Archive for the ‘Dentistry’ Category
Stem Cells Found in Teeth
Wednesday, April 7th, 2010
Lately, you hear a lot in the news about stem cell research and the excitement and concern surrounding it. Stem cells are special cells that can produce (or from which can stem) many different types of tissues. Scientists have a thing about Latin terms, so they call them autologous pluripotential cells. That’s your fifty-cent word for the week, which just means from self many possibilities.
The exciting part is that these have the potential to become our fountain of youth. What if you lost your leg and could just grow a new one, or your liver failed and you could just replace it with an identical one that was totally compatible. Instead of an artificial valve that might eventually fail, you could grow a brand new heart. You could get a new set of teeth! I think I could be due for a new brain. This is all completely theoretical, of course. Growing new limbs and organs is right out of Star Trek, but totally out of the realm of possibility at this point. All that the researchers are hoping to do now is to trigger the stem cells to produce different tissue types needed for various purposes, such as muscle tissue or pancreatic tissue, rather than an entire structure.
The concern is that a lot of research needs to be done, because these things are much more complicated than you can even imagine. So where do you get these stem cells for your research? Fetal tissue comes to mind. That’s just a slick term for unborn babies. They’re full of stem cells. Imagine harvesting the bodies of unborn babies for scientific research. It sounds like a plot for a horror movie. However, in spite of the fact that you can get plenty of stem cells that are just as good from the umbilical cord, some people insist on using “fetal tissue”. Interestingly, those are usually the people that are trying to save laboratory rats from the same fate.
Another concern is that you need your own stem cells to produce your own tissue, so if you didn’t happen to save your umbilical cord, are you just out of luck? It turns out that you can obtain stem cells from many other sources. Bone marrow is a common one, and cells from the area you want to repair. It has been discovered that the pulp from baby teeth and wisdom teeth also contain stem cells. This is exciting to some because you can so easily obtain your own stem cells well after the umbilical cord is long gone. Dr. Shinya Yamanaka developed a process to turn skin cells into pluripotential cells. According to Dr. Michael Rethman, chairman of the ADA Council on Scientific Affairs, “As time passes, this and similar techniques will be refined so that by the time pluripotential cells come into widespread therapeutic use, obtaining the needed stem cells will likely be fairly straightforward”. Yet another reason not to pursue the controversial fetal stem cell research.
Dental stem cell research is still in its infancy. Many predictions concerning its use are not based in current evidence. Dr. Jeremy Mao, a professor of dental medicine and director of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Laboratory at Columbia University, has high hopes for the use of dental stem cells. “Some of the technologies may happen 10 years down the road but others may happen within 10 years.” However, Pamela Robey, PhD., head of the Craniofacial and Skeletal Diseases Branch, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, says “What we do know is the cells from dental pulp in baby or wisdom teeth have the ability to make dentin and pulp, and they might have the ability to make bone, but right now that is all we really know for sure.”
As of now there are no human trials being conducted using dental stem cells and there are no clinical applications. In spite of that, many people want to preserve their wisdom teeth, or their child’s baby teeth on the chance that claims such as Dr. Mao’s might have some basis. The American Dental Association has no official position or provision for the preserving of these teeth for possible future use, but neither do they discourage it. It is up to the individual dentist if he chooses to collaborate with private stem cell banking companies, following their protocols as a service to any patients that might request it.
So at this point, stem cell science is pretty much theoretical. There are very few viable applications. If you want to try to confirm any wild claims and expectations you hear, you can look up www.clinicaltrials.gov or the National Institutes of Health at http://stemcells.nih.gov/info. Live long and prosper.
Dr. Moulton’s article was published in the Desert Valley Times, June 2009
Posted in Dentistry, stem cells | 1 Comment »
HEALTH CARE TIPS
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010
You know the score: we’ve been hoodwinked, but there’s no sense in crying forever about a done deal. Health care as we know it could be a thing of the past, so we need to start looking ahead to avoid becoming dependent on a system that has failed miserably in every country that has ever adopted it.
