Free Dental Services: CDA Cares May 18-19, 2012 - Volunteer if you can!

Today I was reading an update article in our monthly news magazine from our California Dental Association (http://www.cda.org/) and there was one story that caught my eye that I want to share with you about a new event called CDA Cares
As I continue through my journey through dentistry I am learning more and more about legislation and public health issues, policies, and budgets. I truly feel that as the economy continues to fluctuate, and dental benefits, and budgets follow, the need and demand for education, public health and public service will continue to increase. With the loss of Denti-cal for under-served adults and the loss of many prevention programs for children, the need for ways to provide Californians oral care is great. And as dental professionals, with a program like CDA cares, it gives me hope that we are on the right track to meeting those needs.
On May 18 -May 19, 2012 in Modesto,  CDA and Mission of Mercy with a team of dental volunteers will put together an event that they hope will help thousands of under-served Californians with their dental needs.. .Hopefully one of MANY events that will provide FREE DENTAL SERVICES. According to the article most of the supplies will be donated or almost donated by many national dental manufacturers to make the event possible!! What I admired most was the emphasis on education & educating patients about oral health and options for continuation of dental care even after the two day event is over.
I was really excited to read about this event where the article states they hope to help over 1,000 people per day. There are many events like this all over (if you have heard of RAM - they had a health event at the Oakland, CA Coliseum April 2011 - hence the video). I have seen many and helped in many dental events - but after an event is over, we have helped these patients but we don't know when they'll be able to be taken care of again. Like fish in the sea, they are tossed back to fend for themselves, waiting for the next free event or being seen only on an emergency basis. I greatly admire and support this emphasis on education and helping patients find resources that will allow continued dental care is a HUGE step in the right direction. I help drug rehabilitation and homeless veterans, and volunteer at Give Kids a Smile day, I have helped in churches and soup kitchens. Giving to the community and underserved is something very important for me. And to have this kind of event, on such a large scale - as most Mission of Mercy events can be is very exciting in the dental world.
What I love about dentistry, and health professionals in general, is that generally we want to give and help others and educate them to take better care of themselves. Everyone wants to be successful in their life - but what are your measurements of success? Being good to your own family and cultivating and taking care of patients in your practice is a wonderful ability and measure of success. But also giving back, volunteering, being kind to others, helping to makethe lives of others better are successful things in my book.
More information will come on how you can help. If you are not in California, PLEASE look out for programs such as these. A WONDERFUL resource I found is: Free Dental Work http://freedentalwork.org. But if you can help for this dental event - as a dental assistant, as a hygienist, as a dentist, or technician - PLEASE mark your calendars and VOLUNTEER!!! I know I'm going to try and help!!! I am SO EXCITED about this!!!
image courtesy of: blog.sfgate.com

Pradaxa: Anti-Coagulants & Dentistry

Yesterday I had the pleasure of working on a very nice patient who also happened to be a physician! I was doing his examination & we started chatting and reviewing his medical history. He stated that he recently had been to Africa and unfortunately had become very sick and experienced: paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (abnormal rhythm of the heart) and was placed on a drug called: Pradaxa (generic name: dabigatran)
I learned two lessons today: 1) I was reminded how important it is for a medical history to be updated at each dental appointment, and 2) I met my first patient who was using Pradaxa (a new anticoagulant drug).
Now, I know that I am over-simplifying but if you have abnormal rhythm of the heart, the heart doesn't send blood out to your lungs and your organs efficiently and there are all kinds of problems that result from that - the most important being the increased risk of stroke (the 3rd leading cause of death & leading cause of disability - information courtesy of: Dr. Pullen - you can see his information here: http://drpullen.com/pradaxa)
But what I REALLY want to talk about from a dental standpoint is the medication treatment after being diagnosed with atrial fibrillation - which has always been an anticoagulant: either coumadin (aka: warfarin), IV administered HEPARIN, or ASPIRIN. But this patient was placed on PRADAXA.Why do I care as a dentist about anticoagulation drugs (such as warfarin/coumadin and now, Pradaxa)?
The reasons are many: to understand your comprehensive medical history, to expect more bleeding when a cleaning is performed, but MOST importantly because if I need to perform surgery or an extraction of a tooth, I need you to STOP bleeding after. If you can't clot because your blood is too thin, the extraction site is like an open wound that just keeps bleeding and can, if not caught, can lead to mortality. And that is DEFINITELY not something anyone wants.
I have seen Pradaxa commercials on television but I didn't know much about it. So of course, I looked up history and information of the drug. I am not a medical physician but here are a few things that I found:
-it was developed by the pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim.
- it was FDA approved October 2010 and approved to be put into effect February 2011 (so a relatively new drug - out less than a year)
- usually dosed to a patient at 150mg two times a day
- upon taking Pradaxa it is effective within a few hours of taking it vs. coumadin/warfarin where the dosage is a little tricky and you have to go in for tests all the time before you can get the dosage correct
- it supposedly has "fewer drug interactions" than warfarin
- as it is a new drug it is more costly & the long-term side effects are still not yet determined
Either way, from a dental standpoint it is important for me to be aware of this drug and put it on my "anti-coagulant radar" so that if I can be aware of any potential complications & plan your dental treatment accordingly. I am excited to hear that there is an easier alternative to coumadin - that can save lives and help in the prevention of stroke & further medical complications!
If I find out more I will let you know and keep you updated!! And if you see your dentist, please update him or her on your new medications. It could save your life!!!
image courtesy of: noprescriptioneeded.com

