'Dental News
A study published in the Journal of the American Dental Association (April 2011) has found there are some differences in treatment a patient receives depending upon whether the dentist is male or female as well as if the dentist has been in practice for awhile or a recent graduate of dental school. However, the differences are small and probably won't impact the quality dental care someone receives all that much.
The study included 393 male and 73 female dentists in four different countries (United States, Norway, Sweden and Denmark) were surveyed on several aspects of the care they provided. While the study found the both male and female dentists were the same when he came to assessing risk for tooth decay and spent equal amounts of time on fillings and root canals, there were some differences;
* Male dentists were more likely to do in-office fluoride treatments for children while female dentists were more likely to recommend at-home fluoride treatments for children
* Female dentists were more likely than males to offer any type of fluoride treatment to adults, although female dentists who had been practicing dentistry the longest were the least likely to offer fluoride to adults
* Male dentists tended to recommend filling a tooth in response to tooth decay while female dentists were a bit more conservative than male dentist by instead recommending preventive treatment
* Female dentists tended to treat more children than male dentists
In addition to differences based on gender, researchers found there were differences based on the experience of the dentist as well as recent dental school graduates were less likely to recommend fillings for early decay on chewing surfaces of teethcommentary regardless of whether a dentist was male or female.
'Dental News
Remember when you got a postcard in the mail to remind you of your next dental appointment? Well, those days are fast disappearing as technology is making it faster, easier and less expensive for dental offices to remind patients of the appointment.
The only question left to resolve is whether voice messages or text messages work better, and that debate might have been partially answered by a recent study done at the University of Washington, Seattle which found that voice messages are twice as effective as dental appointment reminders when it comes to getting children to show up at their nextt dental appointment.
Them study, which appeared in the April issue of the Journal of the American Dental Association, involved 318 parents of children who were patients at the university's dental clinic and found that 18% of parents who received text messages had missed their kid's appointments but only 18% of parents who received text messages missed their kid's appointment.
The study also found for that in both the text message and the voice message groups, younger parents were more likely to have their kids miss their dental appointments than older parents were.
'Dental News
Ever felt pressured by your dentist (or dental specialist) into having expensive dental work done? It turns out you may have been right as a lawsuit recently brought by Pennsylvania's Attorney General office against Allcare Dental & Dentures (a now defunct chain of dental offices spanning 13 states) suggests that this type of deceptive sales tactic was routinely used and even encouraged by corporate higher-ups.
The lawsuit alleges that Allcare used high-pressure sales tactics to get consumers to buy expensive dental procedures, only to not provide those services. The lawsuit also alleges that the dental chain forced customers to pay in advance for their dental work. Allcare then acted as a credit-services organization, applying for credit on their behalf to pay for the services but failed to safeguard or escrow the money as required by state law.
In addition, Allcare is also accused of engaging in unfair and deceptive business practices, as well as violating a March 2009 settlement with the Attorney General's Office over complaints about --among other things-- its corporate practices of encouraging expensive dental work when less costly procedures would be routinely performed by other dentists.
'Dental News
It has long been known that regularly flossing your teeth is one of the best ways to prevent gum disease, but now it appears that it also helps to prevent lung problems such as pneumonia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Emerging research is showing that bacteria from gum diseases such as gingivitis and periodontitis can easily slip into your airways when you inhale. Once this bacteria has entered the bloodstream, warm and moist conditions in your lungs act as a breeding ground for bacteria which leads to inflammation; inflammation can obstruct blood flow, which prevents oxygen from traveling to the brain and this can result in a heart attack or stroke.
Even though the most effective way to remove this type of bacteria from your mouth is to brush twice a day, daily flossing is also required due to the fact that brushing can not always reach all areas of your mouth, resulting in plaque development along the gum line.