Our best hope to remain healthy from now on lies in prevention. Forget about those expensive operations. They will be reserved for congressmen and other federal employees. Common sense lifestyle disciplines can become life savers. Exercising and avoiding tobacco, alcohol, and junk food could be the mainstays of our survival, but we must be persistent. For instance, if you have a family history of diabetes, it has been proven that the sooner and more consistently you refrain from refined sugars, the later in life the disease might surface.
We know what obvious health hazards street drugs are, but are prescription drugs any safer? Just because they aren’t smuggled across the border, doesn’t mean they don’t have serious side effects and stress your body daily. One particularly dangerous category is nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS), such as aspirin, ibuprofen, and acetaminophen. They seem safe and they’re easy to buy, but constant use can cause serious digestive, kidney, and liver damage.
With national healthcare, drugs will become more and more the treatment of choice. They are quicker and easier, and can be prescribed by physician’s assistants rather than physicians. The drug companies have realized this and have lobbied heavily for the health plan, but this could lead to many health repercussions from drug overuse.
Take responsibility for your own health and educate yourself to make wise choices. Research any prescriptions you receive and evaluate the side effects, whether the drug is appropriate, if you are allergic, how necessary it is, and if it reacts unfavorably with something else you may be taking. Be very selective with a goal of eventually eliminating as many medications as possible. Watch for alternative health practices such as natural supplements, spinal adjustments, relaxation therapies, and infra red.
Study all the latest developments in well-being. We have done many articles on health, such as the dangers of iron, fluoride, bone density meds, and vaccinations, which can be found on our website, moultonddsmesquite.com. We are planning future articles on other subjects such as sleep apnea and micro circulation.
Realize the role of your dental condition in your overall health. The comfort and function of your teeth are important, however, their influence on the rest of your body is underestimated. I’ve read claims that from 73% to 90% of all disease stems from dental problems. The biggest danger is from gum disease, but there are other important factors such as temporomandibular dysfunction, airway obstruction, and toxic restorative materials.
Oh, and I do have one more healthcare tip. Every chance you get, vote those socialists out of office.
Dr. Moulton’s article was published in the Desert Valley Times,
March 30th, 2010
Posted in Dentistry | No Comments »
New Trend in Dental School Applications
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
Supply and demand. That’s still the force that drives business today, even the business of dental education. The number of applicants to dental schools in the country has varied greatly with the social and economic whims of the times, and the times are in the middle of a big change.
Because of the limitations in existing educational facilities, the yearly enrollment in U.S. dental schools has steadily gone from 3600 in 1960 to only 4700 last year. That’s not much of an increase in the last 50 years, leaving a shortage of dentists, especially with the baby-boomers starting to retire. Almost 40% of all dentists are 55 or older. That shortage is being felt mainly in rural areas at present, but will gradually extend to more populated communities.
Now there is more interest in dental education, and there are economic factors that have caused the number of dental school applicants to recently increase dramatically. Back in 1988 there were barely enough applicants to fill the dental schools, causing seven of them to close, and as recently as five years ago it was relatively easy to get in. However, in 2008 there were three times as many applicants as there were enrollments, and that’s expected to continue its upward trend.
There is a little bit of response to this increased demand as five new dental schools are in the early planning stages. The schools under consideration are at Midwestern University in Downers Grove, Illinois, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in El Paso, Texas, University of Arkansas in Little Rock, Arkansas, University if New England in Portland, Maine, and University of Southern Nevada, which has campuses in Henderson, Nevada and South Jordan, Utah.
“Dentistry as a profession currently has great appeal,” said Dr. William K. Lobb, vice chair of the ADA Council on Dental Education and Licensure, and dean if the Marquette University School of Dentistry. “With a robust applicant pool willing to invest in dental education, I am sure these institutions see a good return on their investments. I believe some of these decisions are being made for business reasons.”
