dentist

How to Address a Patient who Had an Interrupted Treatment Plan

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An interesting article titled “Following up with a patient whose treatment has been interrupted” appears in the November 2014, JADA, and written by Michael H. Halasz. The article discusses a patient who received a complex treatment from a military dentist. The treatment started but because of deployment of a large number of troops in Iraq the treatment was interrupted so that the dentists could attend to other troops. The article addresses if the patient was abandoned during this time. The American Dental Association Principles of Ethics and Code of Professional Conduct states “Once a dentist has undertaken a course of treatment, the dentist should not discontinue that treatment without giving the patient adequate notice and the opportunity to obtain the services of another dentist. Care should be taken that the patient’s oral health is not jeopardized in the process.” The … Read more

The Ethics of a Dentist Leaving a Practice

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An interesting article written by William Walton, appears in JADA December 2014, titled “Addressing the ethics of leaving a dental practice.” In the article, a discussion of what a dentist should ethically do when they are at a current dental practice and are moving to a different dental practice. It is stated that the American Dental Association Principles of Ethics and Code of Professional Conduct provide guidance on what should be done in such a situation. It is suggested that once a dentist knows they are moving to a different practice they notify their patients of this and the departure date. Further, if a patient is in the midst of a treatment plan, then discussions should take place regarding if the treatment can be finished and if this is unlikely then other options for completing the treatment should be discussed. … Read more

Looking Forward in The Dental Market

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An interesting article appears in the November 2014 issue of The Journal of the American Dental Society by Marco Vujicic titled “The invisible hand and the market for dental care.” In the article the author opens by discussing Adam Smith’s invisible hand and that it is better than central planning and regulated prices. The author then discusses the supply and demand of dental services from 1993 to 2012. In the article, 3 distinct periods of dental care from 1993 to 2012 are described. The first period was from 1993 to 2002 when dental care was growing steadily at about 4% per year in real terms while the supply of dentists remained constant. In this period dental incomes increased. From 2002 to 2008, dental spending grew at about 2% per year while the supply of dentists remained roughly the same. In this … Read more

Proper Dental Care Can Lead to Less Respiratory Infections in the ICU

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A study appearing in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology suggests that proper dental care can lead to less respiratory infections in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a hospital. The study was conducted by Brazilian researchers who used an observer-blind randomized clinical trial to analyze data from 254 patients who stayed in a ICU for at least 48 hours. The patients were randomized to receive enhanced dental care by a dentist or to receive standard oral hygiene by a nurse. Enhanced dental care included teeth brushing, tongue scraping, atraumatic restorative treatment, removal of calculus, extraction of teeth, and topical application of chlorhexidine 4 to 5 times a week. Regular dental care consisted of mechanical cleansing using gauze which was followed by chlorhexidine 3 times a week. The patients who received enchanced dental care were 56% less likely to develop a respiratory … Read more

Seventeen Year Old Minnesota Teen Dies After Wisdom Teeth Extraction

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A few weeks ago in June, 2015, a 17 year old Minnesota woman died about a week after having wisdom teeth surgery. Near the end of the wisdom teeth surgery her blood pressure increased, her pulse dropped, and she went into cardiac arrest. She then was transferred to a hospital and suffered from seizures and swelling in her brain until passing about a week later. It is not clear what caused the death to occur. She could have possibly had an undisclosed heart condition that has occurred in other cases. It is possible for a patient to only become aware of an asymptomatic and abnormal heart rhythm once they come in for a surgery. I have discussed other deaths from wisdom teeth removal on this website (see http://www.teethremoval.com/death.html). Based on numerous studies and publications I have said that around 1 … Read more