Familarize Yourself with the ADA’s Principles of Ethics and Code of Professional Conduct

by

The American Dental Association also know as the ADA, in 2012, update their Principle of Ethics and Code of Professional Conduct document. It is available over at http://www.ada.org/~/media/ADA/About%20the%20ADA/Files/code_of_ethics_2012.ashx. As many Americans make trips to the dentist, it is useful to familiarize yourself with the ADA’s document to better determine if your dentist is being ethical and serving your needs well. If you don’t feel this is the case you have options to report your dentist and of course you can find a new dentist. Additional comments on the ethics and professional conduct of the ADA and it’s members is over at http://www.ada.org/en/about-the-ada/principles-of-ethics-code-of-professional-conduct. It states “The dental profession holds a special position of trust within society. As a consequence, society affords the profession certain privileges that are not available to members of the public-at-large. In return, the profession makes a commitment … Read more

Elsevier to Bring New Dental and Oral Surgery Journal Offerings

by

Recently, it has come to my attention that Elsevier will be bringing some new journal offerings to the dental community. The first offering is with the open access Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Cases journal. The website for the journal is over at http://www.oralandmaxillofacialsurgerycases.com/. There is a $500 fee to publish an article in the journal. The site states “Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Cases is a surgical journal dedicated to publishing case reports and case series only which must be original, educational, rare conditions or findings, or clinically interesting to an international audience of surgeons and clinicians. Case series can be prospective or retrospective and examine the outcomes of management or mechanisms in more than one patient. Case reports may include new or modified methodology and treatment, uncommon findings, and mechanisms. All case reports and case series will be peer reviewed for acceptance … Read more

Can Making Less Money Lead to Migraines?

by

A study appearing by researchers in Neurology explores whether migraines limit the educational and career achievements of individuals which can lead to a lower income status. The study also explores whether problems related to low income such as stressful life events and poor access to health care increase the likelihood of developing migraines. The researchers used data from the American Migraine Prevalence and Prevention Study, a US national sample containing responses of 162,705 men and  women aged 12 and older who had some migraine symptoms able to be identified, their age, and household income. The authors defined low income as less than $22,500 per year for the household and high income as $60,000 per year or more. The researchers found the remission rate when migraines stop occurring for a time or for good was the same regardless of income. The researchers … Read more

Is Hashimoto’s Encephalopathy Related to New Daily Persistent Headache?

by

An interesting article titled “New Daily Persistent Headache As A Presenting Symptom Of Hashimoto’s Encephalopathy,” is written by Daniel E. Jacome and located over at http://www.webmedcentral.com/wmcpdf/Article_WMC00960.pdf. The article discusses Hashimoto’s encephalopathy (HE) which is a rare autoimmune neurological disorder and how patients with this disorder may present with a headache characteristic of new daily persistent headache or atypical hemicranias continua. Patients of HE are said to have elevated serum titers of thyroid microsomal and antithyroglobulin antibodies. A reference is made to a past case of a woman who had such elevated antibodies and also a left sided headache and aphasia. The current article describes a case of a 50 year old man who had such elevated antibodies and also a persistent daily left sided headache with aphasia. Note that his brain MRI and MRA was normal. In the article it … Read more

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

by

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