Bleach hurts. Research shows about half of all patients feel some pain when peroxides soak into their teeth. While some studies have found them perfectly safe, others studies suggest they damage exposed dentin, and weaken the cements in fresh restorations. Yet patients still want white teeth. That’s why we sat up in our chair when we received a recent press release from a new company that promises, “the first-ever professional
It’s the hot topic on blogs and even on Amazon.com’s forums: Crest’s popular alcohol-free Pro-Health Rinse purportedly causes staining. “After extended use for a month it stained in between my teeth brown. It looked terrible and it cost me a one hundred dollar trip to the dentist to scrape that junk off,” wrote one Amazon poster. Another added, “After about a week my teeth had gained an ugly shade of
A Kentucky bill would ban kids ages three to six from public school without a clean dental health bill, according to a news story on www.kentucky.com, the website of the Lexington Herald-Leader. The bill passed in the House of Representatives 91-4, but its passage in the Senate in uncertain. The Cabinet for Health and Family Services — a state government agency — is concerned about the cost of executing this
Gary Orentlicher, D.M.D., likes to do implant surgery at home. In his pajamas. While watching a football game. You might think his patients would object to this unusual protocol, but, he says, “they love it.” They love it because Dr. Orentlicher, chief of oral and maxillofacial surgery at White Plains Hospital Center in New York, isn’t operating directly on their mouths. Instead, he is planning their surgery in minute detail,
NEW YORK (Reuters) March 3 The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has notified dental healthcare professionals and the public of the risk of serious allergic reactions for users of denture cleansers. According to information posted on the “MedWatch” section of the FDA’s Web site, the action is in response to reports of 73 severe reactions linked to denture cleansers, including at least one death. These adverse events include abdominal pain,
Confused about treating your patient’s periodontal predicament with partial or full-mouth scaling? There is no significant difference in clinical outcome between the two, so dentists should let the patient’s budget and convenience be the deciding factor, according to a new study in the Journal of Periodontolgy. Researchers from the University of Leipzig looked at 37 people with chronic periodontitis. Eleven males and 26 females between the ages of 37-65 participated
America’s increasing desire for Hollywood-perfect looks means that cosmetic and implant procedures will grow 15% in the next few years, the Millennium Research Group (MRG) predicts. By contrast, noncosmetic procedures will only grow by 5%, the marketing research group said. It projected that implant procedures alone will grow at more than 18% annually from 2008 to 2011. Besides a growing desire for bright smiles, the key driving forces behind this
Forget amalgam and fluoride. Could lead be dentistry’s new bogeyman? The ADA said today that it is investigating reports of potentially dangerous levels of the element in imported crowns. The concern stems from an investigation by WBNS-TV of Columbus, Ohio, which sent eight dental crowns from China to a certified testing facility. The facility found 210 parts of lead per million in one of them. Is that enough lead to
As patients prescribe more and more nutritional supplements for themselves, some dentists see an opportunity. “You can improve the health and well-being of your patients and increase your revenue substantially,” says Alphonse Matrone, D.M.D., a Scranton, PA., dentist. Dr. Matrone sells his patients subscriptions to “customized” nutraceutical packages provided by Bioceutica of Newbury, MA. Dentists who sell subscriptions get a cut of at least $12 out of the $69.95 that
A new study reveals that the fewer the teeth a patient has, the more likely they’ll suffer from dementia later in life. Patients with the fewest teeth are at the highest risk. The longitudinal study conducted by University of Kentucky researchers looked at a sample of 144 nuns from Milwaukee between the ages of 75 to 98. The participants are part of a larger study which is studying 678 nuns
A rippling waterfall. A soothing foot massage. The scent of lavender wafting in the air. Not what you’d ordinarily expect from a trip to the dentist, even in a tourist mecca like Honolulu. And at Dr. Wynn Okuda’s Dental Day Spa, that’s the whole point. “People come to us looking for something different,” says Dr. Okuda, an accredited cosmetic dentist and past president of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry
NEW YORK (Reuters) Jan. 21 Regularly eating yogurt and other foods with lactic acid may be good for your mouth, Japanese researchers report. Dr. Yoshihiro Shimazaki and colleagues found that consuming yogurt and lactic acid drinks was significantly associated with better periodontal health. “But, milk and cheese were not,” Shimazaki said. Periodontal disease is a chronic bacterial condition associated with receding gums and tooth loss in adults. Outside of regular
