I was alerted to an interesting infographic that was just produced by http://submitinfographics.com/ The infographic discusses some different characteristics of teeth. It also discusses some statistics about how 164 million work hours per year are spent treating dental problems for adults and 51 million school hours per year are spent treating dental problems for children. (Click to enlarge) [Via: Carrington College’s Dental Assisting Training Program]
For anyone who has looked carefully at the complications that can happen from wisdom teeth removal page I have put together one of the complications is that the wrong tooth and even the wrong teeth can be mistakenly extracted. An unfortunate additional instance of a wrong tooth being pulled is discussed over at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2035988/Dentist-retrieved-tooth-bin-sewed-hours-later-pulling-wrong-one.html#ixzz1Xguo9Q2tin a post titled “Dentist retrieved my tooth from bin and sewed it back two hours after pulling out wrong one” written by Stephen Moyes and Nick Constabled and published on September 11, 2011. Now for this specific case that occurs I have not heard quite anything like it. A 44 year old women in the U.K. went to see a dentist over a throbbing tooth. The dentist x-rayed her mouth and for some reason did not look at the x-ray instead extracting the tooth that the … Read more
John A. McDougall, MD, is a physician and nutrition expert who considers himself a leader of public opinion and often finds it necessary to challenge the accepted wisdom of the time. Dr. McDougall produces a newsletter over on his website. In the October 2011, vol. 10, issue 10, edition he writes about “How to Protect Yourself from Abusive Medical Doctors.” http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2011nl/oct/protect.pdf I think the entire article is well worth the read but I will cover some of the more interesting parts here. Dr. McDougall discuses a case where he has a patient named Marsha who has a history of precancerous changes in the tissues lining her uterus known as endometrial hyperplasia. Over 2 years her condition progressed to early stage cancer. Two surgeons whom she consulted with recommended a hysterectomy as the treatment. Dr. McDougall has a telephone consultation with a young Obstetrician/Gynecologist. This doctor … Read more
A recent article titled “A 40 years follow-up of dental arch dimensions and incisor irregularity in adults.” by Nokolasos, Tsiopas, Maria Nilner, Lars Bondemark, and Krister Bjerklin, appearing the The European Journal of Orthodontics Advance Access published October 19, 2011, explores how the jaw is affected over a 40 year time period. The study started in 1949 with 22 males and 13 females (35 total) and after 40 years in 1989, 18 of these participants were still able to participate. Three dental stone study casts were made for the 18 participants who completed the 40 years of the study. The authors state: “The present study showed that the occlusion, overbite, and overjet was stable, but dentoalveolar changes occur in the adult dentition. In the anterior part of the dentition, decreases in arch length and width lead to anterior crowding. There was also an … Read more
For everyone living in the United States I encourage you to: URGE CONGRESS TO MAKE HEALTH CARE A SERVICE AND NOT A BUSINESS. Here is the link to to write to Congress to https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml The last I heard Congress had a dismal 9% approval rating. Here is also the link to find your Senator http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm So why should you write to Congress? Well here is what other dental professionals are saying about my website. “I know this is a bit wordy, but our professional reputation may have become tainted because of a few who have reached national notoriety in a negative light. I don’t know how prevalent such unethical practices are, but we should all remember that patients don’t get mad at one doctor or one office, they paint the whole profession. It’s up to all of us to keep that reputation … Read more