The new programs are being designed with the hope of instilling the desire to go into the more underserved areas, but freedom of choice may override the brainwashing. “There is an idea that because there will be more dentists, they will go to where the care is needed,” said Dr. Denis E. Simon III, chair of the ADA Council on Dental Education and Licensure. “Dentists are still independent practitioners who have to go out and make a living. Even in my own state of Louisiana, new graduates tend to stay and practice in Baton Rouge, New Orleans or other more metropolitan areas rather than go to some of the areas of the state where there are fewer dentists.”
My advice to students that are interested in a dental profession is to plan early. Get started right away in a pre-dental program, and choose an undergraduate college that will be less competitive if grades might be a problem. You may need a 4.0 to get in, and to the dental school admissions board, an A from a small college is every bit as good as an A from a large university. Dentistry may be a difficult path, but the extra security because of the demand will make it worthwhile.
Dr. Moulton’s article was published in the Desert Valley Times, April 2009
Posted in Dentistry | 5 Comments »
Don’t Brush Your Teeth – Just Yet
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
Tooth erosion is something that hasn’t gotten much attention in the news lately. I guess it just isn’t that exciting. Kind of like watching an ice cube melt. It’s a long, slow process, but the results can be devastating. If the protective enamel covering is lost, the tooth becomes sensitive, discolored, weak, and very susceptible to decay and nerve damage. The jaws can over close causing joint pain and damage.
The problem is more widespread than people realize. It affects about one third of the population in North America, to some degree. It usually occurs unnoticed and undiagnosed because of its gradual onset. In females it is seen a little more frequently, but in males it is usually more severe. The reason for these variations is that the cause is usually a combination of many different factors.
Basically, erosion of tooth structure is caused by acid. Once the enamel is lost, the softer dentin dissolves much faster. How could anyone get that much acid in their mouth? It’s done a little at a time through food. The acid level, or pH, of the mouth is close to neutral, but almost all foods are acidic to some extent. Ranging from least to most, you have proteins, like dairy, meat and nuts, then there are grains and vegetables, followed by whole fruit, dried fruit, sweetened foods, citrus fruits, fruit juices, whole lemons, sodas, energy drinks, and battery acid. I trust no one out there is drinking battery acid, but energy drinks are a close second. Men drink more energy drinks and sodas than women. That’s why their problems become more severe.
There are other sources of acid exposure to the teeth, however. Gastric reflux, indigestion, anorexia, bulimia, and medications are the common ones. Women have an edge in those categories, which would also explain why they are more frequently affected by erosion. In children, carrying baby bottles or sipper cups around between meals will constantly bathe their teeth in acid if there is anything in them besides water. Milk, juice, Kool-Aid, or heaven forbid, soda, can cause a devastating amount of decay in those poor little tykes.
Drugs that affect the degree of acidity in the mouth, such as methamphetamines, drastically increase the erosion and decay that occurs. Other drugs and diseases that decrease the amount of saliva will indirectly promote erosion. Lastly, one of the greatest causes of tooth erosion is brushing your teeth. I guess I should qualify that and say brushing them incorrectly.
To understand this, let’s consider the chemistry involved. The acids in your food dissolve the calcium on the surface of your enamel. However, it doesn’t strip it straight off; it creates little micro holes, leaving the remaining calcium porous, like a sponge, and weaker. Nature has accounted for this problem, and the saliva contains minerals to replace the ones that were lost, but that process takes about an hour. So if you brush your teeth right away, you may polish off that remaining softer surface layer of calcium.
There are other factors involved also. Hard bristles and abrasive toothpastes and mouthwashes can compound the problem. The amount of time the food adheres to the teeth affects the length of time the teeth are exposed to the acid. Thus, eating fruits and vegetables actually creates as much erosion as drinking sodas. The soda is gone in a flash, especially if you use a straw. It just goes straight down to do more major damage to your insides. But the healthy stuff sticks around longer in your mouth. Incidentally, that’s why vegetarians get more cavities than normal people. The increased exposure time, and the nutrition-rich environment is a great breading ground for the bacteria that cause decay.