A "HOT" tooth - a not so hot experience

I'm sorry that today I have to share an experience that is NOT the most positive - but I CAN state that I learned MANY positive lessons today that I will share with you.
I have heard from many people that dental pain is on a pain scale all to its own. I hope and pray that I never have to experience it. You hear of people getting cuts and bruises, and spraining or breaking their ankle from sports injuries, even hip and knee replacements - which to me sound VERY painful. But it is my experience that there are people that would rather experience a broken ankle, or replace a hip joint, rather than experience dental pain. And today I vicariously lived through one of my patients who today was experiencing what we in the dental world non-scientifically term a "hot tooth". You ask: What is a "hot tooth"? Please read on...
You can find me, almost every Tuesday s at the VA Dental Clinic (veteran's affairs dental clinic) seeing patients and taking care of the homeless and drug rehabilitation patients. And today was no different and I was going through my day without significant incident. But then, this afternoon I took an emergency walk-in patient. As I passed the waiting room I could see a young man - his shoulders slouched, his head in his hands - very obviously uncomfortable. We brought him back and even before he sat down in the chair immediately he began moaning and said he was in SEVERE pain and had been off and on the past 3 weeks! Just as immediately he mentioned that he was a heroin addict - had been a user for many years and experienced a lot but NEVER in his life had he experienced this kind of pain.
I tried to remain calm - assured him that we would help him the best we could today and ordered an xray to be taken so we could see the problem. With just one look at the xray I knew the source of his pain was that one of his lower right molars had a HUGE cavity that had deteriorated to the nerve and had spread down below the bone. In short - we couldn't save the tooth and it would have to be extracted.
Now before presenting the options to the patient, I'd like to say that ALL the options would include giving him antibiotics and pain medication BUT in terms of actual treatment to get him out of pain today were: 1) administer local anesthetic to get the area numb and give him a little relief from the throbbing pain and give him a few days for the tooth to calm down and the bacteria to start to be flushed away 2) get him numb and do what is called a "pulpotomy" which is the first start to a root canal and relieve the pressure, still anticipating that the tooth would need to be removed, and 3) get him numb and extract the tooth.
But options 2 and 3 would be very difficult in this case and like MANY dental cases, this patient brought with him a little more complication.
WHY you ask? Why don't we just get him numb and get the tooth out?? Because there are many things to consider:
1) FIRST and MOST IMPORTANTLY this tooth is causing this patient SEVERE pain (on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the worst, this patient scaled his pain as 10) - meaning it is termed in the dental world as a "hot tooth". What do we mean by hot? Unfortunately it does not mean that it is attractive or sexy, but that it means that the bacteria have infiltrated the nerve so severely that it is causing a raging painful infection. When bacteria infiltrate and agitate the nerve so much, the environment changes to an ACIDIC pH environment. The ability for local anesthetic to work in an acidic environment is VERY difficult. The nerve fibers don't absorb the local anesthetic the same as if there were no infection - and therefore - the patient does NOT get numb as quickly, and sometimes doesn't get FULLY numb (which is why you hear people saying that they could feel everything) - and we DO NOT want that.
2) this patient has a history and current history of drug use and abuse. Most of these patients have a VERY high pain threshold and because of the recreational drugs (and sometimes even prescribed pain medication) many times these patients take MUCH longer to be affected by local anesthetic. Many times, the illness of recreational drug use prevents dental anesthesia to be as effective and the metabolism of anesthetics is different.
3) this patient exhibited dental phobia and was in severe pain - rationale and reasoning went out the window. Getting himself out of pain was his main objective. And when your sole objective is to get out of pain you are NOT making rational decisions, nor are you in control of your hands and motions.  Dental phobia, drug use, swearing and pain do NOT a great patient make. I understand completely that being in pain is not something ANY person would smile about - I'm just stating that if a person is normally afraid of the dentist WITHOUT an infection - imagine what they feel WITH an infection.
4) Lastly from a personal safety perspective - this patient was very strong, muscular, MUCH BIGGER than me, and had a history of drug abuse. While I'm quite strong, me standing next to this man, I could see myself swashed like a bug. Generally speaking (and I recognize that this is not always true) it is common to see many recreational drug abusers with many types of infectious diseases - some so severe as HIV and Hepatitis B and C (causing irreversible life changes and quality of life issues). Knowing that I would have to give an injection to a patient who was in severe pain with a sharp needle, inside his mouth, was NOT something I was jumping up and down to do. I COULD do it, but I didn't feel a 100% safe. And neither did my assistant. And listening to myself and safety is a top priority for me and for the future of my family. No matter the job - it is not worth the risk of doing a procedure if I don't feel safe.
So what did I do!?!
I did what any responsible clinician would do. I asked for help. Thankfully working at the VA I am surrounded by more experienced dentists that I can turn to for help. I asked one of my mentors, a staff dentist, to come in and help me. He agreed that antibiotics and pain medication were required. And agreed that the tooth was NOT saveable. But what he was able to do that I was not was that he was able to get the patient numb by giving him A LOT Of local anesthetic - to get the patient comfortable for a few hours until the antibiotics and the pain medication could enter his system and start fighting his infection.And he was going to see him tomorrow to get the tooth out. Because antibiotics and pain medication will only get a person so far, and then there is a possibility of the tooth getting reinfected again. He left, as happy as he could be in this situation, and MOST IMPORTANTLY: OUT OF PAIN.
I learned a LOT from this situation. There was the part of me was very disappointed that I could not do that myself - that my reservations and concerns based on my past experiences with "hot teeth" and knowing his medical history prevented me from going in and just giving him an injection to get him out of pain. BUT, I learned that listening to myself regarding saftey is not a weakness. I learned that asking for help is the responsible thing to do when I need it. I learned that I felt safer that who came to my aid in this situation was a STRONG CALM MALE (not necessarily that it has to be male but a dentist with a lot of dental experience) due to my concerns of SAFETY. And I learned that while I knew what the best plan of action was when a patient is experiencing a "hot tooth" that I shouldn't second guess myself about what to do. Next time I feel that I will know exactly what to do the next time a "hot tooth" and I cross paths...
Hopefully it will not be anytime soon.
image courtesy of: clipart.com

Deep Sea Diving & Dentistry- Connected??

