INTRODUCTIONFor over 40 years, my academic colleagues in radiology have taught you, your dental assistants and your dental hygienists to use rectangular collimation for intraoral x-ray procedures to minimize the x-ray dose to the patient.1 And for almost 40 years, no dental office has used them. Why? Using the old rectangular collimating devices that we … Read more
The Annual Spring Meeting (ASM) is Ontario Dental Association’s signature dental conference and trade show. Now in its 147th year, the ASM continues to be the prominent gathering place for all dental professionals. The ASM offers an unparalleled educational program featuring some of the best and brightest minds in the field of dentistry. Year after … Read more
Through 2013, I was fortunate enough to be a student in a year-long mini-residency in implant dentistry instructed by Dr. Jim Lai and Dr. Joe Fava through the University of Toronto. It was a wonderful course that I recommend wholeheartedly to anyone wanting to introduce the discipline of implantology into their practice. Along with the … Read more
ABSTRACTObjective: The purpose of this paper was to review treatment and billing practices by Nevada dentists participating in Public Funded Programs (i.e., Medicaid, CHIP), which can lead to higher costs and unnecessary treatment of children needing dental care. Methods: Seventy-five thousand Medicaid/CHIP claim forms for dental care were reviewed by a licensed dentist representing the largest … Read more
Patients often present with complaints that are not directly related to structures in the oral cavity, but rather to those around it. The salivary glands are examples of peri-oral structures that are sometimes at the root of a dental patient’s chief complaint. There are many disorders of the salivary glands, but the most common conditions … Read more
In October 2013, the Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI) released a very thorough and comprehensive report entitled: Treatment of Preventable Dental Cavities in Preschoolers: A focus on day surgery under general anaesthesia. The report states that every year in Canada there is approximately 19,000 day-surgeries to treat early childhood caries (ECC) in children under … Read more
CASE A post-orthodontic panoramic radiograph was acquired on a 27-year-old female patient. On this panoramic radiograph, an altered bone pattern with a mixed radiolucent/radiopaque density was noted in the periapical region of the right mandibular premolar and molar teeth. A periapical radiograph and a posterior mandibular standard occlusal radiograph were acquired to further characterize the … Read more
The 2014 Pacific Dental Conference will once again be held at the Vancouver Convention Centre, West Building. We’re excited to see the consistent growth of the conference over the past years with a new record of 12,200 participants in attendance at the 2013 PDC. Partnering with valued exhibitors such as yourself is important to our … Read more
It’s a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon on the Thanksgiving weekend. The crisp, cold air creates an unfiltered view of the colors of autumn. The colors are so pure and versatile on the canvas of the beautiful nature that one cannot deny the deep sense of gratitude within. As I reflect on the significance of the … Read more
It’s late on a Friday afternoon, the start of a long weekend, and in through the door of your dental practice rushes a frantic parent with a distraught three-year-old who fell while playing and knocked out a front tooth. We’ve all been there. The purpose of this review article is to demystify the most common … Read more
WHAT IS CONE-BEAM COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY?Cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT),1 unlike medical CT, uses a cone beam instead of a fan beam (Fig. 1). Since the cone irradiates a larger volume in a single rotation (nowadays with as little as 180 degree arc.) the radiation dose imparted is much lower than that by a fan beam, which … Read more
It is the position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that nutrition is an integral component of oral health”.1 Dental caries is recognized as one of the most prevalent, yet preventable, chronic diseases in North America, particularly among two to five-year-olds.2 Collaborative partnerships including healthcare professionals, educators, researchers, and others, can help improve and … Read more
INTRODUCTIONWhether you’re a solo practitioner, or starting or joining a group practice, you must know where you are heading and what the end game is. Everything has a beginning and an end. If you visualize how you want your dental practice to end, shaping the journey is more likely. Practice transitioning includes many phases from … Read more
One of the most common ‘parent questions’ that I hear in my private practice is “when will my child’s adult teeth come in?” More specifically, my parents are enquiring about anterior teeth. My parents and my children are very aware of the development of their peers. They are very quick to compare and contrast their … Read more
INTRODUCTIONEverything old is new again is an intriguing euphemism as demonstrated by the fact that rotary instrumentation based upon shape memory alloys is not a modern era concept; it was introduced in the late 19th century.1 Everything works, everything fails, another euphemism, reflects an interesting facet of endodontic therapy; however, as Figure 1 suggests, the … Read more
As busy practicing dentists we are bombarded with information on new products and techniques daily: email blasts, snail mail flyers, company reps with brochures and samples, new features at conventions, and the list goes on. How do we know what works, why it works or how it works? Some of us rush out and buy … Read more
Dear Randy, Thank you so much for writing this elucidating article regarding the extraction of wisdom teeth post orthodontic treatment. For the past several years, I have been shaking my head regarding the rapidity and frequency of removal of “impacted” third molars after orthodontic treatment. Most of the eights I’ve seen extracted these days don’t … Read more
Inflammation has been studied since ancient times. It was observed that as a result of irritation, injury or infection, tissues throughout the body react by increased redness (rubor), swelling (tumor), heat (calor), and pain (dolor).1 Today, we know that inflammation is a process driven by cells responding to signals from the body to fend off … Read more
INTRODUCTIONChronic adult periodontitis is generally understood to result from the presence of subgingival Gram-negative bacterial biofilms proliferating at the junctional epithelium.1 These biofilms are formed when colonizing microbes encapsulate themselves against the root and epithelial surfaces in a matrix composed of secreted polysaccharides, proteins, and nucleic acids. Close proximity of one microbial cell to another … Read more
I. INTRODUCTION: SETTING THE STAGE FOR PROBIOTICSIt started with an observation in 1928, Robert Fleming recognized the impact of penicillin with the subsequent evolution of antibiotic therapy; and it heralded the beginning of a journey which, unfortunately, has not fulfilled its promise for a variety of reasons. In the 1960s methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aures (Gram Positive) emerged and … Read more