educate patients on how to achieve and maintain lifetime dental health and wellness, and to provide patients with the highest possible VALUE and most gentle care.”
To meet my central beliefs is to meet me.

Words of Wisdom
Frank Spear is the most brilliant teacher and lecturer I’ve heard in 36 years of practice. This is what he says about the accumulation of knowledge: “Education is a layering process. You have to listen to and absorb one layer before you can listen to and absorb a deeper layer.” Sometimes I find myself feeling resentful that people like Frank weren’t on the lecture circuit in my first years of practice. The truth is that I wasn’t ready for his advanced information until I had mastered a sufficient number of layers of knowledge. As someone once told me, “When the pupil is ready, the teacher will appear.” To meet my learning is to meet me.

Meet Buzz Waterston

I was born in the Bronx and grew up on Long Island. I’ve always preferred to be called by my childhood nickname, “Buzz.” After graduating from Binghamton University in 1969 and the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine in 1973, I served as a dentist in the U.S. Navy in Washington, D.C. for two years. I consider myself a lucky person; I have three close friendships of 40 years or more, and I’m married to my best friend, Wendy. From my parents, I received a love of knowledge. I spend many hours in continuing education, adding new ideas and techniques to my practice. I’m proud to be a member of Crown Council, a group of over 1000 outstanding dental practices dedicated to clinical excellence, communication skills, and helping the community. Since 1998 our office has raised over $65,000 for local and national charities. I have many mentors through the Internet Dental Forum, a source of world-wide, up-to-date information on dentistry. I lectured to this group on pain relief techniques in dentistry in 2002. I have twin sons and a grandson. My hobbies include singing, woodworking, fishing, cooking, and gardening. I enjoy bad puns.

Changing a life
Every so often I get a chance to do something few people do….I can make a real change in someone’s life. I received the following testimonial and letter from a patient, and it means a lot to me to be able to share it with you.

“For me, sedation dentistry offered the answer to a lifetime of pain and anxiety during dental procedures. It provided me with the confidence to complete a large amount of restorative dentistry in a peaceful, relaxed way and forever changed the way I will think about dental procedures. I never realized that I could have a healthy mouth and an attractive smile again.”

Here’s an excerpt of the letter that followed:

“So, despite the fact that I am an educated, health care professional and know I should have taken better care of myself, I just had so much trouble overcoming my past experiences that I couldn’t bring myself to do what I knew I should be doing. I’m not sure what exactly made me take the leap to come to see you that first time but I will be forever grateful that I did. I feel extremely blessed to have found you and your wonderful team of caring folks. I can never thank you all enough for letting me be me, helping the inner Judy come out and never making me feel bad about being afraid. You and your staff helped to make me feel good about myself and find a new part of me that I actually like! Wow, it’s like a personality transplant almost. Several people who have known me for years saw me over the end of year holidays and wanted to know whether I was in love, or what exactly had happened. I looked different they said, and a really good different!
Despite all my questions, you answered each and every one of them and never made me feel bad for asking. As they say, knowledge is power and in this case it really was for me. You always told me when things were going to hurt and after that, helped me to realize that I could actually trust you to do the best thing for my care with the least hurt as possible. You actually cared about how I felt and whether I had discomfort or anxiety. What a novel concept!
After the second sedation visit, I went home shaking my head feeling really good that I had actually laughed in your dental chair. By my third visit, I remember sitting at work the night before and thinking to myself, I’m actually looking forward to going to my appointment because I know I can deal with it and it will only be uncomfortable for a bit and I can do ok with that, plus, I really like these people and they really like me! Of course the nitrous helped, and I think maybe it got Lynn and me going with the giggles, but it’s healthy to laugh, especially at oneself.
I treasure my “Becoming a Really Good Dental Patient” certificate and it’s posted on the fridge to continually remind me of possibilities.
After these past few months of dealing with other health issues and other health care professionals, I continually realize how grateful I should be, that I found you and your staff. It takes special people to really care for others like you all do and I want you each to know how rare and precious that is to patients like me. You didn’t have all the facts and yet you didn’t make judgments, you just cared for me in the most compassionate way possible and made me feel good about it all. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of the wonderful things you all have done for me, not the least of which are my pretty new teeth. You all set a shining example of what all health care professionals should aim for!
Please feel free to share any or all of this with your staff. I would like them to know what a positive effect you and they have had on my life.
Sincerely, Judy E.”

Please feel free to talk to us at any time if you feel sedation dentistry could help you or someone you know.

When you meet what motivates me, you meet me.

Meet my parents
A nice thing about my practice is that I can almost always make the time to talk with my patients. Lately, I seem to be having a lot of conversations about the profound effect that our formative years have on our adulthood. Since I’ve always tried to present myself as a person first and a dentist second, I thought this would be a good time to introduce you to my parents. Hopefully, you’ll get a greater insight into how I became the person I am today. My mom, Mattie, was a remarkable person. She made her friends feel special and was excellent at establishing intimacy with others. Long before Dr. Phil was around to give advice on how to raise children, my mom’s approach was unusual. When one of us (I’m the oldest of three) did something wrong, my mom’s classic response was, “I love you, but I don’t like the thing you did today.” Even when she criticized us, she built us up. My mom was a compassionate and introspective person, and was a great listener. She was also a lover of people and found people to be endlessly fascinating. She gave of her time, energy, and affection selflessly. When she went back to college at about age 50, she majored in social work. When my mom died at 56, she left a hole in the world.

From my dad, Nat, I got my sense of humor, my ability to organize a task and take it to completion, my attention to detail, and my ability to focus with great intensity on what I need to do.
Most important, he taught me the importance of thoughtfulness and doing the right thing. My dad is one of the most thoughtful people I know; he’s always gone out of his way to help others. And he’s always been gracious about it. My love of music comes from both parents, but it was my dad who sang me to sleep when I was little (he had a “crooner’s voice” like Perry Como). My dad took me to baseball games, had frequent baseball catches with me, and made sure I mowed the lawn.
My dad learned ballroom dancing when he was in his 60s and started playing bridge at the age of 77. He was raised at a time when people weren’t encouraged to talk about their feelings, but he’s been willing to learn to do this over the years. From both of my parents I received a love of language and the expectation that we should keep learning and growing until we die. Many dentists are resistant to change. More than any other force, it was my parents’ influence that motivates me to take so many continuing education courses and keep advancing my ability to care for my patients. I’m a better dentist and a better person because of my parents’ direct influence. When you “meet” my parents, you meet me.