This past weekend my brother told me of this diver earlier in July who was almost swallowed by the whale shark seen above. Immediately I googled the story and saw this CRAZY picture you see here - http://newsinabox.net/1721/whale-shark-photographed-when-almost-swallowed-a-man.html
Just as immediately, the dentist in me began to think of diving and related this story to MY work experience with diving. Who would have thought that dentistry and deep sea diving would be connected? While NO ONE in the world would want to be that young diver in the picture above - I learned this past week firsthand how divers and dentistry can be connected…
The other day I had a very nice patient come to our office with pain in his upper left jaw. He saw the hygienist for a cleaning and then I was asked to come in and evaluate the area and see what was happening. Even before seeing the patient my immediate assumption after hearing from the hygienist that he had a jaw problem was that he possibly had an infection, possibly had tension in his jaw due to trauma, or what was at the top of my list: that he had been clenching and grinding creating jaw pain. Nowadays I am more and more aware of wear on people's teeth from clenching and grinding ESPECIALLY in today's economy with no economic relief in sight and the need for a guard to help protect their teeth.
When I went in to check, it was not as I had suspected. He was healthy as a clam, no medications, and missing his upper left teeth – no clenching and grinding there! Then out of the blue he mentioned that he deep sea dived two weeks ago and he started noticing it getting worse after that. After he said that, it was as if a LIGHT BULB had gone on. AHA!!!!! Why?
Because deep sea diving = pretty extreme pressure changes! You’ve seen the movie The Abyss? Diving Pressure - yes! Human deep sea bottom dwellers - NO! As the diagnosis light bulb grew brighter in my head he said he remembered that when he had his tooth removed over four years ago that there had been a large hole in his sinus because the roots were very long and went right into his sinus cavity! Everything had healed but they had told him that he had a huge hole there after the extraction and they had packed it well and checked on him a few times after.
I had found my answer: his deep sea diving (and probably his flight home) had caused such extreme pressure changes that it had not allowed a complete equilibration of pressure in his sinuses. This increased pressure led to sinus inflammation and increased pressure in his gums! This even probably irritated the extraction site where there had once been a hole!
Now, for you (and for us dentists) it is GREAT to note that most of these communications will heal just fine on their own as long as the dentist/surgeon treats it appropriately (I will share more on this at another time). So why have pain NOW - years later after his extraction?
Perhaps he dove too deep and didn’t let everything equilibrate as slowly as he could. Perhaps he has allergies which cause inflammation of the sinus cavity – and that combined with the deep sea pressure and then the abrupt change in altitude with flying – all in combination irritated his sinuses. As you can see, while there is no ONE reason for this - there are MANY things to consider.
To help answer this: as a background - when you have teeth extracted in the upper left or upper right, towards your premolars and first molars sometimes the roots of those teeth can be VERY close, touching, or even EMBEDDED in your sinus cavity covered by a very VERY thin membrane. If this membrane is pierced or torn it exposes the sinus air cavities - allowing food, smoke, bacteria etc. a passage into your sinuses and drain into your nose and nasal passages leading to nasal inflammation, pain, and infection. NO ONE wants dinner from last night affecting their breathing. Yuck.
If this communication occurs it is called in the dental world: an oral-antral communication (aka: OAC)  – a serious word that basically means a connection between your mouth and sinus cavity and it must be treated accordingly If it isn’t treated  then an “oral-antral FISTULA” can be formed – a "tunnel" that is a PERMANENT link between the sinus and your mouth! If this occurs unfortunately the only option is surgery to close this link.
As I had said, most of these OAC’s heal just fine on their own. BUT like a scar on your skin, this area is weakened. So when you do various activities that involve changes in pressure or altitude (like flying or in this case deep sea diving AND flying), the sinuses CAN be affected! It is possible that he was only having pain on the left side of his jaw because that is the only area where his sinus had been perforated – weakening that area. Additionally if you have infection or sinusitis (inflammation) from sinus infections, this pressure can sometimes cause pain.
Lastly, something to consider is that after an extraction, most of us want to replace the tooth we are removing. It is important to know ahead of time, before the extraction, that the sinus cavities can expand and descend (a process called pneumatization) – sometimes descending too close to your bone and gums. This can make it very difficult to replace that tooth with an implant (or at least make the process of replacement MUCH longer and more involved than if you plan ahead of time). So PLAN AHEAD!
So what was I reminded from this experience?
1)      Never jump to conclusions before you start a diagnosis (I had thought he was clenching and grinding when in fact he didn’t even have teeth in the area he was having pain)
2)      Oral-antral communications can after an extraction and have long-term effects
3)      Sinus inflammation & changes in sinus pressure can cause pain and even mimic tooth pain
4)      Most importantly – I was reminded to ask medical history and listen when the patient tells you a background of the pain they are experiencing - such as if something happens AFTER an event. If this patient hadn’t told me that he had taken a recent trip and deep sea dived, I never would have considered that to be a connection to his pain and never been able to help him with his diagnosis
5)      Lastly, I realized that patient’s life activities affect their teeth and oral cavity in ways I hadn’t imagined. I truly would LOVE to try deep sea diving sometime, and if I do - EQUILIBRATE!!!
image courtesy of: pichaus.com

A dentist is cleaning your teeth??? Yes it's me!!!

Today I had a busy schedule - I was doing fillings, and crowns, and seating crowns, and finishing cases, while our hygienist also had a full schedule filled with exams and probings and xrays. It was a GREAT day. BUT I also had two appointments where I needed to do the works myself: the cleaning, the updated films, and the cleanings.
I'm not complaining about my day at all - but as I was performing the cleanings, each patient asked me "Aren't you the dentist? How come you are doing my cleanings?" My answer to this question was that "Yes I am a dentist, but I enjoy doing cleanings because I get a more comprehensive picture of you and I am able to spend more time with you." And these are very TRUE statements! But as of late I have been reflecting more and more on doing cleanings for patients and feel that, as with everything, there are pros and cons to a dentist doing cleanings.I have decided that there is a catch 22 with doing cleanings as a dentist.
Let me start with the positive because the advantages of a dentist performing your cleaning are many. When I'm doing a cleaning I am able to look around, get a sense of the patient's home care, feel cavities, discuss their hygiene, see excessive bleeding and inflammation, see where their body language shows that they are having pain in a certain area when I work there. Little innuendos that I cannot see when I pop in with my white coat, white coat syndrome makes the eyes go blank, and are often sadly lost! I am able to obtain a "whole picture" of the patient from start to finish of the appointment instead of popping in for an exam, seeing teeth already cleaned by the hygienist and they are anxious and ready to leave. Also, if a hygienist did the cleaning, the majority of the interpersonal contact has already been done with the hygienist - all the energy and rapport has been spent with someone else. I become the mean dentist that comes in to check and give them the news - thumbs up, or worse, the bad news about any cavities. So when I am able to do the cleanings myself the TIME with the patient, the interpersonal contact and the face-to-face time I spend with them is invaluable. If they need me for an emergency in the future, they can put a face to my voice or if they have enjoyed our previous interactions, they know and trust I am helping them - certainly trust me more than if they didn't know me at all!.
Now to the cons (the less positive) - while I enjoy cleaning teeth the fact remains that I AM a dentist and my time is more productive and better spent doing dentistry. Additionally I personally would like to be honing my dental craft and doing what I studied - crowns and fillings and bridges, and more complex cases. As an associate dentist I do a lot more cleanings than I would like - not again that I don't like doing them, but I would PREFER to be doing something else - challenging myself as a dentist and learning something new in the process. In the end I could do a darn good cleaning for you - but what about the rest because if I never get to do dentistry, I won't be able to learn and won't be able to tackle the more complex cases and won't have the experience to help a patient in need - because I've been busy doing cleanings.
For now, I am content in that I am able to have a happy medium where currently as an associate I get the best of both worlds - in that I am able to do cleanings and spend time with the patients, and I am still able to do the dental side of things and learn (like today). In the end I am able to embrace and enjoy and have a nice mixture of treatment in the day (hopefully I will do more treatment than cleanings in the future, but patience is my virtue!!!)
image courtesy of: funnyordie.com

Dentists - each a "Dr. Gregory House" of the dental world

 

I LOVE the show House on USA- I'm sure you've seen it. I saw the first entire season in two days on DVD the first time I saw it. You see Dr. Gregory House, a brilliant yet poor bed-side-manner doctor, with his team of doctors be presented with a very unique case and they are trying to figure out exactly what the patient has, usually life threatening. If you notice, they go through many different diagnoses before finally reaching the correct one. Well, tonight, I truly related that to dentistry and oral lesions!! We each are like the "Dr. Gregory House" in the dental world (most of us are MUCH nicer with excellent chairside manner) but we are similar in that we are trying to help you find out exactly what you have so we can treat it appropriately.

