dental care

Going to the Virtual Beach Improves Dental Experiences

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For patients at a dental practice in Devon, England, Virtual Reality encounters in the dental chair can result in demonstrably better experiences. A team of researchers at the Universities of Plymouth, Exeter and Birmingham worked with Torrington Dental Practice in Devon to find out whether virtual experiences could improve the patient’s experience during routine dental procedures such as teeth removal. Patients, who agreed to take part in the study were randomly allocated to one of three conditions: a) standard care , b) a virtual walk around Wembury beach in Devon or c) a walk around an anonymous virtual reality city. Results found that those who ‘walked’ around Wembury beach were less anxious, experienced less pain, and had more positive recollections of their treatment when compared to those in the standard care condition. These benefits were not found for those who walked … Read more

Tips to Afford Quality Dental Care

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I was recently alerted to a post on thesimpledollar.com talking about how to afford quality dental care. The link for this post is at http://www.thesimpledollar.com/how-to-afford-quality-dental-care/. The article is written by Chris Sirico and was last updated on June 15, 2017. The article goes into some of the costs for common dental procedures and what you can do if you don’t have insurance. The article also goes into HSAs/FSAs, dental credit cards, dental financing, dental savings plans, dental insurance, and cosmetic dentistry. The article provides a very nice chart about the average cost for various dental procedures with and without insurance. For example the average cost of removing a single wisdom tooth is $416 without insurance and has an average cost of $250 to $750 if you have insurance. As another example the average cost of a surgical tooth extraction is $401 … Read more

Take Me Out! A Brief Guide to Tooth Extraction – Infographic

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Extraction is usually the agreed upon option for teeth which have become damaged or decayed where they are no longer reparable. Extraction is also worth considering if your mouth is overcrowded or to reduce the risk of infection if your immune system has been compromised from receiving chemotherapy or an organ transplant. Tooth extraction or tooth removal is generally considered safe and any respectable dentist will be able to put the patient at ease prior to surgery. Patients who are especially apprehensive will be given a sedative to ease their nerves before the dentist administers anesthetic to the area surrounding the tooth that will be extracted. The entire procedure is carried out with great care and intricacy by a dental professional who considers the patient’s health a priority, so you can rest assured that the entire operation will be seamless. Prior to … Read more

Diabetes and dentistry: Two issues which go hand-in-hand

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If you happen to hear a conversation about diabetes – you could be forgiven for not realizing it can have a direct impact on your mouth. Numerous studies have shown that there is a direct link between diabetes and your teeth. This correlation was mentioned in an article by a Dorset dentist which led to further exploration. Here, it was outlined how there are two problems which can occur as a result of diabetes. The topic has been investigated in more detail to put together the following guide. This takes a look at both of the problems which were highlighted in the initial article, before embarking on some top tips to make sure you don’t become part of the unlucky group who is affected. Problem #1 – Periodontal disease Few people will have heard of the condition known as periodontal disease, but … Read more

Is the health news you are reading accurate?

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An interesting article titled “Keeping up with the news: Separating fact from fiction,” appears in the Oct. 2015 issue of JADA and written by the American Dental Association (vol. 146, no. 10, pp. 792). The article encourages dental patients to make sure that they know the source they are receiving their news from is trustworthy. The article discusses a few things to look for to make sure this occurs. The article tends to focus on receiving information from websites. If you are looking at a website, the first thing to look for is an about us section. This is because you want to know who is responsible for the article. It is good to know who pays for or sponsors the website. Also if you are looking at a website the domain name can give a hint. If it ends … Read more