Recently the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario chose to update the Standard of Practice for the Use of Sedation and Anaesthesia in Dental Practice. While this was a semi-scheduled review (the document is revised roughly every five years), the context for this latest revision is different from the others in recent memory. Caleb’s … Read more
Sixteen years ago, Titley and Farkouh (2001) published a paper in this journal entitled “The Stainless Steel Crown – An Underused Restoration in Paediatric Dentistry.” A review of the current literature indicates that stainless steel crowns (SSC’s) continue to be the restoration of choice by paediatric dentists for heavily decayed primary molar teeth. On the … Read more
Every day we come to the rescue of our patients by taking them out of pain, combating the results of an accident, reversing the ravages of time or simply getting them ready for a special day in their lives. We become heroes to our patients. We can do this simply and easily because of the … Read more
As a long time devout Christian, I have listened to many inspiring sermons by numerous Pastors over the years. One particular Pastor’s sermon style stands out in my mind with a transferrable concept that is very practical and relative to the practice of clinical dentistry. He titled his Sunday morning presentations as The 3 Point … Read more
Sometimes it takes a village, sometimes a marriage of powerful forces to produce something meaningful and that is the case with the recently-released custom collaboration between Colgate and Scientific American Custom Media. “The Future of Oral Health, Global Challenges, Advances and New Technologies” is an important document introduced at the ADA’s annual meeting in Denver … Read more
Click to watch more Dental FAQ videos. With implants comes a decision: screws or cement? In the eighth instalment of the FAQ videos Dr. Mark Lin discusses each option, including their advantages and disadvantages. Dr. Mark Lin has given numerous lectures, presentations and courses on the topics of Implant Dentistry (Surgical/Prosthetics), live surgical and prosthetic … Read more
If you’ve ever seen vintage photography, you’ll notice an absence of toothy grins. Somber, tight-lipped portraits ruled the day well into the early 20th century. This was probably for the best, since most smiles were not photogenic. Before the 1920s, dentists were hard to find. Cosmetic dentistry was nonexistent. Extraction – today’s treatment of last … Read more
For my first editorial with the Oral Health Group, my blatant opinion to start this piece off might not be the smartest idea. But I feel that I owe it to our dedicated readers, and to my two feline children at home, Eleanor and Lou, to be honest and open. With that being said, I … Read more
Well, it’s more accurate to say that an investigative journalist from Associated Press (AP) looked at the evidence about the effectiveness of flossing, and came to the conclusion that flossing does not help humanity. Since then, every patient and their grandmother is asking if they should floss at all. Then, the hordes of less-than-fully-employed or … Read more
Fluoridation is useless for low-income children, US federal data shows. Now please keep in mind the source, the New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation (NYSCOF) Inc. Having said that, Center for Disease Control (CDC) 2011/2012 statistics reveal that low income children’s tooth decay rates are increasing substantially despite record numbers of children served fluoride … Read more
Responding to an exponentially increasing number of online tutorials and websites, that claim to teach consumers how to straighten their own teeth, the American Association of Orthodontics has issued a series of television and radio public service announcements warning about the risks associated with do-it-yourself orthodontics. Most homemade braces consist of a combination of paper … Read more
I am honoured to have been selected as an editor for the implantology issue of Oral Health. My father, Blake Nicolucci, has had an extensive career full of accolades and I can only hope to achieve some of what he has accomplished. He has served both Oral Health and the profession as a whole with … Read more
Problems are encountered by most people every single day. Their easiest option is to simply back away from the situation, and to focus on more readily manageable issues. This is the most common direction, the path of least resistance and stress. It is often not, however, the most effective decision. Dentists, in particular, are trained … Read more
As I return from the hospital emergency room (ER) after seeing yet another patient in dental pain (my fifth this week while on-call and that’s not counting the infections and fractures!), I wonder how we can do better as a dental community by these patients while easing the burden on the emergency department at the … Read more
Finding the Holy Grail. Grabbing the Brass Ring. Finding the MB2 canal in maxillary molars! Pie in the sky? We think not! With all the technological advances that have occurred in dentistry, certainly in endodontics, the biologic objectives have remained the same, those being to eliminate and/or prevent apical periodontitis. How does one do this? … Read more
Dentists prescribe a handful of familiar drugs. Maybe we shouldn’t be quite so comfortable with writing those prescriptions. Some of our patients are walking poly pharmacies and dentists are responsible to be familiar with drug interactions and adverse side effects — a daunting task. Enter, the new age of pharmacology software on your personal digital … Read more