Happening Now: Adirondack Orthodontics hosting hundreds of children and families in what is the Capital Region’s largest-ever donation of braces. Phenomenal story. Can’t wait to share it. @SPECNewsAlbany pic.twitter.com/aFKyzN1Wc3

— Evan Sery (@evanserytv) October 20, 2018

Dr. Sergey Berenshteyn was 10 when his parents fled Ukraine for Queens 25 years ago. The Soviet Union had just splintered into newly independent republics, including Ukraine. His mother had been a dentist, but in the 1990s, Soviet dentistry was far behind American technologically.

“Russian dentists didn’t use X-rays to identify bad teeth; they just looked inside the patient’s mouth so my mom had to catch up in school,” Berenshteyn said. So, his middle-aged mother studied three years in New York University’s College of Dentistry, while learning English, before she could open her practice in Troy.

“My dad learned English while he studied to be a computer programmer,” the son recalled, and added with a laugh. “They still sound like villains in a James Bond movie because of they never lost Russian accents. But I’m so proud of what they accomplished.”

Berenshteyn followed his mom’s footsteps after graduating from Guilderland High School by becoming an orthodontist with practices in Latham, Albany and Clifton Park called Adirondack Orthodontics. He recently recognized his parents’ tenacity and hustle in two teenagers, both Guilderland High School students, both patients of his. And both are the children of immigrants. When they told Berenshteyn they wanted to learn to be orthodontists, he created paid apprenticeships for each of them.

“My apprentice last year was a young woman whose parents immigrated to Guilderland from the former Soviet Republic of Uzbekistan,” Berenshteyn said. So there was a plan in place this year when another student, Joey Hayak, asked job shadowing and ended up with a fulltime summer job.

Hayak, 17, a rising senior at Guilderland High School, was born in America to a father who emigrated from Lebanon to the U.S. Now, Hayak he’s apprenticing with is doctor, the second teenage child of immigrants to do so in two years.

“Because he’s not a certified dental assistant, Joey can’t directly work on patients but he can fill out records, get patients to the right offices, gather supplies and take X-rays,” Berenshteyn said.

Hayak’s father met his mom, who is Lebanese-American and whose family lives in Troy, when she was visiting relatives in Beirut.

They married there in 2001, a year after the end of the South Lebanon Conflict, 15 years of grueling guerrilla war pitting the Israel-backed Christian militias against Iran-backed Hezbollah. Beirut residents finally could dream of returning their city to its prewar beauty and sophistication that earned Beirut the nickname “Paris of the Middle East.”

Hayak’s parents’ families were Lebanese Christian and loved the sense of community in Beirut.

“They would say if you have a problem, everyone in the community shows up to help you solve it,” Hayak said, smiling. “But they talked about America for a long time and how great it would be to build their lives and raise their children in such an exciting, friendly country.”

The came to America and settled in Guilderland in 2001.

Hayak’s mother is a nurse and his father a construction contractor. Hayak enjoyed studying science and began researching fields for possible future careers.

“My father can fix anything that goes wrong with our house,” Hayak said admiringly. “He learned millions of facts about aluminum and glass from throwing his energy and focus into the job. And I thought maybe I can do the same thing and find a job where I can get practical experience in a future career.”

He appreciated Berenshteyn’s soothing approach to patients and the way he had arranged his office to function. Berenshteyn has a row of stations in one room where orthodontists can work on children’s braces. The kids’ parents can sit in the same room for emotional support. Hayak was also intrigued by the technology that Berenshteyn used, like scanning the patient’s teeth to make an imprint rather than using a mold.

That’s why Hayak wanted to work with his doctor.

Berenshteyn never thought of limiting summer apprenticeships to immigrants’ children. But he doesn’t think it’s a coincidence both apprentices so far happened to be first generation Americans.

“Immigrants learn fast that they need to be advocates for themselves,” Berenshteyn said. “They learn early that no one is going to lead you to water. You have to find your own path to it. And if  you’re an immigrant’s child, you can learn quickly to be that proactive yourself.”

Here’s a little good news for people who need braces: Those uncomfortable, Silly Putty-like molds made to create an impression of your mouth may soon be considered oh-so 2017.

Digital scanners that take multiple pictures of the teeth to create 3-D images are taking their place.

“I think it’s going to become the norm,” said Dr. Michael DeLuke, a Schenectady orthodontist who has used digital scanners for about a year.

Traditionally, a gooey material — it can be made of different things, but is often seaweed- or kelp-based — has been used to get an impression of the teeth, which is then used to make a cast of stone or plaster. That cast, in turn, is used to fit braces correctly or to make retainers or appliances like palate expanders.

While it typically doesn’t take more than a minute, the mold-making can be distressing for some people, especially children with a strong gag reflex. It may also need to be repeated several times over the period in which someone has braces, as the teeth change.

That’s all eliminated with the digital scanners.

Dr. Sergey Berenshteyn of Adirondack Orthodontics invested in an oral scanner in September for his Guilderland office, one of three that he operates in the Capital Region. He gave the Times Union a demonstration of his digital scanner on Ryan Williams, a 29-year-old patient being fitted for clear braces. Williams lives in Clifton Park, but chose to go to Berenshteyn’s office strictly to avoid the traditional molds.

Certified Dental Assistant Nichole Burke moved a small wand loaded with a camera along each of Williams’ teeth. As she did so, a movable, 3-D image of Williams’ mouth began to form on a nearby screen, almost as if it were a painting being created in fast motion. It took 3 minutes for Burke to create an exact photographic replica of Williams’ mouth. Williams said he was completely comfortable through the process.

Next to the 3-D image of Williams’ mouth, Berenshteyn was able to pull up an image of what Williams’ teeth would look like after braces. The orthodontist described this feature as among the most useful of the digital scanners, as it allows him to educate patients on what he considers to be the best treatment plan.

“When you visually can see it, it’s a whole different ballgame,” Berenshteyn said.

In addition to displaying the teeth, the images can be manipulated on the screen by touch. Berenshteyn was able to move a tooth slightly or show Williams different degrees of correction that could be achieved. (And when no one was paying attention, Williams did exactly what many younger patients might be expected to do: He touched the screen and played with the images himself.)

“Now that this is fast and easy and pain-free and I can see the results before I even start, it makes the decision to get my teeth straightened easy,” Williams said.

The scanned images are used to create 3-D-printed casts of the teeth, which can then be used to make clear braces or retainers. Berenshteyn sends his images to Invisalign, the brand of clear braces that the scanner is compatible with. DeLuke has installed his own 3-D printer in his Schenectady office.

The process is a hit, especially with patients who’ve gone through mold-making in the past, the orthodontists said. Yet as important as improving patients’ experience, they said, is the quality of the results. The braces, retainers and appliances that are made from the scanners are superior to those made by the molds. They rarely need to be adjusted.

“We’re actually seeing a clinical improvement based on the quality of the images we’re taking now,” Berenshteyn said.

And instead of waiting days or a week to get a retainer, DeLuke said he is often able to create them in the same day. He has even dropped them off at a patient’s house on occasion, knowing that the fit will be perfect and no adjustments are needed.

The scanners are more costly than the molds for the orthodontists, who pay upward of $30,000 for the digital machines. Berenshteyn and DeLuke said they do not charge patients more than they did for the molds, though, in part because of the efficiencies gained through decreased staff time and avoiding the need to re-do the scans.

There’s one concern that patients consistently seem to have about the digital oral scans, DeLuke said. They worry they emit radiation. But the scans are not like X-rays, they take pictures like a normal camera.

“These are literally in-the-mouth cameras,” DeLuke said. “There’s no radiation at all.”