dentists

Coconut Oil May Help with Tooth Decay

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Coconut oil may be able to attack the bacteria that causes tooth decay. A team from the Athlone Institute of Technology in Ireland tested the antibacterial action of coconut oil in its natural state and coconut oil that had been treated with enzymes. The oils were tested against strains of Streptococcus bacteria which are common inhabitants of the mouth. They found that enzyme-modified coconut oil strongly inhibited the growth of most strains of Streptococcus bacteria including Streptococcus mutans — an acid-producing bacterium that is know to be a major cause of tooth decay. In the future the researchers plan to examine how coconut oil interacts with Streptococcus bacteria at the molecular level and which other strains of harmful bacteria and yeasts it is active against. The team also showed that the enzyme-modified coconut oil was harmful to the yeast Candida … Read more

Second Opinion Advertisements for Dentists

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An article in The Journal of the American Dental Association titled “Are Advertisements That Offer ‘Free Second Opinions’ Ethical by Rod B. Wentworth (October 1, 2011, vol. 142, no. 10, pages 1199-1200) talks about the ethics involved with dentists advertising “free second opinions.” In the article it says “So simply offering free second opinions is not in and of itself unethical. It is perfectly acceptable for a patient to seek a second opinion. In fact, dentists should consider suggesting that their patients obtain second opinions, especially when they have questions or concerns about the appropriateness of the recommended treatment.” One issue raised in the article is that in a second opinion, if a patient has any x-rays they should be sent along with the patient for the second opinion to avoid unnecessary radiation. The other issue raised is giving second … Read more

Astroturfing And How Your Thoughts Are Being Manipulated by Corporate Interests

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Astroturfing is a form of advocacy typically to support an agenda with the appearance of a fake grassroots organization that is usually sponsored by corporations or those with a certain political interest. They work in such a way so that you are not aware that the corporate or political backing is present and you are led to believe that just an independent public organization is speaking out. There are a lot of ethical issues raised by doing this and evidence shows that astroturfing can be effective. A recent article in the Journal of Business Ethics titled “Astroturfing Global Warming: It Isn’t Always Greener on the Other Side of the Fence,” by Charles H. Cho, Martin L. Martens, Hakkyun Kim, and Michelle Rodrigue (online July 3, 2011) explores the issue of those who visited astroturf websites and how it affects the … Read more

The American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons Fails to Use Basic Statistics in Research on Wisdom Teeth

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I have previously reported how the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (AAOMS) recently had a press conference on wisdom teeth in Washington, D.C. See http://blog.teethremoval.com/third-molar-multidisciplinary-press-conference/ for more information. Shortly after the press conference they issued a press release available at http://www.aaoms.org/docs/media/third_molars/press_release.pdf which is titled “Conventional Wisdom about Wisdom teeth Confirmed: Evidence Shows Keeping Wisdom teeth May be More Harmful than Previously Thought.” One of the additional key findings listed in this press release  is “Most patients (60 percent) with asymptomatic wisdom teeth prefer extraction to retention.” This finding comes from a recent article in the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, titled “Most Patients With Asymptomatic, Disease-Free Third Molars Elect Extraction Over Retention as Their Their Preferred Treatment.”  The article is by Brian E. Kinard, BS and Thomas B. Dodson, DMD, MPH.  It appears in the December 2010 … Read more

U.S. Dental Schools Teaching little on Sleep Disorders

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American adults suffer from sleep disorders and the number is quite large, around 70 million. U.S. dental schools are not teaching their graduating soon to be dentists the importance of screening their patients for sleep disorders. A survey sent out by researchers from the University of California — Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Dentistry,  indicates that dental students spend an average of 2.9 instruction hours during their four years of dental school studying sleep disorders. The main problem is for those 18 million Americans that suffer from Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). It estimated that 80 % to 90 % of patients with OSA are not diagnosed and this can consequently raise the patients risk for many diseases and problems. The researchers feel since dentists see patients on a regular basis, they can notice early warning signs of sleep disorders. This … Read more