dentists

Burnout amongst dentists and dental students

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A study exploring burnout in dentists is published in the Journal of Evidence-Based Dental Practice titled “High prevalence rates of burnout and emotional exhaustion among the dental profession,” written by Kelvin I. Afrashtehfar and  Carlos A. Jurado (26 April 2023, 101886). A another study exploring burnout in dental students is published in the Joural of Dental Education titled “Correlates of burnout in predoctoral dental students in the United States,” written by Alex Joseph et. al (19 April 2023). Studies to date have shown that burnout has become a problem for dentists. Burnout is a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment. It is beleived to occur in response to chronic stress that is unmanaged. In the first study a systematic review and meta-analysis of 37 studies was performed that resulted in 31 used in the quantitative analysis. These studies demonstrated … Read more

Coconut Oil May Help with Tooth Decay

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Coconut oil may be able to attack the bacteria that causes tooth decay. A team from the Athlone Institute of Technology in Ireland tested the antibacterial action of coconut oil in its natural state and coconut oil that had been treated with enzymes. The oils were tested against strains of Streptococcus bacteria which are common inhabitants of the mouth. They found that enzyme-modified coconut oil strongly inhibited the growth of most strains of Streptococcus bacteria including Streptococcus mutans — an acid-producing bacterium that is know to be a major cause of tooth decay. In the future the researchers plan to examine how coconut oil interacts with Streptococcus bacteria at the molecular level and which other strains of harmful bacteria and yeasts it is active against. The team also showed that the enzyme-modified coconut oil was harmful to the yeast Candida … Read more

Second Opinion Advertisements for Dentists

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An article in The Journal of the American Dental Association titled “Are Advertisements That Offer ‘Free Second Opinions’ Ethical by Rod B. Wentworth (October 1, 2011, vol. 142, no. 10, pages 1199-1200) talks about the ethics involved with dentists advertising “free second opinions.” In the article it says “So simply offering free second opinions is not in and of itself unethical. It is perfectly acceptable for a patient to seek a second opinion. In fact, dentists should consider suggesting that their patients obtain second opinions, especially when they have questions or concerns about the appropriateness of the recommended treatment.” One issue raised in the article is that in a second opinion, if a patient has any x-rays they should be sent along with the patient for the second opinion to avoid unnecessary radiation. The other issue raised is giving second … Read more

Astroturfing And How Your Thoughts Are Being Manipulated by Corporate Interests

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Astroturfing is a form of advocacy typically to support an agenda with the appearance of a fake grassroots organization that is usually sponsored by corporations or those with a certain political interest. They work in such a way so that you are not aware that the corporate or political backing is present and you are led to believe that just an independent public organization is speaking out. There are a lot of ethical issues raised by doing this and evidence shows that astroturfing can be effective. A recent article in the Journal of Business Ethics titled “Astroturfing Global Warming: It Isn’t Always Greener on the Other Side of the Fence,” by Charles H. Cho, Martin L. Martens, Hakkyun Kim, and Michelle Rodrigue (online July 3, 2011) explores the issue of those who visited astroturf websites and how it affects the … Read more

The American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons Fails to Use Basic Statistics in Research on Wisdom Teeth

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I have previously reported how the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (AAOMS) recently had a press conference on wisdom teeth in Washington, D.C. See https://blog.teethremoval.com/third-molar-multidisciplinary-press-conference/ for more information. Shortly after the press conference they issued a press release available at http://www.aaoms.org/docs/media/third_molars/press_release.pdf which is titled “Conventional Wisdom about Wisdom teeth Confirmed: Evidence Shows Keeping Wisdom teeth May be More Harmful than Previously Thought.” One of the additional key findings listed in this press release  is “Most patients (60 percent) with asymptomatic wisdom teeth prefer extraction to retention.” This finding comes from a recent article in the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, titled “Most Patients With Asymptomatic, Disease-Free Third Molars Elect Extraction Over Retention as Their Their Preferred Treatment.”  The article is by Brian E. Kinard, BS and Thomas B. Dodson, DMD, MPH.  It appears in the December 2010 … Read more