Doctors

The Mental Health Issues Experienced by Health Professional

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An interesting article titled “The pathway from mental health, leaves of absence, and return to work of health professionals: Gender and leadership matter,” appears in Healthcare Management Forum written by Ivy L. Bourgeault and et. al. (June 9, 2022, pp. 1-8). The article discusses the results of four health professional case studies involving nurses, physicians, midwives, and dentists as it pertains to their mental health experiences. In the article the authors sent an online survey was sent to dentists, nurses, doctors, and midwives in Canada between November 2020 and May 2021. The survey asked respondents about mental health, leave of absences, and return to work issues which included items on psychological or mental stress or distress, anxiety, burnout, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, mood disorders, thoughts of suicide, and substance use or dependence. The authors analyzed a total of 1860 survey … Read more

Traveling Oral Surgeon Performs Wisdom Teeth Extractions and Other Procedures for Those in Need

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Rural residents in the U.S. are less likely to have access to specialized dental health care treatments. One New York based oral surgeon decided early on in his career to travel to provide oral surgery for those in need. The oral surgeon was inspired to practice medicine since a trip he took to South Africa when he was younger. When he was there he saw packed waiting rooms and numerous patients holding their mouths in need of dentistry. When the oral surgeon started practing he had an idea, why shoud he be limited to one office when he moves around and open up a business and spread himself around. For over eight years the oral surgeon has traveled to parts of Upstate New York and western Connecticut to work out of other dentist’s offices. Using their equipment the oral surgeon … Read more

Doctors are feeling pain from prolonged mask use

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An interesting article titled “Is Prolonged Mask Wearing Associated With Orofacial Pain?” appears in the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery written by Vicky Yau, Hong-Yu Liang, and Chenyu Sun (vol. 80, pp. 1875-1877, 2022). The article discuses how with the prolonged use of face masks and surgical respirators, issues of mask associated orofacial pain are now happening for oral and maxillofacial surgeons. This is a new issue due to the use of surgical N95 respirators (also called medical respirators) used by healthcare providers for protection from airborne and fluid transmission and protection from COVID-19. The article discusses how healthcare workers have reported masks-associatedorofacial pain, in the areas of temporalis, zygomaticus, nasalis, and auricularis muscle with the use of N95 masks. N95 masks have a tight facial fit, and provide enhanced filtration against 95% or more of 0.3-mm particles. Orofacial … Read more

Political Campaign Preferences for Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons in the United States

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An interesting article titled “Political Campaign Contributions of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons Between 2013-2022 – A Decade of Data,” written by Jack A. Harris and et. al. (The Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Volume 80, Issue 9, Supplement, September 2022, Pages S43-S44). The article opens by discussing how oral and maxillofacial surgeons in the U.S. tend to donate to Republican-affiliated candidates and campaigns. This is no surpise to those who understand the inner workings of what certain political parties in the U.S. tend to support and is not ideal, see for example the articles Big Media Monopoly and How to Protect Yourself from Abusive Doctors. In the article, the authors set to determine the magnitude and geographic differences in political contributions made by oral and maxillofacial surgeons between 2013 and 2022 with regards to determining the the total number and … Read more

Six Tips for Dental Professionals to Improve Their Mental Health

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Dental professionals face numerous stressors in their day to day work including reimbursement concerns, practice management issues, financial pressures, paperwork demands, uncooperative patients, physical demands inherent in delivering oral health care, and tightly booked schedules. Dental professionals often have personal characteristics like perfectionism and prioritization of others’ needs that in conjunction with the day to day work stressors can lead to dental professionals vulnerable to distress, burnout, and mental health disorders. This stress endemic is discussed in the article “Anxiety, depression, and the impact on dental health care workers,” written by Maria L. Geisinger and Stacey L. Dershewitz appearing in the Journal of the American Dental Association (vol. 153, no. 8, pp. 734-736, Aug. 01, 2022). The article also discusses how dental professionals can improve identifying and preventing mental health disorders. The authors feel that mental health disorders can have … Read more