Across Canada, dental practices continue to contend with a scarcity of skilled clinicians and support staff resulting in a labour shortage that has evolved from a growing concern to a crisis. While the demand for dental services has surged, due to factors such as population growth, an aging demographic, and heightened awareness of oral health’s … Read more
What led you to become a dentist? From a young age, I had a wide variety of interests. A family member served as one of my main mentors and opened my eyes to a career in dentistry. The profession appealed to me due to its unique combination of science, art, and business, while also allowing … Read more
In December 2022, an Ontario dentist posted two videos of themselves on TikTok. The words “Dr.”, “Dentist,” “DDS,” and “doctor” identified the user’s account. In the first video (about 7 seconds), the dentist is in an office setting with diplomas framed behind them, dressed in scrubs and wearing a medical mask. The soundtrack plays a … Read more
Dentistry, despite being a critical aspect of healthcare, has historically lagged other industries in adopting the latest technologies. While areas like information technology, manufacturing, and even other medical specialties have been quick to embrace advancements like artificial intelligence, digital record keeping and management systems, and big data analytics, dentistry has been relatively conservative. This slower … Read more
THE WHY: Background Story Calgary, Alberta, is home to the recently opened Chinook Dental Group, a practice that combines three dental specialties under one roof. They provide comprehensive dental care to patients needing endodontic, periodontic, and prosthodontic advanced dental and referral-based services. Dr. Javier Cabrales leads the practice and is an entrepreneurial enthusiast and skilled periodontist. … Read more
“Do Kids Ruin Everything?” That was the topic of a discussion on a morning radio station, which I was listening to while my son, Ajay, was driving me to work so he could use my car. The hosts talked about how their careers were derailed and their lifestyles changed because of their kids. After he … Read more
Hygiene Spotlight features an exceptional dental hygienist every month. This month we are showcasing the duo Jessica Drader, Founder, CEO and Registered Dental Hygienist (C) & Amy Pannu, Founder, CFO and Registered Dental Hygienist (C). How did you get into dental hygiene? Jess: I began as a certified dental assistant, working at Clayburn Dental. I developed a … Read more
Change for the Better: Are flawed processes holding your team back from experiencing better efficiency, healthier clients, happier employees, and continued practice growth? Challenge As a dental hygienist, I’m finding it harder to provide comprehensive care due to time constraints stemming from my dentist’s actions. Prolonged examination periods during an hour-long appointment, sudden requests for … Read more
ABSTRACT Objectives: Lichen planus is a mucocutaneous disease that can manifest in the oral cavity. Although commonly described as bilateral reticular lesions on the buccal mucosa, there are 6 oral subtypes of oral lichen planus. The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of oral lichen planus including differentiation from oral lichenoid lesions, proposed … Read more
ABSTRACT The use of Botulinum toxin type A (BTX-A) has increased in healthcare professions due to its expanding range of applications. The reported case series, demonstrated a decrease in masticatory myofascial (muscle) pain. A narrative review of the literature in the past five years was subsequently completed which supports the use of Botox in the … Read more
Mouthwashes represent a huge business in the oral care industry, and a great deal is still not known about their effects on the human body and in particular the oral cavity. Topic 1 – Antimicrobial Mouthwashes: An Overview of Mechanisms and What We Still Need to Know?1,2 Authors: Zoe Brookes, Colman McGrath, Michael McCillough Mouthwashes … Read more
Hypochlorous Acid (HOCl) mouth rinse preserves the commensal (good) oral bacteria. It also is surprisingly efficacious at killing oral pathogens-even the really bad guys.1-5 What makes HOCl a super-hero is its compatibility with our physiological needs.11,13 Our fragile, essential oral microbiome can be affected by many things including oral products, antibiotics, diet, health which can indirectly contribute … Read more
“You think you’re stressed? I’ll tell you about stress…” It almost seems like a competition these days, as if the amount of stress we can endure is a badge of honor. Every one of us experiences stress. Stress can come from all sorts of circumstances we perceive to be frightening, dangerous, or threatening in some … Read more
It’s no secret that Americans are getting sicker, quicker, as evidenced by the alarming statistics of chronic disease reaching even into our youngest population. Today 48.9% of Americans are on at least one pharmaceutical drug, 23.1% on 3 or more and 11.9% on 5 or more.1 More alarming is that 1 in 5 children are classified … Read more
Dental hygiene is about so much more than just “cleaning teeth.” Yet, that seems to be all we focus on in our dental health recare appointments. We can and should do so much more because the health of the mouth is a reflection of the health of the body. It’s time to truly educate our … Read more
Have you ever heard your mother say, “You are what you eat”? Well, it turns out she was right about that too! As humans, we are more bacteria than we are human, which makes sense considering the first form of life on earth was bacteria. Yes, bacteria existed way before humans, even the dinosaurs. In … Read more
Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is a pain condition discussed in the dental literature as a disorder isolated to the mouth, but it is more easily understood as part of a larger family of burning syndromes that have unique features and locations because of the type of nerve cell that is malfunctioning. In BMS small, C-type … Read more
The first questions we should ask are always how, when, and why. This discussion is about the how, when, and why of chronic systemic disease and, until only recently, the truth hiding in “plain sight.” The association of oral health to systemic health has a very long history, starting at least 3200 years ago with … Read more
Dentists are finding the most effective way to attract new patients to their office is by using search engines. Search engine marketing is a digital marketing strategy used to increase the visibility of a website across search engine results pages, such as Google. There are paid and organic ways to use search engine marketing for … Read more
What are you doing with your one and only life? Research has demonstrated that a strong sense of purpose protects your mortality and cognition. Having a passion, an overall arching set of values and drivers may even be more important as we age. Last fall I had the opportunity to be involved with the inaugural … Read more