dental

Is American Dentistry in a Silent Decline? A Wake-Up Call for the Profession

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For decades, the local dentist has been a pillar of the community—a trusted clinician and a master of their craft. However, a provocative new perspective published in the Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA) suggests that the foundation of U.S. dentistry may be cracking under the weight of commercialization, debt, and burnout. Dr. Joe Iwanaga of Tulane University argues that without major structural reforms, the profession faces an “untenable situation” that could permanently erode public trust. The Weight of the $300,000 Degree One of the most significant threats to dental integrity starts before a dentist even sees their first patient: Student Debt. According to the American Dental Education Association, the average dental graduate in 2024 walked across the stage with $312,700 in debt. This staggering financial burden does more than just stress out new doctors; it changes how they … Read more

Science Shows Why Wisdom Teeth Take So Long to Emerge

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An interesting article titled “A biomechanical perspective on molar emergence and primate life history” by H. Glowacka and G. Schwartz appears in the October 2021 edition of Science Advances (Vol. 7, Issue 41). The article looks into why it takes 18 years or more before humans start to have wisdom teeth emerge and fully develop. Compared to other primates, the third molars (wisdom teeth) come later. In the study the authors state: “Our results support the idea that the biomechanical constraint on masticatory form in adult primates operates throughout the duration of craniofacial growth. This constraint regulates where molars can emerge safely into functional occlusion, which, when viewed within the mechanical context of overall orofacial growth, modulates the timing of when molars emerge.” What this means is that our wisdom teeth are just not able to finish growing until our jaws become large … Read more

Delivering Sedation in Dentistry

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It has become increasing popular to deliver sedation to patients receiving dental work. Sedation is defined as the deliberate drug-induced depression of consciousness used to reduce anxiety and awareness associated with unpleasant medical procedures. Sedation is used to reduce anxiety.  In some cases dentists or oral surgeons deliver both the dental work and the sedation, while in others there is a separate anesthesiologist to do so. One should always verify proper training and license prior to undertaking any sedation from a healthcare professional. Sedation is generally considered very safe as long as it is performed by an appropriately trained practitioner in a monitored environment. Sedation dentistry uses different approaches depending on personal choice and comfort. In the order of increasing anesthesia these are local anesthesia, minimal sedation, nitrous oxide/oxygen, moderate (conscious) sedation, deep sedation, and general anesthesia. A more thorough discussion … Read more

Deadly Dentistry: Death in the Dental Chair

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If you are thinking about having any dental work done for yourself or your loved ones you should know that in many cases it is not without risk and can even be deadly. There are many cases of death occurring in dental offices over the years for both children and adults having dental procedures. The Dallas Morning News made an in depth piece exploring various issues surrounding death in the dental chair and the story indicated cover-up and not holding offenders accountable. The seven part piece was published in 2015 and is available at http://interactives.dallasnews.com/2015/deadly-dentistry/index.html. It is a lengthy investigative piece, so you will need a fair amount of time to get through the entire story. For convience the links for each of the seven parts are also provided separately below. Part 1 http://interactives.dallasnews.com/2015/deadly-dentistry/part1.html Part 2 http://interactives.dallasnews.com/2015/deadly-dentistry/part2.html Part 3 http://interactives.dallasnews.com/2015/deadly-dentistry/part3.html Part 4 (which has … Read more

Development of new restorative dental materials for cavities

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New research by Salvatore Sauro, who is a professor of dental biomaterials, has shown that new dental biomaterials can help regenerate dental hard tissues. The work occurred at CEU Cardenal Herrera University, in Spain, with collaboration of researchers from other parts of Europe. Bacterial plaque which causes tooth decay due to acids produced by different bacteria species; has led to research for the development of restorative biomaterials. The international group of researchers generated two new dental restorative biomaterials containing bioactive glasses, and explored their effectiveness in reducing the enzymatic auto-degradation of collagen fibres and evoking their remineralization. The researchers set out to evaluate the inhibition of endogenous proteolytic enzymes of dentin and the remineralization induced by two experimental resins containing bioactive glasses. The first resin contains micro-particles of Bioglass 45S5 and the other one contains micro-particles of an experimental bioactive glass enriched with … Read more