Tonight we had a Dental Society meeting and we had the pleasure of having an excellent speaker. He was an oral pathologist from the University of the Pacific and he gave a presentation about common oral lesions -signs, symptoms, diagnosis and the recommended treatment.His presentation was wonderful - replete with pictures (I am a visual learner) and examples of the various lesions and he had all of us give suggestions of what we thought those lesions were.
While many of the lesions he discussed were familiar - many a review of my dental school oral pathology class - one thing that I was reminded of is that many times patients come in with an oral lesion and many of the lesions look VERY SIMILAR to each other - meaning the diagnosis could be a NUMBER of things. When we ask you to open your mouth and we look around -we are looking for all lesions - from the most benign lesions to the most severe lesions (oral cancer - please see my "let us pull your tongue" dental post http://www.adentalperspective.com/2011/08/25/youre-pulling-my-leg-er-tongue/).
Burn lesions can resemble herpes lesions. Herpes lesions can look like Shingles (chicken pox re-manifestation). The little white and red patches on your tongue can be benign geographic tongue (which is a variation of normal) or a fungal infection (candida) or possibly even premalignant/precancerous lichen planus. The most severe traumatic lesions can even look like oral cancer!! Inflamed gums and pregnancy gingivitis can be mistaken for "desquamative gingivitis". Sometimes lesions on the skin can also be seen in the mouth and it means a more serious medical condition - such as target lesions (sometimes called erythema multiforme)
As general dentists we will do the best we can when you present with a lesion (or lesions) - step one is even recognizing that you have the lesion and start the diagnosis process and prescribe the best medication we feel is best. If the lesion remains or looks very suspicious we can send you to our colleagues (oral surgeons and oral pathologists) and they can continue to help you to perform evaluations and at the most severe - biopsy or surgically remove a lesion if it isn't eliminated. This is not done to scare you - it is done to help you and prevention and recognizing a lesion is the best first step.
In the end, I am reminded again that the oral cavity is the gateway to the rest of the body. Oral lesions can show systemic conditions - and sometimes are the first signs of an overlying and more severe systemic health issue. I will continue to educate myself - hopefully through such informative lectures like the one tonight, and hopefully be better able to recognize a suspicious lesion first so we can address it as soon as possible. It's 9.999 times out of 10 that it is nothing serious! But it's the other small percentage that is important!! Each of us are the "Dr. Gregory House" of the dental world - one oral lesion, one differential diagnosis at a time until we will get it right!!!

Some Free Samples from Proctor & Gamble

Proctor & Gamble is an amazing company with an even more amazing dental presence. What person hasn't heard of CREST, or whitestrips, or ProHealth mouthwash. They dabble in it all - from toothpaste to Tide. What is even more neat is that they are allowing many of their customers to try out a few of their products - they have a section where you can sign up for coupons and specials and even get free samples!!!
Right now I've had so many people come and ask for bleaching - but for those of you who want to try OTC first, right now you can sign up by going to their website link http://www.pgeverydaysolutions.com/pgeds/pg-brandsaver-samples-coupons.jsp and after signing up you get a cornucopia of fun items - not just dental - but the P&G Brand Sampler includes:
- FREE sample of Crest 3D White Whitestrips & FREE sample of Crest 3D White Vivid & a FREE sample of Head & Shoulders shampoo & FREE sample of Prilosec OTC!
Save, promote oral and physical health, and sample!!! That's a win for me!!!!

Life Continues...And I call it good

Yesterday I had the pleasure of going to two weddings - one for one of the office dental assistants who married her childhood sweetheart and the other for a previous friend/ co-resident from my general practice residency. Today I had the pleasure of seeing two friends from college - and we spent the day together, chatting as if the 10-12 years ago was just yesterday, and all the life in between didn't happen. But it did - we are different people, and all our life experiences have happened - but we are still, in our core, the same.
Today being 9.11.11, reflecting on what happened a decade ago with the twin towers in beloved NYC and the Pentagon, and all the lives tragically lost, it makes me realize more and more that our lives are a blink of an eye. It was truly an honor to be included in another person's significant life event (like a wedding or a child's birth). I've known a few of the people from the wedding from over 8 years and my co-residents for almost 5 years. Over that time period so many things have changed - people have gotten engaged or married, some have had children, I met my husband and got engaged/now married, houses have been purchased, jobs have changed...life is truly going by - faster and faster.
It also placed it in perspective that no matter what I decide to do professionally in my dental career future that I need to appreciate the NOW and be thankful that I am blessed to have my husband, my family, my friends - even while we hope and pray for the best in the future.
Life continues...and I call it good.

Fact: many dental working women have moments of a little “Ponytail” envy

I found out last night that it is not only me, but many working women (women dentists) have what I will call – Ponytail envy. You ask – what is Ponytail envy? Read on…
I recently had the honor of being invited to be a part of an all women dental study group and last night was our FIRST meeting!!! We had the opportunity to bring a lot of women from all different areas together, make introductions and histories, and set the groundwork of what we wanted out of our study group and future meetings, topic, venues, etc. I was so happy to be included and it was really an eye opening, really FUN yet mind-tiring evening for me – for many reasons. Just to share a few…(I can’t share everything with you – the table was “like Vegas – no names, what said there will stay there” but I can share what I learned from the evening…)

First was that I was the YOUNGEST (strike one) and ONLY female dental ASSOCIATE (strike two) except for one other lady who has been an associate for 20 years – all of the other women owned their own practices!!! There were women of all ages, of various specialties, but all had very similar experiences as business owners – a realm that I know VERY little about. I realized that as a new dentist, for me, the topics of interest for me – like business management and how to evaluate staff issues and employment law, are hurdles that these ladies have already jumped through. But the key was that they are STILL dealing with those issues today – even after years of practicing. It is a constant learning process – (I knew that but to see it in front of me was amazing).positive & negative…and I’d rather learn from the negative vicariously.

Second that as I have thought in the past, other females share the philosophy that the male “style” of practicing dentistry is very different.  Not that we are discriminating or sexist – it is just fact – that women are different than men. How we approach things, generally, are different also! It isn’t any different in dentistry. We laughed because as empathetic females we are empathizing with our patients about their deep cavities and apologize that they need to have a root canal and a crown, instead of the very matter-of-fact male statement – “you have a cavity. You need a root canal and you need a crown and that will be over $3000. Now I know I am generalizing, but we ALL laughed because we ALL do that with our patients! As if it is OUR fault that they have a deep cavity or bleeding gums.

Third- not that I didn’t know this before, but I was so proud of these working female dentists. These lades WORK HARD – some confessed they hadn’t taken a vacation in a LONG time – due to time constraints, health issues, business constraints – boundaries that are often self-enforced. They COULD take a vacation, but many choose not to – letting the patients, finances, production & work schedule and schedules months in advance dictate what can and cannot be done.