However, it’s important for us to be able to eat healthy natural foods, so there are things that can be done to counteract this problem. Maybe we could take a tip from nature to come up with an effective approach. The saliva works in three ways to fight tooth erosion. It washes away the food, neutralizes the acid, and remineralizes the enamel. So if we rinse with water after we eat and floss with nonabrasive floss, such as Glide floss, that will remove the acid and food effectively. Then if you wait an hour for the remineralization process, brushing is just as important as it ever was, and safer. If you’re at work and can’t brush, it’s no big deal. Just be thorough in the evening. Use a soft bristled brush and a nonabrasive toothpaste that contains minerals, such as Sensodyne, Pelu, or Radiance by Neways. The popular brands are usually much too abrasive.
If you have decreased saliva flow, or dry mouth syndrome from illness or medications, carry a flask around (be sure it contains water only!) and swish and swallow every few minutes for that hour after eating. That’s especially important for you because of the increased risk of decay. Chewing gum during that period is beneficial for cleansing and stimulating the saliva. The best kind is Spry gum with xylitol, which is a natural sugar that prevents cavities.
There are other types of tooth surface loss besides erosion, such as abrasion and wear. The most common cause of wear, or attrition, is grinding your teeth, which we can discuss later. You might be interested to know that the most common source of abrasion, besides over brushing, is your dentist. When you get your teeth polished after cleaning, be sure to ask that they use very little polish at a very slow speed. Too much can be very abrasive.
Using the wrong kind of porcelain in a crown can cause a lot of damage to the teeth it contacts. The dentist must be careful also to avoid unnecessary grinding on tooth surfaces and maintaining full and correct contacts in fillings and crowns.
You can do your part in preserving your enamel, and we’ll try to do ours.
Dr. Moulton’s article was published in the Desert Valley Times, March 2009
Posted in Dentistry | 2 Comments »
Trillion Dollar Band-Aid
Saturday, January 30th, 2010
Now that we have the most liberal Federal Government in the history of our country, they’re just salivating over all the different ways they can spend our money. And the biggest fiasco of all will be National health care. We already have the best health care system in the world. People come from everywhere to take advantage of the superior and accessible treatments that have been developed in the United States through free enterprise. However, in an effort to gain votes, politicians have used fear and enticement to sell people on “fixing” our system.
Unfortunately, that’s one campaign promise I’m afraid they will try to keep. So before we take our medicine, let’s consider what we could expect, by examining what the existing medical and dental insurance and government programs have done to those professions, and to the costs and quality of care borne by the participants.
Dental insurance became a significant factor in patient finances around 1970 in larger cities. At first, it was a considerable benefit, paying 80% of all charges up to about $2500 per year. If you take into account that costs are about ten times what they were in 1970, today that would be like having $25,000 in benefits every year. You couldn’t use it all if you tried! But even at that, there were complaints that dental insurance companies were making too much profit. They were collecting about twice as much in premiums as they were paying out in benefits. Consequently, the Insurance Commission made a rule that insurance companies could only keep 25% of the premiums for administrative costs. However, the CEO of the now defunct Pacific Union Dental Insurance Group confided in me that there were so many ways around that one, it wasn’t even funny.
So why can they collect many times more in premiums nowadays and be hard pressed to pay a meager average maximum benefit of about $1000 a year? To find the answer, just count the number of fingers in the pie.
The average dental office consists of a dentist, two assistants, and a receptionist. If a patient pays one hundred dollars, eighty of it goes to pay rent, equipment, supplies, labs, taxes, insurance, and payroll, and about twenty to the dentist. If a small insurance company is added into the mix, then part of that hundred dollars is used to pay premiums. The owner and employees of that insurance company are paid out of those premiums, with the remainder going toward actual dental benefits. The premiums from other insured members that don’t utilize their insurance that year can make up the deficit in benefits.
