Doctors

Pediatric Dental Death in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada Spurs Comments on Dental Anesthesia

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Recently, a death has occurred in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, in a dental office. Details of the case have not yet been released, but a boy died after getting anesthetic and had a previously undetected heart condition. It seemed to have occurred sometime around late April, 2014, but the date may be off a bit. It appears that in this case the boy was brought to a hospital after the dental office in an attempt to save his life. An interesting article over in the Cambridge times published June 27, 2014, by Gordon Paul, titled “Pediatric dental surgery with anesthesia should be done in hospitals, dentist says,” provides some comments on this case. See http://www.cambridgetimes.ca/news-story/4605070-pediatric-dental-surgery-with-anesthesia-should-be-done-in-hospitals-dentist-says/. In this article comments by Dr. Hanover who is on the political action committee of the Ontario Dental Association are provided. He says “I think every pediatric dentist … Read more

Patient Safety and the Culture of Cover-Up

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An interesting article was written by George Lundberg titled “A culture of cover-up has slowed the patient safety movement” on December 1, 2012, on KevinMd.com located at http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2012/12/culture-coverup-slowed-patient-safety-movement.html. In the article Dr. Lundberg says “Promoting patient safety, preventing medical error, preventing physician error, preventing errors in diagnosis, preventing nurse error, preventing surgical error, preventing communication error, preventing health illiteracy error, preventing errors from language barriers, preventing laboratory error, preventing computer error, preventing patient mix-ups, preventing right and left side of body mix-ups, preventing mistakes, since mistakes are the stepping stones to failure. Recognizing human frailty, recognizing physician humanity, recognizing system fallibility, owning up to problems, eliminating cover-up, acting out professionalism, recognizing that professionalism means self governance, individually and as groups. Self criticism, peer criticism, a culture of peer review, honesty, truth, disclosure, fairness, and negotiated settlements. Objective evaluation and commitment … Read more

Is Creative Diagnosis on the Rise in Dentistry?

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A very interesting MyView column by the American Dental Association (ADA) is titled “Creative Diagnosis” by Jeffrey Camm, D.M.D. located over at http://www.ada.org/9151.aspx and published October 21, 2013. In the column the author touches on an issue he faces as a dentist where he has patients who have seen other dentists who were likely unethical in their treatment (and treating when it is not warranted) – a term he calls creative diagnosis. Of course one can ask, what is the motivation for creative diagnosis and one would answer money and staying afloat. Essentially the author describes several cases he has dealt with at his practice: A 16 year old patient who graduates from his pediatric practice and sees a new dentist who then says she has 16 cavities. The patient and her mother of course are upset and he reviews … Read more

How to Manage Pain Patients in Dental Practice

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An interesting article appears in J Can Dent Assoc 2012;78:c83 titled “Neuropathic Orofacial Pain Patients in Need of Dental Care,” written by Gary D. Klasser and Henry A. Gremillion. It was posted online on August 17, 2012, over at http://www.jcda.ca/article/c83. The abstract of the article states “Dental pain is a common complaint among the general population. Most pain is a result of traumatic injury or bacterial infection in pulpal and periapical tissues, and dental practitioners are successful at diagnosing these conditions and providing prompt relief. However, in some cases, patients continue to complain of persistent pain, which may be categorized as neuropathic. These people may avoid or neglect routine dental treatment or interventions to prevent precipitation, perpetuation or exacerbation of their pain condition, and practitioners may have to modify their procedures when managing the dental needs of this unique population.” … Read more

The American Dental Association: Is it Patient-Centered, Science-Based and Ethically-driven?

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Some time recently (within the past 6 months) the ADA (American Dental Association) has updated their about me page over at http://www.ada.org/aboutada.aspx. A new video appears and under it the text reads “This American Dental Association video tells our story and highlights how the ADA has always been a patient-centered, science-based and ethically-driven association. It captures the ADA’s spirit and what the ADA strives to be.” Viewing the video the words patient centered, science-based, and ethically-driven are repeated. The video also throws around the terms continuous learning, research and development, patents, and up to date. In one segment a dentist presumably says do no harm, always do good, treat people with fairness and honesty, and respect the doctor patient relationship. Unfortunately I disagree with the ADA’s assertion that they have always been patient-centered, science-based, and ethically-driven. As stated before on … Read more