My 4th shared lesson and to discuss the title of my entry -is that working ladies around me (ME INCLUDED) have a small amount of PONYTAIL ENVY. All of us career ladies work very hard- we LOVE dentistry and what we do for patients or else we wouldn’t do it. We also want to learn and try to master a craft while at the same time contribute to our families. There are many ladies out there that make the choice of staying home – whether it be with their children, or family preference. And that is wonderful. We understand that we choose to work as much and as hard as we do – probably at the sacrifice of many other facets of life. But we still love and do it. BUT on days that are particularly hard or difficult for us – or we are sick or tired, we wish we could be one of those lucky women that goes on morning walks with their baby stroller, in their beautifully fit tiny clothes on equally tiny bodies, not worry about disability insurance, patient cavities…ponytails swinging – hence the waxes and wanes of PONYTAIL ENVY. It isn’t really envy – but a lifestyle we haven’t embraced and it is very much a “grass is greener” approach in our minds.

I think that my last lesson I want to share is one of the most important. I think that I knew this lesson before – but it was verified further last night. The lesson was that these ladies stressed the importance of PRIORITIES IN LIFE- meaning that work is work and they make that a huge (sometimes overpowering) priority in their lives – but LIFE BALANCE & FAMILY& QUALITY TIME is what really matters. Because if something happens to us, our health, our practice, or anything else work related – patients, their problems, their cavities – they would all continue without us just fine – and all the little stresses that add up – in the end don’t mean that much to anyone, but US.

I can’t wait to go to our next meeting!!! We are trying to think of a name – what do you think of “Chicks with Burs” – too chicky??

image courtesy of: mylilventure.com

Never judge a tooth by it’s xray

I don’t know if this has happened to you – but until 3:30 PM today my day had been – for the most part – wonderful and smooth. After a holiday weekend it is hard to return to work but you get back into the groove of work very quickly. Flux of patients in… treatment… patients out and thankfully smiling all throughout. It was, so far, a great day. Then, imagine it – the last patient of the day – an emergency walk-in. I had been efficient throughout the day, writing notes, reviewing charts – not just because I wanted to but I had to return to the bay area (a drive over 90 minutes for an evening meeting) and I needed to “make like a tree and leave.”
So after examination, appropriate xrays, and evaluation – it was decided that the lower right tooth was broken below the gumline and bone) and it was to be extracted. Consent was achieved, BP and no blood thinners or allergies, and we proceeded with the extraction.

I have done a few thousand extractions – from full mouth to root tips and I’ve only had three teeth that were truly circumferentially ANKYLOSED – meaning FUSED WITH THE BONE ALL the way around the root. And today, I had the joy of meeting another.

Xrays tell us SO much information in the dental world - it is one more diagnostic tool that helps us in our profession. But today, I was reminded again, that while xrays tell us a lot, they do NOT tell us everything...sorry Superman with your xray vision. On the film the tooth looked thin and the extraction straightforward. But as I started to try to move the tooth, it was breaking and breaking and coming out in pieces -it was SO BRITTLE!!! I was ready to put a stick of dynamite in there but that would have had other repercussions right?

Thankfully, in the end we eventually got all the tooth out – drilling it into little pieces, but I had forgotten, given all the straightforward extractions I had, to never judge a tooth by its x-ray.

image courtesy of: pmsoden.com

FeatureMeDental – The Story behind the Masks

Welcome FeatureMeDental- the newest part of A Dental Perspective!!!

What is FeatureMeDental?
We all go to our dentist (hopefully at least twice a year) but we often don’t know the personal and wonderful stories and lives behind the masks – the life, the struggle, the satisfaction, the sacrifices, the amazing timing, and the lessons to be learned from those in the dental profession and their successes.
I would love to start ANOTHER dental website but monitoring two websites already takes A LOT of TIME (and my husband would probably go crazy from not seeing me because I”m working on websites all the time). So if you can add time to the clock or until I can save a little more to start ANOTHER site, FeatureMeDental is going to feature dental professionals, interviews, and their stories. Currently I am in the SF bay area but this will feature dental professionals and interviews from all over!!! It is the HISTORY behind the dental professionals and their stories I’m sharing with you!!!

Why FeatureMeDental?
I keep hearing on the news and on the radio about how small businesses will keep our economy from even further crisis. How? By creating jobs, creating employment, helping our local economy thrive by creating products and services that everyone needs! I am in the health field and not many people think of dentistry as a small business – but it IS! Eventually I would love to be a small business owner myself and want to learn all I can from others who have gone before me and actually DONE it before I throw my hand into the fray! And, I love to write and share other people’s stories…and other people’s lives.

So without further adieu – I present – FeatureMeDental. Can’t wait to share my interviews with you and get started!!!

It is a Small World Afterall!

Yesterday I was reminded again on how small a world we live in and how we are all more connected than we realize – ESPECIALLY here in the dental field!!!

I happened to see a little garage sale that one of our neighbors was having on my way home yesterday. We’ve been looking for a mirror and I saw a beautiful wooden framed mirror with elegant detail that caught my eye in passing! So I turned around, parked, and walked over. I bought the lovely mirror for $25 and also acquired a lovely handmade pottery lamp! I don’t usually speak very much to vendors about personal matters but she helped me take the mirror over to my car and we started a brief conversation. She said that she recently moved to San Francisco from Berkeley. One of the offices that I work at is in Berkeley – so I mentioned that I worked there and had done my undergraduate studies there also! I asked her what she was doing in San Francisco and she stated that she was going to graduate school. Then she asked me what I did, and I mentioned that I was a dentist! She looked at me in surprise and said that she is going to be starting dental school this year!!! Then she said that she also went to school in Berkeley. Before I left she mentioned that she needed help collecting extracted teeth for school and I offered to help her and gave her my email and she will be dropping off a jar of bleach at one of my offices.

After this brief exchange, as I drove home with my mirror and lamp contraband, I reflected on this coincidence and wondered what exactly had led us to talk about our shared profession and share a bit of our lives –each with an almost complete stranger. I don’t usually ask people why they are moving, or think to believe they would tell me. I don’t usually stop at random garage sales let alone go out of my way to turn around and return. I was surprised again, pleasantly so, at how we are all connected in the world – especially dental world.

The lesson I’ve learned is that we are often surprisingly rewarded by extending ourselves to others and also that it just goes to show that we should be nice to EVERYONE that we can because you might see them again in the future – in the more immediate future than you think!!! I’ll probably see this young lady at dental meetings or our paths might cross again in the future!

It’s a small world…afterall!!

Dentistry, Helping Hands, and Me: the person behind the mask

When I go to the office each day, there are so many things that I enjoy. I enjoy the ability to work, most of the people I work with, the craft and potential for growth as I learn to be a better practitioner and help eliminate pain. And I enjoy educating people about dental health and making them smile. But I was reflecting today and one of the things that I realize I enjoy most is that for a few hours a day, I don’t think about myself and my problems and personal issues. Instead, I put myself aside, put on my coat, put on my loupes, put on my mask and gloves, and focus on helping others – addressing the tasks at hand, addressing SOMEONE ELSE’S needs. I am able to learn about others and connect with them. I get a glimpse and am included in the lives of others.