On a small scale, it works nicely, but as the insurance company grows and goes national, those premiums are quickly eaten up by more employees, big buildings, CEOs, VPs, executives, investor dividends, lawyers, consultants, advisors, company cars, company psychiatrists, data base management systems, stationary, postage, vacation pay, retirement pay, day care, office parties, waste, graft, fraud, lobbyists, taxes, and another list twice as long. There’s not enough left to pay decent benefits so they substitute double talk for benefits, and coerce hungry dentists into accepting less, causing service and quality to suffer, and one of the assistants to get fired!
So far we’ve been talking about administration woes associated with the implementation of large plans, but when you move from private dental and health care plans into government programs, there are other factors that make national health care an entirely different animal. With dental and medical insurance, do the employers pay your premiums out of the generosity of their hearts? Of course not. It comes out of your salary, which seems fair. You might think it would be the same with the government, but there’s one fatal flaw. A huge portion of the population isn’t paying their premiums. The working stiffs are footing the bill and the liberals are taking the credit, while villainizing those “rich” people in order to quell any pangs of conscience anyone may have about getting something for nothing. Well, the real joke on everyone is that that ‘something’ IS nothing!
Let’s use the example of the “charity” funds to illustrate. Those organizations solicit money from well-meaning people for this-and-that cause, but the recipients only end up with from 20% all the way down to 3%, depending on the size of the fund; the bigger ones keeping a higher percentage. Even though the government is vastly larger and more inefficient than any private enterprise would ever be, we will give those people who brought us the $4000 hammer and the $6000 toilet seat, the benefit of the doubt and say that 3% of the cost might trickle down to the facilities and personnel that are actually giving the medical care.
At that rate, for every million dollars used, about thirty thousand will actually go towards any kind of treatment; about the cost of a gall bladder and double hernia operation. In order to support even the worst of medical systems, (which is what it will be), economists have estimated a cost to taxpayers of about two trillion dollars a year; about one seventh of the gross national product, which is about 30 times what we currently spend on healthcare! To put that in perspective, in only five years it will have cost as much as every war in the history of this country! It will make every bailout and stimulus package we have ever done seem like a tip for your waitress. It’s like taking out a bigger credit card to pay for your last one, and you know where that leads.
That’s just the tab though. The real cost will be the downfall of our ability to access quality medical care. There will be no money left to provide it, no rapport between patient and doctor, no accountability by the providers, and no ability to find your own private practitioner. If you can get through all the red tape and beaurocracy of a system so complex it will make a dinosaur like Medicare look like a gazelle, and if you live long enough before you’re able to get an appointment, the person you will be assigned to will be some sort of tech rather than a doctor. The few doctors that are left will probably be reserved for the politicians when they realize what an abject failure this system will be, just like social security and the misappropriation charges right on the heels of the latest bailout. Instead of people coming to America for decent medical care, we will have to go somewhere else.
If you think this sounds a little extreme, I assure you I’ve been breaking it to you gently. At this point, we are pretty much at the mercy of this administration. All we can do is just not go quietly into that night.
Dr. Moulton’s article was published in the Desert Valley Times, January 2009
Posted in Dentistry | 1 Comment »
Dental Economics
Friday, December 11th, 2009
In today’s financial climate, everyone is boarding up their windows for the storm. Budgets are tightened and spending is restricted to the essentials. At the store, we stick more to the necessities and look for bargains. We are cutting back on travel and entertainment and other things we can get by without. Rent, utilities and taxes are unavoidable, but what about healthcare?
Personally, I rate healthcare very high in the list. You might suspect that I am a little prejudiced on the subject, but few things are as important to me as the health of my family. Dental care is definitely as important as ever. However, here are some tips that may help you budget this necessity.
Number one in anyone’s book would be prevention. Dental insurance is generally pretty worthless, but why do you think they usually pay 100% on exams and cleanings? It’s because they are trying to save money! Statistics show that dental treatment is much less complicated and expensive if you discover the problem early, and the cleaner and healthier your gums are, the fewer problems will arise. So for you, the way to save money is to get in for your regular exams and cleanings. Healthy gums have even been shown to save on your medical needs, and any dental problems that occur within a year are usually minor. A typical example is a small cavity that might cost $150 to fix, but if you wait long enough, it may need a root canal and crown for $1500, ten times as much.
