The Opioid Crisis

Acute pain management

Remember a few years back, when a new regulation came into effect that required us to ask our patients for a piece of ID when we wanted to prescribe something as common as Tylenol #3? Personally, I thought, “Oh sure, bring on more rules and restrictions!” Actually, it forced me away from prescribing opioids and … Read more

Your Top Picks: March 2017

Spring is (sort of) in the air and your top pick are in for March 2017! Our website tries to cover clinical articles, dental news, and helpful videos and blogs to fill in the rest. There’s a lot of new information coming your way every day and we’ve tried to condense it into four key … Read more

Pre-orthodontic Intervention for Pediatric Sleep Disordered Breathing: A (R)evolutionary Solution to a Modern Problem

Malocclusion (HM) is a rising public health epidemic that is seen mainly within industrialized/industrializing cultures. To date, there is no published evidence that malocclusion had ever been a significantly observed human trait prior to the Industrial Revolution in Europe and North America during late 18th/early to mid/late 19th-Centuries; its relatively recent appearance as a common … Read more

Airway Centric® Dentistry: Past, Present and Future – A Paradigm Shift

There is an Airway Centric paradigm shift in dentistry. We are excited that this edition of Oral Health is being devoted to Airway Health and Airway in Dentistry. The term AirwayCentric® was created to give healthcare practitioners and consumers and new way of looking at dentistry and healthcare. We invite you to be part of … Read more

Growth Guidance

As parents, we absolutely want what is best for our children in every way. Many parents are well aware of the specific milestones that our children should reach during the first 18-months of life, however, there are several important growth and development factors that must be evaluated in each child during the first decade of … Read more

Three Weeks, Days and Minutes; Airway Trumps Everything

Ten years ago, I took a weeklong survival class in the SE Utah high desert with my son. No food, water, tent, sleeping bag or phone, just you, your clothes, a knife and a compass. There were two guides and twelve of us. They trained us in the art and science of survival for the … Read more

Physiological Dentistry and Heart Rate Variability

The future of dentistry involves evaluation of the patient providing collaborative optimal care alongside other healthcare practitioners. The increased interest and involvement with sleep, pain and airway requires the dentist to view their patient with new and expanded vision and thinking. The successful treatment of patients with sleep, TMD, and chronic pain will be based … Read more

Airway Centered Dentistry: (The A, B, C’s of Treatment for Chronic Face Pain/OSA and Closing Anterior Openbite Without Ortho)

Bullet points: 1. Definition-orthopedic/functional breathing 2. Comorbidity of orthopedic and facial pain and breathing 3. Answers to our questions 4. Method or technique-paradigm shift 5. Integrating myofunctional techniques This article defines “Airway Centered Dentistry”, explains the mechanism of chronic face/jaw pain and dysfunction, reviews the technique and triage systems that have been successful in the … Read more

Airway Orthodontics: An Argument for Early Orthodontic Treatment

This article is not about the “how” of airway orthodontics. It’s about the “why”. But it does suggest that a regard for the rationale of airway orthodontics will spur a change in the way we do things in orthodontics altogether. For years, the orthodontic profession has polarized around many issues: genetic vs environmental etiology of … Read more

Mouth Breathing: Physical, Mental and Emotional Consequences

Breathing is one of the most vital functions of the human body. Every breath we take can have a positive or negative impact on our bodies depending on how it is performed; and it has been well established that normal breathing should be achieved through the nose. However, it may be detoured to the oral … Read more

Editorial: Don’t Get Left Behind

The FDIC has a new definition of the term “oral health”; it “includes the ability to speak, smile, smell, taste, touch, chew, swallow and convey a range of emotions through facial expressions with confidence and without pain, discomfort and disease of the craniofacial complex”. Oh my. How do we interpret this? The FDIC has subtly … Read more

Book Review: GASP! Airway Health – The Hidden Path to Wellness

The Book GASP Is A Game Changer I was in dire need of a tool to help me explain to patients that some dental symptoms can be tracked back to an underlying airway issue and that there were solutions to these problems. GASP gives credibility to what I am saying and covers the myriad of … Read more

People Buy From People They Trust

Are you using referrals as one of your most successful practice building strategies? One of your patients has just said great things about you, your office and your team. This is an excellent opportunity to take advantage of one of the most successful dental marketing strategies; asking for a referral. Your patient won’t think to give … Read more

Antibiotic Use in Dentistry Is Growing!

A new study in the Journal of the American Dental Association shows that dentistry’s share of antibiotic use in healthcare has grown significantly. In 1996, dentistry accounted for 6.7% of antibiotic use. By 2013, its share was 11.3%. This results from both a decline of antibiotic use in medicine and a real growth in dentistry. … Read more

Will You Help Us?

After 30 years in the Dental Community, as a Dental Speaker lecturing in North America and internationally, I retired in 2015. Following my wonderful career, I wanted to give back and volunteer with women. Good Shepherd offered me the opportunity to donate my time and energy to its Women’s Services program. I didn’t realize how many women need … Read more

Beware of Throat Lozenges

So here’s the thing… A patient in his 50s, on 2 antidepressants and another med for CV disease, breathing through his mouth at night because of a mouth appliance and experiencing recurrent decay.  Even with Prevora’s protection. What else might be happening to challenge this topical drug? Well, sucking on throat lozenges on a frequent … Read more