I know that I am very blessed and have a lot of fun and excitement in my life. But just like everyone I am dealing with some personal issues– crossroads regarding work, crossroads regarding family, trying to think of future professional plans while still thinking of personal plans and issues, health, my aging parents, my own desire for family, mortgage, bills, student loans, etc. But when I’m at work I realize that how I deal with my own complex and perplexing situations is to not think about them so much and focus on other people. While reflection (and self-reflection) is very important to our ability to learn from situations– I feel that sometimes we take too long to think about ourselves and our worries (current, future, or past situations). It can become a vicious cycle and skewed memories of events that don’t even matter anymore. As we become involved in our own fun, exciting, and complicated lives – worrying about the future, worrying about a bills, worrying about family matters, anything – it is easy to spiral and get lost in your own concerns.

But when I come to work – problems are presented to me that I feel that I can solve or learn from and help solve and REALLY help someone else. It is inevitable that patients share their current life issues when you spend time with them – and I see that everyone is going through their own personal experiences trying to survive, like me, this wonderful and complex situation called LIFE. Even with personal matters on my mind, the smiles and encouragement and help and assistance I give to my patients each day is genuine and out of genuine caring for them and the end result of their improved dental and overall health. And even, if I make them smile for a moment, their mental health…and mine.

I read an article from 2010 after writing my above post today and it talked about how helping others improves mental health (http://www.momlogic.com/2010/01/how_helping_others_improves_me.php) and this holds true probably for many in the medical, dental, health, and public service professions.

And then, I come home tired from work and tired from talking and sharing myself with others, but at the same time I am REFRESHED & REJUVENATED. I have a refreshed, different opinion, perspective of life and appreciation for the important things– family, love, happiness… and all in partly because I am happy that I helped that scheduled list of patients and people during the day. I come home, make and eat dinner and share myself with my friends on the phone, or husband while eating dinner, and realize that perhaps the problems I might have now will settle and resolve, and I SMILE and look forward to the next day of scheduled patients that I can help.

image courtesy of: www.momlogic.com

Disability Insurance and Irks from the Dentist chair

I had a meeting last week with my disability insurance agent and was admittedly a little disgruntled after my meeting – not only by the fees but also by the WORDING of disability policies. Why hasn’t anyone before fought these insurance companies on their POOR policies!? I pray SO much that nothing happens to me where I need to access by disability policy and yet monthly, I still pay without fail my premium.


As a young woman in my 30s and having an overactive thyroid (a chronic autoimmune problem that has been a part of me since I was almost 23 years old) my disability policy is about $118 per month with dividends that reduce that by a little – but it is STILL a significant expense through the month. My chronic health issue that was more genetically linked than anything I have done has caused me significant concern in my life all by itself- in the fact I have it, medications, side effects, etc. That it is in underwriting as a rider on my disability insurance is a HUGELY annoying and irksome side effect that I cannot ignore and that I cannot forget every time my back feels a little sore or my thumb hurts a little bit after a full mouth extraction case!!!

As a dentist, it is a catch 22. If you don’t have disability you don’t have the option of having aid. You have disability, you pay out the nose and every little thing from the broken toe as a 3 month old to now comes into effect. As a female dentist, I am at a catch 23 (if there ever was a thing). Disability doesn’t include maternity leave – not even as a partial disability when you can’t work because your stomach is preventing you from moving and everything is swelling. As an independent contractor, I am at a catch 24 (again I am making it up), as I do not have workman’s compensation. Disability is all on me. And The wording in my disability policies regarding my inability to be paid if I ever REALLY NEED disability, unless I am a vegetable (which I hope to God I never have to even think about), really makes me LIVID!!!

I have two different policies with two different companies- but what about the wording policies look like regarding % disability (what makes me 18% disabled vs. 19% vs 20%) and how is that even measured??? Why is one policy significantly less but pays more – is the wording of the policy going to make it impossible for me to get access to disability? So what am I paying for?!?! And why do I still need to keep adding more and more money to a policy that I don’t even know I’ll get access to.
Insurance is something we all have JUST IN CASE – but we ALL pray we don’t ever have to need it. But, in my humble opinion, if we need it, we should be able to get it – without games, without headache. Insurance claims, health or otherwise, and the companies are formidably known for denying claims and people are FIGHTING for payment. In health cases, I strongly believe that this shouldn’t be so. If you are disabled and you have to fight not only for your life, family and livelihood AND have to fight the insurance company just on semantics bothers me IMMENSELY.

So…I guess I am VERY passionate about this. But my question is – what do we do??? What about legislation? What about dentist and people’s rights? I know that some people abuse the system but that is NOT everyone by any means. Do I continue to pay my disability insurance monthly and pray I don’t have to use it, and say YAY and HOORAY because I pay something and get nothing!!!?? Or do I not have disability insurance, and get screwed because I don’t even have the option of having assistance?

I always try to be positive – but so far all the alternatives sound, all around, questionable. HELP!