Don’t forget that home care is also a preventive activity. Diligent brushing and especially flossing make a bigger difference than anything else, but they can’t compensate for smoking. One more note on prevention: Start your children out early. In addition to discovering problems early, the child becomes more comfortable with seeing the dentist and may not need to see a specialist down the road. To help out, we provide all treatment at no charge to any children three years and younger.
For those that need a lot of dental work, take some tips from the consumer’s guide: 1. Shop around. I encourage my patients to get other opinions. It’s in their best interest to find out as much as they can about their condition, and methods and fees could vary quite a bit. 2. Get financing options. We have several programs that allow patients to finance up to 24 months with no interest, or longer with interest. Health savings accounts can also be used for dental expenses. Another suggestion is to be conservative. Find out if there are any simpler options, and take time to consider them or discuss them with your spouse. For instance, a tooth with a chip or crack is often scheduled for a crown. Ask if it is possible to get by with a white filling for a while. The ceramic filling materials available now are much more durable than they used to be, and they are bonded to the teeth, leaving a stronger finished product. Plastic veneers cost about a third as much as the porcelain. A removable partial denture might be used instead of fixed bridges or implants. Although these solutions may not be ideal, they are much less expensive, and they don’t interfere with your ability to upgrade later. Finally, don’t panic! Every economist will tell you that prosperity is a state of mind. If people are afraid, they sell their stocks and pull their money out of circulation. That creates a self-fulfilling result. The decline of the stock market is simply the result of everyone selling out, and it’s being fueled by all the politicians trying to scare people into socialism. I suspect it will settle down as soon as we do another type of cleaning: a political house cleaning!
Dr. Moulton’s article was published in the Desert Valley Times, October 2008
Posted in Dentistry | No Comments »
More Options Than Ever to Quit Smoking
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
According to the American Dental Association, an updated clinical practice guideline on smoking cessation was recently released by the U.S. Public Health Service. The new guideline identifies new counseling and medication treatments that are effective in helping people to quit smoking.
A 24-member, private-sector panel of leading national tobacco treatment experts developed the new guideline. Their information was gathered from more than 8700 research articles that were published between 1975 and 2007. They have found that seven medications approved by the Food and Drug Administration have dramatically increased the success of quitting:
bupropion SR
nicotine gum
nicotine inhaler
nicotine lozenge
nicotine nasal spray
nicotine patch
varenicline
There was also evidence that counseling by itself or in conjunction with medication can increase the success rate. One of the most popular forms of counseling is through a quitline, such as 800-QUIT-NOW. It connects callers to programs within their state, and is easy for doctors and patients to access.
Dr. K. Vendrell Rankin, a professor at Baylor College of Dentistry, served as a reviewer for the guideline. “As a dentist, teacher and tobacco treatment specialist, I believe that one of the most significant additions are the principles of motivational interviewing—express empathy, develop discrepancy, roll with resistance and support self-efficacy,” said Dr. Rankin. “We know that patients don’t walk into the dental office ready to quit smoking or chewing tobacco, nor are they equipped to do so with only the aid of a prescription.” Dr. Rankin also expresses the importance of motivating, not lecturing, the patient who may want to quit smoking.
Other recommendations include:
Dentists and doctors should be asking their patients of they smoke and offering counseling and other treatments to help them quit.
If a patient is not ready to quit, clinicians should focus on motivational treatments that will promote future attempts to quit.
Counseling, whether it is individual, group, or over the telephone is effective, and should include practical counseling and social support.
Counseling treatments are now recommended for adolescent smokers as they have been shown to be effective.
The 2008 PHS guideline update and a consumer guide are available online at www.surgeongeneral.gov/tobacco/default.htm. You can also request a copy of the 2008 PHS guideline update by calling the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality at 1-800-358-9295. To find out more about the latest resources for tobacco cessation, log on to www.ada.org/goto/quitsmoking.
