4 organizations endorse pediatric sedation guidelines

Four more organizations have endorsed new guidelines that call for two trained personnel to be present when providing deep sedation or general anesthesia to children. The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and American Academy of Pediatrics jointly released the updated guidelines in June. In a joint statement, the American Society of Dentist Anesthesiologists, American Society of Anesthesiologists, Society for Pediatric Anesthesia, and Society of Pediatric Sedation announced their support for

Week in Review: Productive scheduling | Fired for texting | Mercury levels in amalgam

Dear DrBicuspid Member, Is your practice consistently running behind because that new patient who needs root scaling and planing wasn’t accounted for in your schedule, or maybe your team’s lunch break wasn’t included and patients came to the office? Dayna Johnson sees many practices that face consistent scheduling challenges. She offers four ideas to help you maximize your everyday scheduling to increase both patient satisfaction and production revenue. Scheduling is

All You Need to Know About Tooth Extraction

You can fix a tooth that’s cracked without any problems. However, some cracks don’t exhibit symptoms, so you have no idea they’re there until they completely break apart. That’s one of many reasons why there are times when you have no choice but to pull out a permanent tooth. It’s meant to last a lifetime, but if you don’t care of it then extraction might be needed. It’s not enough

All You Need to Know About Aesthetic Dentistry

Are your God-given teeth less than ideal? Have you lost teeth through the years? Are they decaying badly? Do they look weird and give you an underbite or overbite? Do you wish to get a dazzling grin that the celebrities have? Then you should look into aesthetic or cosmetic dentistry. Arguably, all dentistry is done for aesthetics or the beautification of your smile. However, some procedures are more about form

Metals top list of common allergens at the dental office

Which dental materials are responsible for the most contact allergies? Researchers looked at patient data and found metals topped the list, but other common culprits included composites and cosmetic materials. The number of people with allergies is rising, according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Nearly 40% of schoolchildren worldwide have a sensitivity or allergy, and some of those allergens appear in the dental office. Researchers from

What Is Cosmetic Dentistry?

Any dental work that improves the appearance—but not necessarily the functionality—of your bite, gums, and teeth is referred to as cosmetic dentistry. This branch of dentistry focuses on improving the aesthetics or beauty of your teeth’s alignment, shape, position, size, and color, as well as your overall smile quality. Many dentists consider themselves as cosmetic dentists regardless of their experience, training, specialty, and specific education. After all, all of them

Dental Implant Restoration Services in Thailand

Thailand is a Southeast Asian country that’s well known for its world-class healthcare, which also includes topnotch dental services. One of its most popular attractions for medical tourists is its high degree of success in dental implants. If you’re considering getting implants for your mouth in Thailand, you should have adequate bone and healthy gums in order to support them. The implant itself is a titanium post that acts like the

Is probing the best measurement for peri-implant health?

Pocket probing depth (PPD) and bleeding on probing (BOP) are useful for assessing periodontal conditions, but are these the best measurements to evaluate the health of peri-implant tissue? Researchers conducted a literature review and suggested using a different evaluation process. European researchers noted that these assessments are often used to evaluate the dental implant/tissue interface and identify sites with mucositis and peri-implantitis. They wondered if disease definitions and diagnostic tools

Former Colo. dentist sentenced to prison for drug charges

A former Colorado dentist was sentenced to three years in prison on July 29 for charges related to distributing Percocet and other drugs to employees. Bonifacio Guillena III, DDS, known as “Dr. B,” pleaded guilty to possessing with intent to distribute a controlled substance in January. He distributed Xanax, Percocet, and Oxycontin to employees at his Comfort Dental practice in Silverthorne, CO. A former employee of the practice accused Guillena of

Boy has 500 teeth removed from jaw growth

A 7-year-old boy in India had more than 500 teeth pulled from a tumor-like growth along his lower right jaw, according to a July 31 news story in the New Indian Express. The patient began experiencing swelling in his jaw, so he was taken to a dental college in Chennai. Multiple images showed a tumor-like sac, which contained 526 teeth. The condition is known as compound composite odontoma. The removal

Study supports clear aligners for orthognathic surgery patients

Patients needing orthognathic surgery generally have orthodontic treatment before and after. Researchers wondered if clear-aligner therapy was a valid option for patients who need this surgery. The researchers compared patients who underwent conventional orthodontic therapy with those who underwent clear-aligner therapy in their study, published in the Journal of Craniofacial Surgery (July/August 2019, Vol. 30:5, pp. 1488-1491). Perioperative and short-term clinical outcomes were not compromised with clear-aligner treatment, they found.

A Full Mouth Reconstruction truly Life-changing: Smiles for Warriors

Everyone deserves dental quality care to ensure their oral health, and for many, it is a necessity. Many people travel to receive dental treatments every day. Due to the wide variety of high-quality dental procedures for an accessible price, Mexico is one of the top destinations for those who need a dental procedure that can change their lives, as was the case of Colton Ficek. At the age of 14,