Before the needle touched him, the four-year-old started crying. So, David E. Thome, D.D.S., knew he had to act quickly. “We use sleepy juice here,” he said. “It will put your tooth to sleep so it won’t feel anything at all.” He then applied a topical anesthetic and challenged the boy to find his belly button with his hands. Being careful not to let him see the syringe again, Dr.
Attention orthodontists! Need help dealing with that patient who has a million questions? Refer them to bracesreview.com, a new independent site where patients can educate themselves about treatment. The site features articles on a wide variety of topics from the cost difference between Invisalign and conventional braces, to what the patient should expect during treatment. Also, patients can surf a state-by-state orthodontists directory, vent and share stories in a half
KaVo Dental has introduced a new perio probe for its Diagnodent caries detector (in both pen and classic versions). Just remove the tip and snap on the perio probe. The Diagnodent perio probe The probe uses the Diagnodent’s laser fluorescence technology to differentiate between calculus and healthy tissue. Once the difference is detected, it makes a sound and displays a numerical readout. The probe is especially useful for detecting calculus
The advanced dental hygiene practitioner (ADHP) legislation, gained more ground as it passed the Minnesota Senate finance subcommittee on March 13. An amendment to the bill offers some changes from the original version, including a requirement that ADHPs work on site with a dentist during their first years of practice while performing extractions, reports ADA news. The ADA and Minnesota Dental Association oppose the bill and will continue to do
Want to take your practice to the next level — the spa level? Research and Market’s new report The US Dental Spa Market 2007 has information about market size, structure, trends, and more. According to a Research and Markets press release: Dental spa experts estimate that five percent of dental practices in the U.S. are spa practices. Compared to a regular practice, dental spas patients spend about 30 percent more
It’s a dentist’s worst nightmare: A routine procedure turns suddenly, irrevocably wrong. A patient dies. Such accidents evoke particular horror when the patient is a child — as in the case of 7-year-old Jacqueline Martinez who died last week in Riverside, CA, apparently by choking on an extracted molar. Martinez’s dentist, Thien Luong, D.M.D., could not be reached for comment, leaving details about the March 4 procedure at New Smile
On the look-out for tools to ease that drill-and-fill routine? Komet USA has introduced a new bur to its line of ceramic instruments, which the company claims is highly effective for minimally invasive drilling, and preservation of healthy tooth structure. The company claims these advantages for its new CeraBur K1SM: Its sensitive tactile feeling gives the dentists a good idea of when it’s safe to stop drilling. It eliminates the
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,