dentist

Are Dentists Ethical or Scam Artists?

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Recently The Journal of the American Dental Association has been running some “Ethical Moments” regarding dentists. This is purely propaganda and should not be taken at face value. For example Jeffrey C. Esterburg wrote an article titled Are Dentists Losing Their Status as Professionals? (J Am Dent Assoc, 2011; 142, 1084-1085). He opens up the article saying “As a new dentist, I am becoming increasingly concerned that what it means to be a dental professional is being lost in the eyes of the public and our vendors and consultants.” He goes on to discuss some conflicting pressures he is faced with running his dental practice. He then goes on to discuss the American Dental Association Principles of Ethics and Code of Professional Conduct. He closes the article by saying “The size of our hearts defines our success much more than does the size of our practices, homes or bank … Read more

Find Free Dental Care

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I wanted to let anyone who might be interested in free dental care that recently 1dental.com put together a tool that allows one to enter their zip code to search for free dental care providers in their area. This tool is available at http://www.1dental.com/provider/. It allows different specialties to be searched for as well such as general dentists, oral surgeons, pediatric dentists, orthodontists,  periodontists, and endodontists. This tool will provide a phone number and a convenient Google map. Of course it should be mentioned that 1dental sells dental plans so they try to get you to sign up with the Careington Dental plan. I personally have not used this tool to find a dentist and have no experience with Careington Dental plan. Therefore use at your own discretion. It may help some looking for and in need of dental work. … Read more

ADA Breaking Down Barriers to Oral Health for All Americans: Repairing the Tattered Safety Net

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On August 12, 2011, the American Dental Association (ADA) released the second paper in their series of papers on access to oral health. The paper is available for download from the ADA at http://www.ada.org/sections/advocacy/pdfs/breaking-down-barriers.pdf The first paper released on February 22, 2011, was titled Breaking Down Barriers to Oral Health for All Americans: The Role of Workforce as available for download from the ADA at http://www.ada.org/sections/advocacy/pdfs/ada_workforce_statement.pdf. I have previously commented on this first paper here https://blog.teethremoval.com/breaking-down-barriers-to-oral-health-for-all-americans-ada-workforce-statement/ Like the first paper, in the opening of the document is a message from Raymond Gist, D.D.S. and President of the American Dental Association. In this message Dr. Gist states “…increasing numbers of Americans find themselves unable to pay for dental care….For this growing population, the so-called oral health safety net is the only recourse for preventing and treating oral disease….the general definition of safety net … Read more

Wisdom Teeth Conspiracy: Electronic Eavesdropping Device

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This story may sound a bit bizarre but actually is true. In the 1989 a U.S. Air Force veteran requested copies of his dental treatment records from the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in New Hampshire. He believed he had dental treatment at this facility in 1981 and “….sought his dental records because he believed an electronic eavesdropping device had been planted in his mouth after his wisdom teeth were removed.” Unfortunately at this time the medical records were on paper and the dental records never turned up. So I guess this begs the question of whether or not a listening device can be planted in a tooth extraction socket. I think the technology may be there and it may be possible but I highly doubt this a common occurrence. I suppose this could be possible with a radio-frequency … Read more

ADA Straight From the Mouth

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The ADA (American Dental Association) has a video podcast series called Straight from the Mouth. The second video is titled “Overcoming Dental Anxiety.” http://ada.org/straightfromthemouth.aspx The press release from the ADA on this podcast was posted in September 28, 2009. http://ada.org/3241.aspx. However, it still says on the Straight from the Mouth Video Podcast that many other videos are coming soon. It seems like the ADA may have decided not to have these podcasts come out or they just haven’t posted them. If anyone has any information let me know. The podcast is hosted by two dentists Ruchi Nijjar Sahota and Eric Grove. It seems appropriate to younger audiences and is upbeat. The video is important for many of those who suffer from dental anxiety. It discusses needles, drills, and water used for dental procedures. Needles of course are used to anesthetize … Read more