Blog List – Classic
Sleep Apnea Dentistry: A Long But Rewarding Journey
At one time I had built my private practice Wheatland Dental in Dallas Texas into one of the largest dental practices in the United States with over 13 associate dentists. This was a huge practice which required that I not only train, inspire and mange an army of clinical staff. I also needed to keep my eyes and ears open for new opportunities, techniques and procedures that would bring enough patients to keep everyone busy. I have been treating sleep apnea for many years as an offshoot of my TM...Read More
Dental Office DIY Cleanup TIP
In 2013 I visited with Dr John Viviano in Mississauga ON. I noticed an interesting device hanging on the wall that he used for easy cleanup of acrylic material from working with sleep apnea oral appliances. I was really impressed by the simplicity of the device and I asked Dr Viviano to share with us this interesting tip. SIMPLE TIP FOR A CLEAN WORK AREA The outcome of brainstorming can be truly amazing; even when it’s unplanned. We were standing around in my new office that was being pr...Read More
Sleep Apnea Dentistry is a Great Choice
Dentists like you make thousands of choices during your career. From dental school days to how you shape your retirement plan, you get to decide how you want to do things. While these days the new graduate may not have as many career paths as one might have a few decades ago, the mix of services the involved dentist gets to pick from is ever expanding. Dental Sleep Medicine is the closest thing to practicing medicine any non-oral surgeon dentist will get. More and more dentists every day are ...Read More
Diabetes risk linked to Smoking
Researchers analyzed data on almost 5.9 million people in 88 previous studies examining the connection between smoking, second-hand smoke exposure and diabetes. They estimated that roughly 28 million type 2 diabetes cases worldwide – or about 11.7 percent of cases in men and 2.4 percent in women – could be attributed to active smoking. The more cigarettes smokers consumed, the more their odds of getting diabetes increased. If they quit, ex-smokers initially faced an even higher risk of diabetes,...Read More
Form Follows Function in Quality Patient Care
I have been involved with the identification and treatment of obstructive sleep apnea for over 25 years. I have seen a multitude of different products and strategies to provide patient care. It is not enough to simply identify a patient with sleep apnea. In my opinion this is when the work really starts. The medical professionals that treat these patients are required to consider many variables including lifestyle, concurrent disease and the patients willingness to comply with therapy. I am conv...Read More
Patients seek better access to homecare in a changing market
Change is traumatic. This is true regardless of whether the change is positive or negative. Getting married is traumatic; so is getting a divorce. Starting a new job is traumatic; so is getting fired. Anything that takes us out of our comfort zone is traumatic. As an industry, we had a nice “run” from the late 70s until the first part of this century. We were lightly regulated; audits barely existed; competitive bidding certainly did not exist; the NSC was not particularly aggressive; the contra...Read More
Scope Of Practice: “The Most Misunderstood Concept In Dentistry”
It is unusual for a week to go by where I do not read an article or position paper from some organization or association that purports to outline the “Scope of Practice” for some discipline or field of dentistry. As I review these position papers, it is not difficult to identify the agenda of the organization that is proffering the alleged scope of practice proclamation. We ALL have certain agendas! I am not saying that it is illegal or even wrong to have an agenda. I do however, feel tha...Read More