Dr. Moulton’s article was published in the Desert Valley Times, August 2008.
Posted in Dentistry | No Comments »
Zen and the Art of Tooth Maintenance
Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
Actually, the oldest and most common personal hygiene practice is the cleaning of the teeth. It comes in just ahead of bathing. There are prehistoric relics of brushes made out of shredded bamboo and pig bristles (sounds like a Chinese entrée).
But in spite of all that attention to tooth maintenance and our space-age technology, the incidence of decay and gum disease is still astronomically higher than it was in the dark ages, thanks to a corresponding increase in man’s ability to refine sugars. In this enlightened age we now have high fructose corn syrup. I don’t know why, because it doesn’t do anything for the flavor. It must be addictive or something, but I do know that it is highly destructive to the teeth, not to mention the blood sugar, just in case you don’t want to develop diabetes. You should avoid it as much as you can.
So here are seven tooth care tips to help you combat the modern diet:
1. Brush longer than you think you need to. When people try to estimate the recommended three minutes, they fall way short. Watch a clock or use an egg timer that your dentist can provide.
2. Work systematically. People often neglect the back teeth or the inside surfaces, or brush one side more than the other. Whatever system you use, try to cover every side of every tooth equally.
3. Use a brush with soft bristles of varying heights. The tendency is to think that hard bristles would clean better, but it’s just the opposite, and hard bristles can damage the enamel and gums.
4. Change your brush at least every three months, because the bristles will fray and bacteria will build up on them.
5. Manual brushes are just fine. Research indicates that sonic brushes are no better, but rotary brushes may be better depending on the type of bristles. The best of those is the Rotadent, which we get at wholesale as a service to our patients. The elderly may benefit the most from them because of dexterity issues.
6. Don’t knock success. Once my Uncle Jerry was leading a golf tournament, so before the final round he took a lesson from his golf instructor. Needless to say, he played miserably the next day and lost the tournament. If you’re not getting cavities and your gums are nice and healthy, then just keep doing what you’re doing.
7. Don’t forget to floss! This is EQUALLY as important as brushing, yet it is the most neglected part of tooth care. Did you know that people that floss live TEN years longer than people that don’t? That’s because eliminating bacterial plaque improves your overall health. If you have trouble wrapping the floss around your fingers, then see your dentist for instructions, or try those disposable floss holders like Eez-Thru by Butler GUM (which we carry). They are not quite as effective as the manual method, but they are better than nothing. As Nike says, “Just do it”.
Dr. Moulton’s article was published in the Desert Valley Times, July 2008
Posted in Dentistry | No Comments »
Salivary Diagnostics
Friday, October 23rd, 2009
The appearance of the saliva has always been a tool that dentists have used to help with their diagnosis. Too much, or thick saliva can indicate the presence of irritants, such as metals or toothpastes. The lack of saliva can indicate disease or drugs, and its consistency gives a clue to dietary concerns.
I just have to tell you about a young man whose family had been coming to us since he was a child. The summer after his first year in college, he came in for a check-up and as I was working, I jokingly chided, “Well, I see you discovered alcohol.” His eyes got wide and he gave a half-hearted little laugh, but I never saw him again even though the rest if his family continued to come in.
Research continues to uncover more definitive information about saliva however, and noninvasive tests are becoming available for the detection of such diseases as HIV and cancer. Dr. Daniel Malamud, PHD at the New York University College of Dentistry, specializes in the development of anti-HIV agents and oral-based diagnostics. Dr. David Wong, the director of the UCLA Dental Research Institute, is known for his research in using saliva tests for the early detection if oral cancer. Other kinds if cancer can also be detected by saliva tests. Dr. Charles Streckfus at the University of Texas Houston Dental Branch is working on a saliva test that could indicate whether a person will develop breast cancer, and Dr. Joseph Califano, MD, is developing a test to detect the presence of certain cancers of the head and neck based on compounds found in the saliva.
