Archive for the Dentistry Category
Posted by: Flap in Dentistry
DOCTOR John Crippen must have been seeing too many patients as of late and is cranky, tired or a little of both as he goes off and offends UK dentists and the profession of dentistry in his latest post: It’s Official: Dentists Are Not Doctors.
It was well over ten years since the General Dental Council decided to allow its members to use the title “doctor”. This followed a long campaign by “Dr” Douglas Pike, who drills teeth somewhere in Suffolk:
Dr Douglas Pike - the General Dental Council’s decision to permit use of the title is effective immediately - said that his sole aim was to bring Britain into “harmony” with the rest of the world. Dr Pike, who practises in Sudbury, Suffolk, said: “We are primary healthcare workers just like GPs. We prescribe drugs, take biopsies and X-rays, and our training is very similar.”
The Independent
Mr Pike was of course talking bollocks. Dentists are dentists. No more. No less. They are no more doctors than the chiropractors and other practitioners of mystic alternative arts that masquerade as medicine.
Flap remembers his first dental class at the University of Southern California School of Dentistry with Dr. Clifton O. Dummett, D.D.S. welcoming us to the profession of dentistry. “Welcome Doctors.” The good professor then went on to our inaugural lecture about some of the history of dentistry and why dentists are known as doctor.
For indeed, Flap’s degree earned after four years of post baccaleureate university work at the school of dentistry is a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree (DDS).
And, American dentistry has awarded such degrees since 1840.
1840—Horace Hayden and Chapin Harris establish the world’s first dental school, the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, and originate the Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) degree. (The school merges with the University of Maryland School of Dentistry in 1923).
Perhaps Dr. Crippen is reflecting on some old long held bias against the dental profession, UK dentistry is practiced barbarically or maybe he had a root canal treatment fail yesterday but with all of the major advances in dentistry from public health to implant surgery he is simply uninformed and wrong.
Actually, it is embarassing.
Technorati Tags: Dentistry, Doctor of Dental Surgery
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Posted by: Flap in Dentistry
Fred Quarnstrom, Seattle dentist, Las Vegas ADA Convention, October 2006. Photo by Flap
Remember the FLAP?
Flap gets the following via e-mail:
Flap,
For some reason, I do not understand, you seem to be on a vendetta aimed at me. I was alerted to your site by someone who suggested it is probably slanderous.
You obviously can publish anything that is public record. I certainly gave you enough references in my response that you can take out of context and make me look good or bad.
As to my being reappointed or not reappointed. We will never know for sure.
You are welcome to your speculation. However, if I had stayed knowing about the cover-up of the deaths, I would be part of the problem. Once I knew; I felt obligated to do something. I left so I could expose what was going on.
Because of my two media exposures, one three years ago and one this year, of the problems of anesthesia the DQAC is about to pass, I was told in November, new anesthesia regulations to update the ones I helped formulate
15 years ago after the first death. I worked for 4 years on these new
regulations.
You may feel all dentists suffer under an oath of silence. However, dental ethics has advanced beyond that.
Being a lifelong Democrat, it hurt me to go public, as it did reflect on our Democratic Governor who had been alerted by me to the problems.
Because of my public stance, I have had an oral surgeon tell a patient who needed an implant, “If he is so God Damned smart, why does he not do the implant. I want you to leave my office. I will not treat you.” She had found him on her own. He was already to do the implant until he told her I will put all this information in a letter to your general dentist. At this point he picked up her chart and realized I was her general dentist.
I am honored that you find me worthy of this much of your time.
Fred
–
Fred Quarnstrom DDS
FAGD, FASDA, FICD, FACD
Diplomate, American Board of Dental Anesthesiology Diplomate, National Board of Dental Anesthesiology Certified, American Association of Dental Consultants
Author - Open Wider: Your Wallet Not Your Mouth, A consumer’s guide to dentistry.
Before somebody alerted Fred Quarnsrom about an alleged vendetta Flap received this e-mail (below the fold):
(more…)
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Posted by: Flap in Dentistry
Flap missed this report when it first came out during the summer but is happy to report it now. The FLAP involves Seattle dentist, Fred Quarnstrom, who has resigned (or was NOT reappointed) to the Washington Dental Quality Assurance Commission (DQAC).