image courtesy of: sagacheapinsurance.com

Invaluable Mentorship, Friendship, and Life Coach

Mentorship used to be how many in society taught the next generation a trade or a skill – and mentors were respected and PAID for their assistance and advice. I have been very fortunate in my life to have a friend and mentor who I greatly respect, but who didn’t sign up to be a mentor and wasn’t paid for all his help.
In all areas and arenas of life I feel very lucky, blessed, and grateful to be where I am. As we all move forward in this journey of life, appreciation is not, and should not, be far behind. While I know that I worked very hard (and will continue to), I am also very aware that I would not be where I am today if it weren’t for the advice and help of many people along the way. For everyone, I’m sure this statement holds true. Included in that list of people are my family and friends and a few mentors. And it is one specific friend and mentor in the dental field that I want to post about today.
I met Dr. C – my friend and mentor over 12 years ago when I was just a fledgling college student looking for a job and more exposure to the world of dentistry. I applied for a job helping in the front office of Dr. C – an established periodontist in the community that worked very close to my college university. I helped out a few days a week in the office – with insurance and scheduling and office management – allowing me a taste of the front office world of dentistry. And I worked there for a year after college while I applied for dental school. Little did I know then that this job and the people that I met there, and relationships I made, would be some of the most influential in my life.
When I reflect back on the many years that have gone by and his involvement in my life development I can truly say that not only is Dr. C a friend and mentor, but has been a life-coach as well. Dr. C was my employer and knew that I wanted to go to dental school. He was one of the people to review and even edit in RED pen some of my personal statement for my dental application!!! He encouraged me to apply outside of California for dental school thus encouraging me to go to school on the east coast (something I wouldn’t really have considered if not for him). When I received an interview for entrance into dental school he coached me on interviewing skills and the interview process. When I went to the east coast for my studies and we still kept in touch – over holidays and emails. His previous office manager is like a second mom to me – and recently helped me with all my wedding flowers and arrangements. When I wanted to return to California for residency, he offered and applied to help teach the specialty of periodontics to me and my co-residents during our year of study! If that wasn’t enough he even helped me find one of my current jobs, in a time when the economy is so terrible.  I mentioned both him and his previous office manager in my June 2011 wedding speech- they have been THAT influential in my life. I’m exhausted just LOOKING at all he has been involved in. I have called him many times and we have spoken at length about jobs and work and I even called him TODAY to ask him about a possible job opportunity and situation. I realize that next to the opinions of my family and a few friends, his thoughts and opinions are ones that I highly value.
In turn, I have also been rewarded by not only his advice and friendship but also seen his life progress as well. During the course of knowing him, he met and married a beautiful and smart woman, bought a lovely home, has two wonderful boys who are amazing bright and growing SO fast, and seen him and his practice continue to be a success and leader in the community. As my own life becomes more and more complicated and the days become more and more busy, I reflect and realize that he didn’t have to help me or do all these things. He has a life and family of his own and a busy schedule and patients and bills and his OWN life to deal with and figure out, let alone mine. And it makes me all the more in awe and appreciative.
So this post is in honor of my mentor and friend and life-coach Dr. C. It is also in honor of mentorship – and appreciation – and how by having a mentor it makes me not only grateful but also happy and willing and hopeful that I can have even the smallest kind of influence on someone or others as he has for me.
Do you have a mentor or friend that has influenced your life? I would love to hear your story!
image courtesy of: primarygoals.org

Making Dentistry Fun – finally a responsible Dental Contest!!

It is Sunday – one of my favorite days of the week. Hard because I know the work week is fast approaching, but wonderful because it is STILL the weekend!!! So, I thought I would have a fun post (like you have the comic sections (aka: the funnies)) on Sundays.


I was looking around and realized that there aren’t many dental giveaways (not like clothing giveaways, bridal giveaways or makeup giveaways or contests). As a dental professional if I buy from a company a COSTCO sized bulk amount of toothbrushes, toothpaste, and sample floss then I am able to get some little extra goodies included. But this doesn’t apply to the wonderful mass public and social media– hence not promoting the fun side of dentistry! So, I found a website that is having a dental contest and wanted to share!! I think we’ve all heard of the Ultimate Makeover and I am very aware of that dentistry is no small expense. SO for one lucky person who needs dental work this contest might be the one for YOU!!!
Dear Doctor (Dentistry & Oral Health) www.deardoctor.com is having a SMILE MAKEOVER CONTEST!

How do you enter? You go to http://www.deardoctor.com/makeover/ and you can fill out your online registration form. You can enter every day, once a day. Contest ends September 30, 2011. I appreciated that they said that if you need a complete and total smile makeover then they would help you, but if you win and need only certain aspects of dentistry addressed (including braces, gum health evaluation, implants, etc) then they would address those needs and not force you to have a complete and total makeover. That is responsible, professional, and FUN. The website also has great articles in their magazine about dentistry, current events, and an area you can ask dental questions. So check it out!

Good luck and Happy Sunday to you all!

Image courtesy of: libertyhilldental.com

Starting-A-Business Side of Dentistry…Um…Wow

A girlfriend of mine in the state of New York is in the process of acquiring a practice and we were discussing her current situation today in her long and tedious yet EXCITING process of dental practice acquisition. After hearing about the army of people she has at her disposable – her accountant, her lawyer, brokers, fees, etc I was admittedly very overwhelmed and started to try and find out information (for my own future knowledge) about what I would need to do here in California before I considered working on my own or if I ever buy a practice, etc. So I started to do some research into the great unknown for me – the BUSINESS side of dentistry. In this case – we’ll just start with the STARTING-A-BUSINESS side of dentistry even before we delve into the rest. And let me just say…WOW.


According to a poll I saw in the ADA News (August 1, 2011 volume) in 2009 the most common type of employment among private practitioners was SOLE PROPRIETORS over 60%.) I am an independent contractor in one office, and an employee in another. Independent contractors apparently made up 3.6% of those in private practice in 2009, while an employee status was 10.5%!!!! We are in a very volatile and risky time in the economy – unemployment is extremely high, jobs are scarce – but it also seems that there are just as many businesses thriving. So what do you do?

There is SO much information out there and legal terminology. And so many questions arose while I was JUST STARTING my research.  What is the first step that you have to do? Sole proprietorship vs Corporation. What is the difference between an S corporation or a C corporation and LLC? What about the Professional Corporation title? What are the repercussions tax-wise and long-term financially for me? What about liability?
In my limited research today- so far I have found that if I wanted to start the process today being in California I cannot form a LLC as a dentist (a professional practitioner). So that option would be out. Being a sole proprietor (while doable) is not advised as it doesn’t provide as much of a safety net liability-wise for your business OR your family (we want to keep our home right???). So an S corp or a C corp are the options left being a professional dentist that requires a LICENSE to practice I would be required to have a Professional Corporation. I have to choose a name (not similar to any other), see if it is even available and reserve it if it is available, and then I would have to file an article of incorporation with the state tax board. This might seem easy enough to do and you just pay the fees associated with it – but what about the repercussions of choosing this??? This is just the BEGINNING…

One website Ehow  (www.ehow.com) shows how to form a professional corporation in California http://www.ehow.com/how_6706460_form-california-professional-corporation.html . They also share some tax benefits a professional corporation has. http://www.ehow.com/about_6454661_professional-corporation-tax-advantages.html

If you are in California you can refer to this document for further application for a professional corporation – http://www.sos.ca.gov/business/corp/pdf/articles/corp_artsprof.pdf

I am just starting my journey to find out more – but I’m already admittedly quite overwhelmed. I know that in this case: knowledge DEFINITELY is power. No blind-sides here!!! Patience, advice from others who are well versed in these terms (CPAs knowledgeable in dentist needs, lawyers, other dentists who have gone before) will serve all of us new dentists well in this endeavor should it be in our future!

Image courtesy of superstock.co.uk

Free Storage Options – for your own virtual cloud

I was speaking to one of my very tech-savvy employers today and I told him about my last post regarding my last almost crisis with loss of information and how it helped me realize the need to always backup all your information, your work, pictures, documents…everything that is important to you. From previous work done before (for documentation and history) to the equally precious immediate work that consumes your more recent hours, days, and thoughts.


I told you yesterday that I was going to go out to Fry’s Electronics to buy a backup hard drive. But today I learned of a virtual cloud program called Dropbox (their website: www.dropbox.com). He saves work files to it so he can access patient files from home. He is able to have a safe place to backup patient charts, safety and documentation.

