extraction

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

Why People Hate the Dentist

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Numerous posts on the internet have attempted to shed light on the why people hate the dentist. Tom over at OralAnswers.com has a two part series on why people hate the dentists located at http://www.oralanswers.com/2011/09/why-people-hate-the-dentist/ and http://www.oralanswers.com/2011/09/why-people-hate-the-dentist-my-theory-part-ii/ Dr. Joe Bulger DDS in Canada changed the name of his blog to hatedentists.com and his written several posts on the topic of people who hate dentists located at http://www.hatedentists.com/1319/hate-dentist/ , http://www.hatedentists.com/1326/dentist-haters/ , and http://www.hatedentists.com/1363/top-10-reasons-people-hate-dentists/ SaneDentist.com has a post by Dr. Mujtaba Ali regarding 5 reasons why people hate the dentist located at http://www.sanedentist.com/here-are-5-reasons-why-we-hate-the-dentist-and-what-a-dentist-thinks-about-them.html Reading, over these posts and potential explanations for hate towards the dentist just doesn’t seem to do the hate justice and doesn’t touch on all the issues. So here are some reasons why I think people really hate dentists (subjective opinion): 1) Being motivated by money to the point … Read more

Dental Care in Japan

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I found an interesting piece by Kevin Rafferty in The Japan Times Online from June 15, 2011, titled “A dentist need not be a masked demon.” The article is located here http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/eo20110615a1.html The article gives an inside look into recent developments in dentistry with a particular focus on Japan but the principals and message apply globally. The main focus on the article centers around a report soon to be published in both English and Japanese titled “Guideline for treating caries following a minimal intervention policy, an evidence and consensus based study.” The report was conducted by Mikako Hayashi of Osaka University Graduate School of Dentistry and her committee in which 18 months was spent conducting research. Some notabled quotes from the article by Kevin Rafferty include “Recent advances in dentistry include recognition that teeth, if properly treated, regularly cleaned and … 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

Dentalhealth.org

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I wanted to let everyone know about the site dentalheath.org. It is a site by the British Dental Health Foundation. There is a section for the public, a section for the press, and a section for professionals. Most people will find the Dental Health Information Leaflets section in the for the public part of the website to be useful. There are numerous useful dental related categories such as wisdom teeth, what to do following an extraction, x-rays, and so on. Since the site is from the British Dental Health Foundation, it’s intended audience is for people who live in Britain so this is important to keep in mind. Even so the information can be helpful for everyone. The site is arranged so that frequently asked questions for each category are asked and then answered. For example, in the wisdom teeth … Read more