Home
About

Cool Dental
in Lethbridge, Alberta

Dr. Karstan Lachman

Dr. Lachman is a general dentist whom has taken numerous extensive post-graduate courses in craniomandibular and temporal mandibular joint disorder diagnosis and treatment. Dr. Lachman has a special focus on various treatment modalities for treating temporal mandibular joint disorders and works closely with other health practitioners.
Services

General Dental Services Lethbridge, Alberta

Dr. Karstan Lachman

Whether your dental needs are a complete exam and cleaning, a full-mouth restoration, or anything in between, we promise to provide you with exceptional care as we enhance the natural beauty of your smile. Come in and find out how we can help.
For Patients
Before / After
Book Appointment
Contact Us
Blog

(403) 382-2273

Infection control has always been a top priority for our practice, and you may have seen this during your visits to our office. Our infection control processes are made so that when you receive care, it’s both safe and comfortable.

Our office follows infection control recommendations made by the Alberta Dental Association and College (ADA&C), Health Canada and the Canadian Centre For Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS).

We want to tell you about the infection control procedures we follow in our practice to keep patients and staff safe.

To ensure the health and well-being of our patients and team members, we have installed 2 different types of air purifiers at our dental office. Both of these are manufactured by the Canadian company, Surgically Clean Air.

CASCADE WHITE - The Cascade White is the first unit you will see when you enter our office. We have placed this in the waiting area because this is the largest room in our office. The Cascade White is able to filter up to 576 cubic feet per minute.

The Cascade White filter has 6 stages of filtration including UV sterilization, plus two additional negative ion chambers to ensure the air is as fresh as possible. These six filters capture 99.998% of dust particles, pollen, volatile organic chemicals (VOCs), mold, allergens, viruses, odors (like formaldehyde and smoke), bio-aerosols, laughing gas, and many other pollutants that are found in the inside air. The negative ion generator makes the indoor environment feel more pure, clean, and energized.

JADE - The Jade filter is what you will find in each of our operatories. The Jade filters still have the same 6 stage filtering system and will move 383 cubic feet per minute. This means the Jade will filter all the air in a 10 x 10 room in about 2 minutes.

Both of these filters perform their duties without being loud, (an industry-leading low level of about 55DB) or creating a “breeze” that can be uncomfortable for our patients.

Some additional changes you may also see when it is time for your next appointment. For example:

Our office will communicate with you beforehand to ask some screening questions. You’ll be asked those same questions again when you are in the office. We will not allow patients to enter our office who have symptoms or have traveled outside of Canada in the last 2 weeks.
We have hand sanitizer that we will ask you to use when you enter the office. You will also find some in the reception area and other places in the office for you to use as needed.
You may see that our waiting room will no longer offer magazines, children’s toys and so forth, since those items are difficult to clean and disinfect.
In the interest of physical distancing, we are advising all adult patients to attend the office alone to prevent crowding.
Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients. That might mean that you’re offered fewer options for scheduling your appointment.
We will do our best to allow greater time between patients to reduce waiting times for you, as well as to reduce the number of patients in the reception area at any one time.
For our safety and yours, we currently cannot accept walk-ins.

We look forward to seeing you again and are happy to answer any questions you may have about the steps we take to keep you, and every patient, safe in our practice. To make an appointment, please call our office at (403) 382‑2273.

So come on in to get your dental work done and enjoy Surgically Clean Air!

So what if my gums bleed?

From: Dr. Karstan Lachman

Are you ignoring the warning signs of gum disease?

Do your gums bleed when you brush, eat or floss? This indicates a chronic infection is present in your mouth. Bleeding gum tissue equals infection, plain and simple. Does the skin on your arm, leg, or face bleed when you touch it? Your gums shouldn’t either.

If your gums bleed then it shows harmful bacteria is present causing an infection which can ultimately transfer through the tissue into the bloodstream where it causes or exacerbates various medical conditions, including plaque formation in arteries which predisposes you to heart disease and stroke.

Another important fact is that long term infection of the gums eventually causes the underlying bone that holds your teeth in to dissolve and be permanently lost. Eventually the teeth become loose and fall out, an important thing if you enjoy eating. The worst part is that none of this infection causes pain until it is too late, and you are about to start losing teeth. It’s a slow and very destructive process.

Screening for oral cancer is important in anyone who is sexually active; this includes both teens and adults. New vaccines that are now accessible for prevention of HPV which may also work to prevent HPV-related oral cancer. At your dental cleaning and examination appointments your mouth should be screened for oral cancer. This usually entails both visual and palpation of the soft tissue of the mouth, throat, neck and face which takes about 5 minutes. A thorough exam like this enables the oral care professional to keep track of any changes within the mouth. Besides visual and manual palpation some dental offices use an oral cancer screening device which use different wavelengths of light to detect tissue changes, sometimes well before they are visible with the naked eye. If you experience any of these common warning signs, please book an appointment with us right away.

In recent years the literature is full of studies that show the health of your mouth is linked to your general health. Gum disease has often been called the ‘silent killer’. For this reason, we are diligent in recommending dental hygiene treatment to rid your mouth of infection, not just observe it because if it is there, it will most certainly get worse over time which will affect both your oral cavity and systemic health. The Cool Dental team is proud to deliver the best care that we can that is backed by scientific research. We want the best for our patients’ oral health and their well-being long term.