#Selfies

For years and year we had photo albums that we could show our friends when they visited. And we had wedding albums and yearbooks and wallet size pictures to remind us of our loved ones. Then we had Picasa (anyone remembers that?) and yahoo pictures and all those online storage places where our friends could log in and see our vacation photos.
And then it all exploded when social media started the revolution, now we could post pictures every day and our friends could see them right away. Remember when we logged in to Facebook on our desktops at home and scrolled through all the posts and looked at all the pics our friends posted and shared?
Those pictures were the proof we were "there", they were proof that we had a great time with our friends, proof that we are happy and enjoying life to the max!
That's why we started taking selfies, because they were instant and reflected our happiness in that moment! That's how Instagram popped up, then SnapChat and all the filters that made us look funny and put a smile on everyone's faces!
Isn't that great? When it comes to posting our own pictures to leave a trail of our digital life for others to enjoy too - it is great!
And it highlights how good, healthy and happy we look, and how blessed we are to live this life! But that puts pressure on some of us to have the perfect smile that everyone else has in their selfies. Fortunately somehow, selfies only need a teeth whitening and a cleaning to look good in pictures, no one will see your gum infections or bleeding, no molar crown missing or molar missing altogether, and we can rarely see the dark amalgam fillings or cavities.
So to be selfie ready a quick teeth whitening would do it, but to have a good oral health (that affects your overall health) please contact Aliso Viejo Dental at 949-425-1447 or visit our website, we would be happy to discuss an affordable treatment plan with you!

Cryptocurrency payments and Bitcoin

It's all the talk about cryptocurrency now, everybody heard something or wants to find out more about it! Bitcoin is the word of the day and a lot of people want to find out more info and want to find how to buy it 3 years ago! (just kidding!)
It all seems like a bubble that we want to stay away from but we feel bad for missing this train too. We also understand that in a form or another, cryptocurrency will eventually settle down and it will be part of our everyday life. We just don't know in which form or when yet.
Those are all legitimate questions and they bug us more and more lately.
But it all got real and close to home when we had 2 Patients last month who wanted to pay for their dental services with Bitcoin! And the frustration was awkward when we didn't know anything about cryptocurrency payments or how they work. Well, since then we got on it and researched this issue, I mean sooner or later we'll have to anyway! There are numerous cryptocurrency forms of payment, and there is one designed specifically for dental payments, called Dentacoin.
Our Bank Of America merchant account doesn't accept bitcoin and understandably so, this market is too volatile and unreliable for payments for now. But there are other platforms like Shopify and Bitpay and others that will eventually become mainstream. And there are a lot of retailers who accept cryptocurrency already, like Microsoft, Overstock.com or Expedia, so this is coming to a store near you soon!
And when it does we'll be ready, until then we accept cash, checks, debit/credit cards, also ApplePay or AndroidPay, and we'll submit your claim to insurance too!
More info on our website at AlisoViejoDental.com