The other day my son called me and said: “Dad I remember what I wanted to give you for your recent birthday.” Yes – I had one of those birthdays you want to ignore but your loved ones refuse to honor that request. Expecting a long-awaited first installment check as a payback for the million … Read more
IntroductionDental implants have evolved significantly over time. Four thousand years ago root form bamboo pegs were tapped into the jawbone to replace lost teeth, which changed to similarly shaped pegs made of precious metals or ivory in Egypt 2000 years ago. Ancient Mayans used pieces of shells shaped to resemble teeth in a similar fashion. … Read more
IntroductionEctopic eruption is defined as a disturbance in which a tooth does not follow its usual path of eruption.1 Maxillary canines are one of the most common ectopically erupting teeth, second only to third molars,2 and of importance, once displaced palatally, most result in impactions.3,4 The ratio of palatal to buccal canine impactions is 8:1 … Read more
IntroductionFrom the mid- 1980s and throughout the early 1990s there was an explosion of infection control recommendations from dental regulatory agencies, national and provincial dental associations and various speciality disciplines. This excess had as its primary function the prevention of the transmission of HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C during the practice of dentistry. Following … Read more
I can still vividly remember when I and over 100 other trembling students sat for the dreaded chalk carving dental admission test at the University of Toronto. It was a stifling hot summer day and we were all marched into a large lab, with no air conditioning, in the basement of the dental school. A … Read more
A major new report provides the reasons.
IntroductionFrom the mid- 1980s and throughout the early 1990s there was an explosion of infection control recommendations from dental regulatory agencies, national and provincial dental associations and various speciality disciplines. This excess had as its primary function the prevention of the transmission of HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C during the practice of dentistry. Following … Read more
IntroductionEctopic eruption is defined as a disturbance in which a tooth does not follow its usual path of eruption.1 Maxillary canines are one of the most common ectopically erupting teeth, second only to third molars,2 and of importance, once displaced palatally, most result in impactions.3,4 The ratio of palatal to buccal canine impactions is 8:1 … Read more
Dental implants can be a challenge at the best of times, although if everything is planned out ahead of time, most of these challenges can be either overcome or eliminated. One of the best ways to overcome these challenges is to have an orderly list, one in which every facet of the proposed surgery or … Read more
“Perceived” as opposed to real? Please note the following statistics reported in R.K. House and Associates Ltd., Economic Report to the Dental Profession, Ontario Dental Association, November 2014): 1. In Ontario, the ratio of population to GP dentists plus hygienist decreased from 1052 to 675 over the course of the last decade. 2. Not surprisingly, the number … Read more
The following is a case study that involves a patient who has lost vertical dimension, lost posterior teeth, worn down his anterior teeth from bruxing and attrition, and with a diet that became almost completely liquid. Although it seemed like a daunting task, once his jaw was repositioned back to 80 percent of his original … Read more
Implant failures, peri-implant bone loss and other complications do occur, so it is vital for dentists to be aware of the risk factors that may be significant. This article will be the first of a series to be published in Oral Health on this subject. In this first article, the overall categorization of risk factors … Read more
In 2009, the Canadian government published a summary report on the findings of the oral health component of the Canadian Health Measures Survey 2007–2009.1 They reported that 6.4 percent of the Canadian population was edentulous between 2007 and 2009. Thus, in 2009, over two million Canadians were edentulous. This demographic represents a huge need for … Read more
IntroductionThe main goal of tooth replacement is to provide our patients with a long lasting tooth-like restoration that is strong, easy to maintain, biologically compatible, and aesthetically similar to or better than natural teeth. The use of titanium in implant dentistry is a practice that is now over 50 years old and it is widely … Read more
The advent of specialized chemistry in the “Zoom Whitespeed” (Fig. 1) (Philips) tooth whitening system has all but eliminated the concern over tooth sensitivity during bleaching procedures.1,2 There do remain, however, some patients, who have experienced severe sensitivity when they had attempted bleaching procedures in the past. These patients require extra consideration before attempting bleaching … Read more
When I graduated from dental school, Continuing Education was the last thing on my mind. I was certain that I had learned all that I needed to know, and that I knew everything that could possibly be important for the rest of my dental career. Little did I know how wrong I was! Within the … Read more
The goal of this paper is to present oral mucositis management approaches that are currently available in Canada. It is currently estimated that over 500 Canadians will be diagnosed with cancer every day (Canadian Cancer Society/Cancer Statistics 2014). Although advances in cancer therapy have improved survival rates for many tumor types, these treatments may cause side … Read more
Laser therapy is not a foreign concept in most dental practices, as many practitioners include soft tissue surgical lasers in their arsenal of high-tech equipment. Low-level lasers are a subset of the laser family that elicit a cellular response from the cell, as opposed to a photothermal effect, resulting in improved healing, pain reduction and … Read more
Orthodontics has seen significant advances over the past decade. In spite of these advances, there is no magic wand when teeth are undersized. In addition, there are a staggering number of adult ortho cases that produce the dreaded black triangle; an esthetic dilemma that is considered to be more unsightly than the crowding that led … Read more
Over the past five decades, the dangers of microbial threats in the dental practice have been more specifically recognized, and more definitively addressed, than ever before. There has been significant progress in the understanding of previously known and newly identified organisms, and their necessary eradication from the dental treatment process. There has been a parallel … Read more