After finding out about it I did a lot of research and found this website: http://techsplurge.com/910/top-5-free-cloud-storage-options/ that discusses the TOP 5 free cloud storage options and I wanted to share this information with you!!! All of the different cloud options have the ability to expand their storage amounts for a fee – but you have to start somewhere right? Included in the article is SugarSync (which is fantastic because you can sync it through your mobile phones, ipads, everything, in addition to your computer). Also, GoogleDocs (only 1 GB free), MemoPal (3GB for free and 200 GB for $50 per year), and Amazon Cloud Drive (5 GB of free storage).

Since my employer recommended Dropbox and he is all about efficiency, technology updates, and anything paperless I decided to check it out. And I was NOT disappointed! It was SO easy to use!! With dropbox you get 2 GB for free (if you have a lot of information or pictures or PATIENT FILES you need then it is 50 GB $9.99 per month, and 100 GB for $19.99 per month). If you use it for your business you can possibly write off part of the expense for keeping your work data safe. But If you have a lot of high quality photos or videos that take up a lot of space – then maybe the external hard drives are the way to go for you – because 2 GB isn’t enough. But if you have word documents, documents for work, powerpoints – then 2GB will suffice!

So what do you do to use this?? All you have to do is go to the website, download the program to your computer and install it. Once you have it, you can put any files you want just like a computer folder, and you can access them FROM ANY COMPUTER that you have installed the Dropbox program to! You can share files, you can share pictures in the “public file” folder with anyone YOU want making file-sharing quicker than you say file share!!!

So take a look at these free storage options for your data (and I’m sure there are a LOT more available). But the more information that you have at your fingertips and the easier access to your information – the better!!! With any of the free storage options – “the cloud” is useful, efficient, easy-as-pie to use, AND a smart bargain – for your info AND your peace of mind!

Would love to hear what you use for your storage backups!

Image courtesy of: cloudcomputingsys-con. com

Backing up your work…A MUST!!! Blessed be to the virtual CLOUD!!!

This morning I open up my email and my web-admin in the headline says “we have a major problem.” It was almost like the infamous “Houston – we have a problem” although I have nothing up in space at this time.
I didn’t know how to react to that at first – who wants to start their day that way!!?? After a momentary hiccup I opened the email and it stated that the website had some coding associated with the themes of both the websites that I work on and that I might possibly have to repost, redesign, pretend as if the hours I devoted to them never happened and start EVERYTHING from scratch! AGGGH!!!!
My GOSH – all the things I’ve written and devoted time to how the websites look and the special little additions. Finally I was at a place where the groundwork and layout looked like how I wanted it – but all the content!!!

Crisis averted…thankfully one website was fine. BUT this dental perspective website -I did have to start from scratch again!! I had to redo everything, repost, redesign. BUT -  I was fortunate enough to put all my blogs not only on a backup file at home, but also on a backup file on another website associated with my email! My own created “virtual cloud.” And so….what could have been devastating to me – loss of information, loss of time and effort with nothing to show for it – instead turned out to be more an inconvenience than a devastating loss and even more importantly a disappointment for me.

What if this had been patient charts, patient information?!?! What an irreplaceable loss that would be – and a liability!!! That is why at the offices I work at there is an on location backup and an alternate backup. And this goes for EVERYTHING in life – not just dentistry – anything on your computer, tax information, addresses, notes, anything – this just was one more reminder, for me anyway, to back up everything!
So if you’re backing up all your data, you are AWESOME!! If not, do it as soon as you can! It makes me think that there really is more to the idea of “the virtual cloud” – so all the information cannot be lost and easily accessible to you if you need it!!! They might ask for a service fee for the “cloud” or do you just want to have your own hard drive backup?? Up to you – either way – have something, for your peace of mind.
Fry’s electronics – here I come – I’m off to get a hard drive backup right now!!!

image courtesy of: silicon.com

Engaging and Affecting the world: with your mouth, your smiles...YOU!

I love hearing of anything that sheds dentistry in a positive light!!! And in the end of our lives, when we reflect back – one of the things we truly hope is that our lives have touched others -affecting them and helping them through their journey of life, and that the impact is helpful and positive.

So you can imagine my excitement in all things dentistry (giveaways too…) when I read the following post today: http://casuallyspeaking.wordpress.com/2011/08/23/opening-up/ In summary: one LUCKY and amazing person can win up to $25,000 and be featured on Rachel Ray!!! Not for the 30 minute meal segment ( *wink *) but featured on her talk show!!!

What do you do to enter?? Go to the project’s website at http://lifeopensupproject.com.

Submit their registration form & then create a 2 minute video about how you feel you use or have used your mouth to affect the world and how a life (or lives) changed (opened up) because of YOU!!! Describe your video. Then take a close up picture of your mouth and submit it!! Oral B and Crest are coming together to help put this great and fun and just all around feel-good project!!  Entries can be submitted until September 15, 2011.


Good luck to you all!! Can’t wait to see you on Rachel Ray!!!

Images courtesy of: livesreflection.blogspot.com and lifeopensupproject.com

Women in dentistry from ACROSS the US - unite!

My class of 2007 at New York University College of Dentistry was comprised of over 325 students, 100+ or more that were already dentists in their respective countries but wanted to come to the US to practice dentistry and start their own lives. Being so large of a class it felt that there were at least 50% men, and 50% women but I don't know if it was confirmed. New York City, Manhattan itself, is so rich in diversity, culture, food, women's rights- everything...and our class was no exception.  Now, I am in California, the bay area of California, and here again I am immersed in cultural diversity, and a female dentist or specialist is not uncommon. That is not however the case all over the United States, something that I didn't really consider since I was not in the Midwest.

But - I was reading an article by the staff at Dr.Bicuspid.com called "Women comprise 50% of new dental class at Indiana University" that seems to present further and confirm this trend of diversity and females entering the dental field is spreading ACROSS the nation. And how wonderful is that!?!?  You can read the article here: http://www.drbicuspid.com/index.aspx?sec=nws&sub=rad&pag=dis&ItemID=308424&wf=949

The article states that for the first time in the 132-year history of the Indiana University School of Dentistry, the newest dental class is composed of an EQUAL number of men and women: 52 men and 52 women for a total of 104 students. The FIRST time in 132 YEARS!! What I found fascinating was that they stated that between 1879 and 1974 at Indiana University (and the predecessor Indiana Dental College) 5000 men earned their dental degree while only 56 women did (1974 isn't that long ago!!!)

So while their class of 104 is more than 2/3rds less than my dental class of over 325, I want to just say how glad I am to have these career opportunities here in 2011. As ladies we are doing so well – not only in this profession, but across the scope of careers. Seeing this article made me reflect and appreciate how far we've come and what other women before us fought for to allow us to have these opportunities. And may it continue!!!!

GO LADIES !!!!

Image courtesy of: vector.net