Dr. Alicia Kennedy, DDS, is a smile maker

By Marti Gacioch

Dr. Alicia Kennedy’s dental patients have a lot to smile about. Based on Girard since 1998, Kennedy operates a boutique dental practice specializing in high-end aesthetic dentistry. In her practice she uses only the latest technology and materials to enhance her work.

Kennedy has done implants and porcelain veneers since 1987, but impression materials, and materials to make crowns, have changed greatly since the days of using gold crowns.

“We now use E-Max or Empress material, which have the same translucency as real tooth enamel so they look like your own natural tooth,” Kennedy said. “The new materials are very strong and emulate porcelain, so we can match the natural tooth and the crown so that you cannot distinguish the difference.”

One of Dr. Kennedy’s patients in her 60s recently replaced her old opaque crowns with new translucent ones and was thrilled with the results. “She said it was the best investment she ever made,” Kennedy said. “She said ‘I can smile now and I get so many compliments for my teeth.’”

Kennedy emphasizes precision in her work, which involves using high-powered microscopes to make the smooth, detailed preparation needed to assure perfect connections. “When I put them in, they look perfect and they last much longer because there is no gap between the tooth and the crown,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy grew up in Communist Poland and received her dentistry degree. In 1975, the Polish government allowed Kennedy and her husband to leave Poland to work in Libya where they remained for four years before coming to the United States.

After receiving a second dentistry degree from UCLA in 1982, Kennedy practiced in Orange County until moving to La Jolla in 1998. For Kennedy, continuous dental education remains an essential part of her career. Every year she attends multiple symposiums throughout the world and enjoys mentoring continuing education classes for dentists at the Pearce Education Center for dentists in Arizona. In 2011, Dr. Kennedy was voted the No. 1 dentist in La Jolla Light’s Consumer Poll.

“I take so much training all the time because dentistry is my passion and I have no other hobbies,” Kennedy said. “This is total artistry and so exciting that I will never retire.”

— Dr. Alicia Kennedy, D.D.S.,7334 Girard Ave., No. 101. (858) 454-6148.

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