Treating everyone like their mother

It’s not your typical dental office at Center for Advanced Cosmetic Dentistry.

And that’s what Dr. David Crescenzo and his fellow colleagues – Dr. Joe Montalbano and Dr. John Vitello – pride themselves on.

“The big thing we would like to get the word out is our comprehensive care,” Crescenzo said. “It’s really not a typical dental office, yes it is general dentistry, but it’s comprehensive related to overall wellness and overall health, making overall health better. Connecting dots between medicine and dentistry because all of it is related.

“People think [the mouth] is different than their foot … it’s really not.”

Crescenzo is second generation in the practice following in the footsteps of his father Donald, who started his practice in 1960 at their home.

“Back then doctors practiced at their homes,” Crescenzo explained.

In 1980, Donald bought the property the practice is on now at 5 Weymouth Road.

Crescenzo completed his Doctor of Dental Surgery at Georgetown Dental School in 1990 and joined his father’s practice.

“We worked together for five years before my father retired,” he said. The first hygienist – Cheryl Macrie – at the Weymouth Road office 45 years ago is still in the practice.

“You don’t see that too often … the longevity is good here.”

You can say Crescenzo is protective of his staff and patients at the Center for Advanced Cosmetic Dentistry. Rightfully so, Crescenzo’s many patients “were left in my care when my dad retired.”

“I really don’t want to sell to corporate dentistry,” Crescenzo said. And with that notion, Crescenzo has surrounded himself with family.

“Dr. Joe Montalbano, he’s my nephew through marriage,” Crescenzo said. “He started with me in 2018. Dr. John Vitello, coincidentally, I coached him when he was 9 years old. He was on my son’s Little League team. I’ve known him since he was very young.

“These guys are family guys and we all kind of have the same philosophy, the bottom line is if you treat everyone as if they were your mother, you’re going to take time and cost out of it and you’re always going to do the best thing for them.”

Montalbano – or Dr. Joe – is a lifelong resident of the Hammonton community. He grew up on a blueberry farm and developed a love of science and helping other people too. Montalbano attended The College of New Jersey earning a degree in biology. He continued his education at Rutgers University where he earned his master’s in biomedical science followed by his Doctor of Medical Dentistry, according to the practice’s website.

During his fourth year at dental school, he also completed a clinical externship at the University Dental Center in Somerdale. While there, he focused on treating medically compromised patients. Today, he continues to pursue advanced education in cosmetic dentistry and Invisalign.

Vitello – or Dr. John – grew up in Hammonton and always hoped for an opportunity to give back to the community and town he was so proud to call home. He received a Bachelor’s in Science with a major in biology from High Point University in North Carolina. And his Doctor of Dental Medicine from LECOM School of Dental Medicine in Bradenton, Florida. He was practicing dentistry in Ventnor before he joined Crescenzo and Montalbano.

The doctors are surrounded by a dedicated dental team including an office manager, who has been with the practice for 27 years and registered dental hygienists and assistants.

The comprehensive care at Center for Advanced Cosmetic Dentistry is the “golden child” of the practice.

“We truly try to be super comprehensive in the beginning and lay out a plan for your oral health,” Crescenzo explains. “When you come in as a new patient, you don’t see the hygienist, it’s not just a cleaning.

“I spend an hour with them in the new patient exam, we take digital photos of every patient, we take a three-dimensional panoramic x-ray which is called a CBCT, we take internal x-rays, we check for cavities.

“The comprehensive exam consists of many things evaluating their nasal passages, their sinuses, their airway, their teeth, their tongue … that’s all done in the first visit,” Crescenzo said.

The next appointment – also about an hour – involves a cleaning and consultation to go through the photos taken during the first examination.

“I tell people if you understand your oral health, you will be more apt to take care of it,” Crescenzo said. “I tell people I would like you to see what I see. Don’t just take my word for it.”

And although the practice will not turn any patient or nonpatient away, it is important for the comprehensive exam either way.

“We have found people who [essentially] come through the back door, or just problem focused and we never kind of get on the right foot,” Crescenzo said, adding investigating the root of the cause is important and “fun” at times.

Crescenzo has focused his career in full mouth rehabilitation, cosmetic dentistry and TMJ (temporomandibular joint dysfunction) disorders. This has led him into airway and sleep apnea treatment.

“It’s all kind of related, I don’t want to say we have a holistic approach to dentistry, we try to be noninvasive,” he said. “What I preach all day long is we always ask why and try to get to the root cause. It’s just the simplest thing. If you have a cavity and I fill it, I treated your symptom. I don’t know why you have a cavity. Do you have acid reflux? Is it your diet? Is it your homecare or is it a combination of all those things. The goal we always tell people is ‘I would like to fix you and not to continue to fix you.’ We try to get to the root cause.

“I tell the younger guys … dentistry was a lot easier 25 years ago because I didn’t know as much. The more I know now, the harder it becomes because you just look at so many things.

“That’s what’s good about the three of us,” Crescenzo continued. “They are younger. When we look at cases together, they ask me what I think and I go to them, ‘Well you tell me what you think.’”

And looking back Crescenzo admitted his journey finding that philosophy was difficult. Six to seven years in, Crescenzo said he was ready to leave the profession.

“I was here by myself, we took every insurance plan that came down the road, it was a disaster,” he recalled. “Insurance companies, they really don’t pay you what you are worth, they want you to work off volume, not quality.

“I remember telling my dad, I don’t know if I could do this for the rest of my life. Long story short, we started eliminating insurance companies we felt weren’t being fair and now the word is we practice smarter not harder.

“I actually love what I do, I really do,” Crescenzo said. “Here I am 35 years later and I really don’t think I’ll retire. As long as I can physically do it, I have help now too. I didn’t realize how much I needed help until I got help. They are young. We think alike because we are all raised the same. They feel the same way. They put patients first as if it’s their family. I know it sounds like a cliché, but it’s the truth and if everybody did that in life, if everybody treated everyone like their mom, wouldn’t it be a much better place?”

Also 25 years ago, Crescenzo realized that the people that need the most care are typically the most fearful of dentists.

“I decided 25 years ago to be certified in oral conscious sedation,” he said. “That has really been rewarding because so many people have transformed their mouths because they can do it without feeling like they are being tortured. That’s been a big help in this practice. It allows a lot of people to get dentistry done.”

Like his father, Crescenzo is a gadget person. He continuously keeps up with technology that has advanced the dental industry.

“I haven’t had a paper chart since I don’t know how long,” he said. “We all take a lot of continuing education, constantly recurring, which is bad for the girls because we are constantly changing things.”

At Center for Advanced Cosmetic Dentistry, patients range from 3 years old to 101 years young and come near and far. With the rotation of the three doctors, Center for Advanced Cosmetic Dentistry offers extended hours during the week.

Monday: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Tuesday: 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Wednesday: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Thursday: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Friday: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Center for Advanced Cosmetic Dentistry is located at 5 Weymouth Road. For more information visit https://www.instyle-smiles.com/