How to Prepare for a Visit to the Dentist

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If you have had a bad experience at the dentist in previous years, being afraid that your next visit will cause discomfort or bring up bad memories is quite common. Perhaps you have never been afraid of the dentist but if a new treatment is the plan this can also cause mild anxiety. There are hundreds of reasons that patients fear visits to the dentist but there are also many ways to counteract the feeling of dread. Many people fear visits to the dentist but if visits of this nature cause you anxiety, here are four tips to help you overcome your fear. Talk to your Dentist If you are scared of booking a dental appointment, speak to your dentist about it. If your dentist is aware of the problem, they will walk you through the treatment and put you … Read more

Can Surgeons Learn Lessons from Olympians?

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An interesting article titled “Performing to a world class standard under pressure—Can we learn lessons from the Olympians?” by Serryth D. Colbert and et. al. appeared in the 2012 issue of the British Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (50, pp 291-297). With the Summer Olympics this year in London, the authors decided to ask Team Great Britain Olympic rowing squad what makes a winner. The authors state: “We explored the concept of ‘mental toughness’ and the impact this has on successful performance under intense pressure. Our aim was to use their experiences to possibly improve oral and maxillofacial surgeons’ performance in critical situations.” The researchers consulted a leading performance development consultancy and made a questionnaire which was given to both the rowers and the surgeons at a joint conference.  The results were that the rowers responded to the questionnaire … Read more

Is What We Read Accurate or Sort of Accurate?

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There is an interesting editorial in the July 2012 Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol titled Accuracy, fact checking, and wiki-timelines by Craig S. Miller (vol. 114, no. 1, pp. 1-3). In the article Craig makes a mention of an article in the Wall Street Journal titled If Your Teeth Could Talk . . .. Craig points out numerous details of the article that are inaccurate. He states that the following statement “…American Heart Association, the American Medical Association and the American Orthopedic Association all urge people who have had a full joint replacement to take an antibiotic one hour before any dental visit for the rest of their lives to reduce the risk of post-surgical infections.” is inaccurate on 6 accounts. The American Heart Association, the American Medical Association, and the American Orthopedic Association do not have … Read more

How to Foster Cooperation

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Recently I have came across the book titled Why Society is a Complex Matter by Phillip Ball (Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012). Chapter 8 of the book is titled Love Thy Neighbour: How to Foster Cooperation. Ball states: “Society is a collaborative effort: it works to the extent that we can get along with our neighbours, agree on common goals, and accept shared responsibilities….Yet that seems to conflict with the supposed Darwinian imperative of competition, in which every individual is out for themselves. Long before Darwin’s theory, some philosophers insisted that the only way to avoid the rapacious state of affairs that followed from humankind’s greed and desire for power over others was to impose the restraining authority of the state. Others had more faith in humanity: they felt that God had made people inherently good and rational, and that this … Read more

Litigation In the National Health Service for Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

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An article appears in the British Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery titled “Litigation in National Health Service oral and maxillofacial surgery: review of the last 15 years,” by A. Gulati et. al. (50, pages 385-388, 2012). The authors state: “Published data regarding litigation in other surgical specialties are plentiful, but to our knowledge there is little detailed analysis of claims within the specialty of oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMFS) despite information being freely available from the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA) under the Freedom of Information Act.” The authors used data from April 1995 to August 2010 from the NHSLA. A total of 318 claims were registered during this 15 years. Claims have been increasing in recent years. Of these claims 253 were closed. A total of 137 claims (54%) resulted in compensation with the rest not being successful. The … Read more