Fred Quarnstrom, Seattle dentist, Las Vegas ADA Convention, October 2006. Photo by Flap
This has become a classic case study in how to not serve the public in a state professional regulatory board. Here is Dr. Quarnstrom’s resignation letter:
When it was apparent that Quarnstrom was NOT going to reappointed to another term on the DQAC, he unfairly and unprofessionally attacks the same board and colleagues over previously decided disciplinary cases. This is without regard to the dentists who were previously adjudicated in which Quarnstrom apparently did not agree with the DQAC board’s findings. A piece about Quarnstrom’s moans found a sympathetic airing here.
At least three patients have died after dental procedures in the last three years in Washington, and critics say some of the cases weren’t examined closely enough by the state’s dental disciplinary board.
The Washington Dental Quality Assurance Commission found no wrongdoing in all three cases.
“When it comes to death cases, the board sure doesn’t do well,” said Fred Quarnstrom, a Seattle dentist who recently resigned from the dental board. “I think they should go to a hearing. Why is it a secret?”
The handling of the three known cases raises questions about the consistency and thoroughness of the state’s review process, Quarnstrom said.
So, when you are NOT going to reappointed to a public regulatory board (even though you are an Eage Scout and put up yard signs during the Governor’s campaign) you go public and bash the very same board upon which you labored the previous four years. Real mature and professional Fred.
The exit questions are: Why didn’t Quarnstrom go to the press and make a major Flap when he was a member of the DQAC? Or, did Fred Quarnstrom do so and was so out of the mainstream of dental education and training with pre-conceived bias that he was either ignored or marginalized?
In any case, the public is better served without Quarnstrom on the Washington Dental Quality Assurance Commission.
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Posted by: Flap in Dentistry
Gummy Bears
Now, there are Gummy Bears that are fighting tooth decay. The sticky, bear shaped candy is made with the sugar substitute Xylitol and distributed to children to actually prevent dental disease.
Go figure.
The children in the study were given four bears three times a day, containing different concentrations of xylitol. The results show that after six weeks of gummy bear snacking, the levels of harmful MS bacteria in the children’s plaque was significantly reduced. According to Ly “Based on our findings, it is feasible to develop a clinical trial of a gummy-based caries prevention programme. Such a study is now being carried out in the East Cleveland primary school district (Ohio, USA).”
Tooth decay is one of the most common diseases in the world. The distribution of Xylitol gummy bears in the school setting may help to reduce the burden of this foremost chronic childhood disease in Europe and the US.
A “MAGIC MOUTHWASH” in Gummy Bear form. Sure beats drilling and filling.
Stay tuned…….
Technorati Tags: Dentistry, Gummy Bears, Xylitol
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Posted by: Flap in Dentistry
Avril Lavigne - Girlfriend
There is a report out that singer Avril Lavigne is unhappy with her “Vampire Teeth.”
Avril Lavigne is set to have significant dental work because she is so self-conscious about her “fangs”.
The ‘Girlfriend’ singer - who is married to Sum 41 guitarist Deryck Whibley - is so worried about her pointy molars she is determined to have them corrected.
A source close to the singer told America’s Star magazine: “Avril hates her fangs. She is planning on having them filed down by a cosmetic dentist. It’s just something she has always been insecure about, especially since everyone is staring at her mouth when she sings.
Check out the photo above and her music video linked above (no, it is not a Rick Roll) and answer Flap truthfully.
Are Avril’s teeth that bad?
The answer is NO.
Please Avril don’t do what Hillary Duff did.
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Posted by: Flap in Dentistry
The above photo is not what Flap really had in mind but new studies have discovered the age old observations as to why animals lick their wounds.
A report by scientists from The Netherlands identifies a compound in human saliva that greatly speeds wound healing. This research may offer hope to people suffering from chronic wounds related to diabetes and other disorders, as well as traumatic injuries and burns. In addition, because the compounds can be mass produced, they have the potential to become as common as antibiotic creams and rubbing alcohol.
Specifically, scientists found that histatin, a small protein in saliva previously only believed to kill bacteria was responsible for the healing.
“This study not only answers the biological question of why animals lick their wounds,” said Gerald Weissmann, MD, Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal, “it also explains why wounds in the mouth, like those of a tooth extraction, heal much faster than comparable wounds of the skin and bone. It also directs us to begin looking at saliva as a source for new drugs.”
Now, comes the isolation process and the derviative drugs. Better living though licking.
Flap can hardly wait.
Technorati Tags: wound healing, dentistry, histatin
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Dentist Dr. Roy S. Shelburne, D.D.S. of Virginia
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