Doctors

Anesthesia in the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons Office

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The American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (AAOMS) is continuing to attempt to increase their ability to attract young adults to elect to have their wisdom teeth removed. Back in May 2010 they released a video called “Anesthesia: Safety and Comfort in the OMS Office.” The video is over nine minutes long and takes viewers into actual Oral and Maxillofacial surgeon’s offices with interviews by Dr. M. Anthony Pogrel who is Professor and Chair of the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the University of California, San Fransisco, Dr. Andrew Herlich who is Chief of Anesthesiology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Dr. Michael Miloro who is director for the Postgraduate Residency Training Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry, Dr. Michael Ding who is Chief Resident of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at … 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

Western Dental injuries and pain

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I found some interesting pieces from ABC 7 KGO-TV San Francisco, CA. The articles and videos are about the second largest HMO in the state of California called Western Dental. Numerous people are profiled talking about things such as nerve damage following wisdom teeth removal, people’s healthy teeth being pulled out and being replaced with dentures,  a syringe injecting bleech into a girl’s sinus during a root canal, and putting too much filler into the root of a woman’s teeth during a root canal and causing severe pain. Of course Western Dental defends by not admitting wrongdoing but then lawsuits result and a settlement is reached in some cases. In other cases Western Dental has not paid for subsequent follow up treatment. To see the videos and read more of the articles visit these 2 links. http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/iteam&id=7583317 http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/iteam&id=7585208

Dental Needle Could be Replaced

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I find this study to be quite interesting as I have had anesthesia delivered directly in my nose before in an attempt to prevent my constant 24/7 headache. New evidence has emerged that a common local anesthetic, when administered to the nose as nose drops or a nasal spray, travels through the main nerve in the face and collects in high concentrations in the jaw, teeth, and structures of the mouth. William H. Frey II and colleagues found that drugs administered to the nose travel along nerves and go directly to the brain, although I really don’t think this finding is novel. One of those nerves is the trigeminal nerve, which brings feelings to the face, nose and mouth. Until now scientists never paid much attention to intranasal drugs passing the nerve in the nose and how it might reach … Read more

Metlife Dental and Dentist Cleaning

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So recently I have stated in a previous post on this blog, I have finished up graduate school and now moved to a new area with a new job. My employer offers dental insurance. The dental plan turned out to be Metlife. On their website they allow you to select your type of plan either PPO or HMO (I have PPO) and you also enter in your zip code. Now I found a dentist listed as one of their preferred providers and one of my friends in the area recently went to him so I decided to give it a shot. Unfortunately I didn’t find out the specifics of how much the new dentist would charge for a cleaning and exam which turned out to be $286.00. Metlife sent me a statement in the mail saying they would cover $97 … Read more