I’m sure this is just the tip of the iceberg in salivary diagnostics, because the American Dental Association has made this its 2008 mega issue, considering it among the most significant developments in disease screening and diagnosis in decades. For more information on the tests, call my office at 346-3371.
Dr. Moulton’s article was published in the Desert Valley Times, July 2008
Posted in Dentistry | No Comments »
A New Kind of “Dentist” is the Writing on the Wall
Friday, October 23rd, 2009
As it is in medicine, the dental care in the US is by far the highest quality in the world. I’ve had the opportunity to do emergency treatment for patients from many countries. They’re usually tourists that have had a dental mishap during their vacation. This has given me a chance to observe the quality of their dental work, and from Europe to the Orient, there is absolutely no comparison to ours. Keep in mind that these are the more affluent ones that can travel and afford the best dental care available in their country. These visitors are always surprised and pleased at their care, and we have even had a few of them make a special trip back to the US so we could finish their work. How many of you have flown over to Italy so you could get some bridge work done?
Why is it that the dental and medical care here is so superior to anywhere else? Are we just naturally more talented? No, it is the same freedom and independence that has made us great in so many other ways. We can research and innovate and modernize and economize so we can compete in the market. And you are the one who benefits. The highest quality and lowest cost are the factors that drive the producers to act in favor of the consumer. Those producers that are substandard will just naturally fall by the wayside through public preference, leaving the best ones to serve you, and for proof, just look in any mouth “made in the U.S.A.”
What about the underprivileged? That’s a good question. Approximately 20% of my production is charitable. Not that it’s such a big deal, but every health care provider donates a large portion of their time to voluntarily serve the underprivileged. That’s humanitarianism on a human level – face to face, where it belongs. That’s not the type of thing you can legislate.
But it seems our “leaders” want to “fix” this system for good, and humanitarianism has nothing to do with it. Where is the incentive to serve your fellow man when you can only do what you’re told? Economics has nothing to do with it. Instead of being able to tax the health care providers, the government will have to increase your taxes to pay those providers, and their overhead, and the hospitals, and the zillions of government administrators, and pay off their special interest buddies.
Quality has nothing to do with it either. Where is the desire to be service-oriented, or innovate, or even do a good job when all it means is more work, and cannot affect your job security or income? As if in preparation for this take over, less expensive laymen have been put in place rather than doctors, to make medical decisions and even treat people. Up to now, dentistry has been safe from such a threat, however, on May 16, in spite of strong opposition, the Minnesota legislature passed a bill to create “midlevel providers” of dental care. They decided to call them dental therapists and prescribed a short training period to certify them to give patients education, and do fillings, crowns, bridges, and dentures. They are not allowed to do gum therapy or surgery – yet.
That’s the writing on the wall. Right now it is just a little crack in the dam, but that’s what starts the flood. Dentistry rose up out of the barber’s chair, but it looks like we’re reverting right back. Minimally trained “dental therapists” could be doing your grandkids’ nationalized dental work, just like in good old Russia (if they don’t mind waiting six months for an appointment).
Since anyone with half a grain of common sense can see that a successful national medical system is unattainable, as demonstrated by countless other countries, why then are the liberals so hot to push it through? Power. They want to get their hands on one seventh of the gross national income so they can reign forever.
My greatest disappointment in this whole affair however, is the American Dental Association. You know that once the government takes away your medical rights, they will come after your dental rights. Now the ADA can’t wait to join the Obama administration in the destruction of their own profession. They just wrote him a letter to get in on the action, asking for only three “small” things. They want him to fix Medicaid (gee, I wonder what’s wrong with Medicaid), and establish a dental public health department (probably another Czar). Oh yah, the third thing is that they want the government to dump lots more of that extra toxic silicofluoride into our drinking water. Probably so we won’t care so much about the destruction of our nation. Das Vadanya,
Comrade.
Dr. Moulton’s article was published in the Desert Valley Times, June 2009
Posted in Dentistry | 2 Comments »