Mouthing Off

This is the first installment of the videos taken at last weekend’s Central Regional Meeting. Enjoy!

The FDA announced earlier this year that they will be reviewing dental amalgam yet again for its safety, mostly in pregnant women, fetuses, and young children. Several citizen petitions for the FDA’s reconsideration of dental amalgam have prompted this review. In July 2009, amalgam was reclassified by the FDA from a Class I substance to Class II, meaning it was given a status of “more risk.” In the past, many studies have been done to prove amalgam’s safety. The available studies, however, only show that dental amalgam does not cause adverse health effects in adults and children over the age of six. Since not much information is available on younger children, fetuses, and pregnant women, the FDA has chosen to conduct this study. As dental professionals it is important that we are aware of the most up to date information in the ongoing discussion of dental amalgam. It is our job, of course, to provide the best care for our patients, but also to educate them on the scientific facts. Thus far dental amalgam has been proven a safe and effective restorative material, and we will all wait with anticipation for the FDA’s decision on its safety in these more vulnerable populations.

The links below provide more information on the upcoming FDA review of dental amalgam:

http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm215061.htm

http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/ProductsandMedicalProcedures/DentalProducts/DentalAmalgam/ucm171115.htm

Also, below are several journal articles listed in the FDA’s Appendix I : Summary of Changes to the Classification of Dental Amalgam and Mercury reporting the results from clinical trials on the safety of amalgam in adults and children over age of six.

De Rouen, T. et al., “Neurobehavioral Effects of Dental Amalgam in Children, A Randomized Clinical Trial,” Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 295, 1784-1792,No. 15, April, 19, 2006.

Bellinger, D.C. et al., “Neuropsychological and Renal Effects of Dental Amalgam in Children: A Randomized Clinical Trial,” Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 295, No. 15, April 19, 2006, 1775-1783, 2006.

Barregard, L. et al., “Renal Effects of Dental Amalgam in Children: The New England Children’s Amalgam Trial,” Environmental Health Perspectives, Volume 116, 394-399,,No. 3, March 2008.

Woods, J.S. et al., “Biomarkers of Kidney Integrity in Children and Adolescents with Dental Amalgam Mercury Exposure: Findings from the Casa Pia Children’s Amalgam Trial,” Environmental Research, Vol. 108, pp. 393-399, 2008.

Lauterbach, M. et al., “Neurological Outcomes in Children with and Without Amalgam-Related Mercury Exposure: Seven Years of Longitudinal Observations in a Randomized Trial,” Journal of the American Dental Association, Vol. 139, 138-145, February 2008.

~Sara Twardy, Alabama ’11, Editor-in-Chief

For women it’s caries, for men it’s periodontitis. Is gender a factor in your risk of oral disease? If you’re interested in the biological and the anthropological factors that play a role in oral health, read this interesting article posted on Dr Bicuspid today.

Stay tuned this week for videos taken from the Central Regional Meeting!

~Kim Schneider, Assistant Editor

Today is the kick-off of the Central Regional Meeting in Chicago. What is a Regional Meeting? We’re glad you asked…

The goal of the Regional Meetings is to improve the quality of ASDA’s chapters in each of the Eastern, Central and Western Regions by developing and improving the leadership skills of the ASDA delegates and other chapter leaders from those Regions. The Regions divide the schools in each district geographically as follows:

Eastern: Districts 1, 2, 3
Central: Districts 4, 5, 6, 7
Western: District 8, 9, 10, 11

The objectives of the meeting are to provide ASDA delegates and chapter leaders with an orientation to ASDA’s purpose, governance and activities and an understanding of the meaning and value of organized dentistry and the importance of continuing membership in ASDA and the American Dental Association.

The objectives of the meeting are to provide ASDA delegates and chapter leaders with:

• An orientation to ASDA’s purpose, governance and activities
• Tools for building strong, cooperative relationships with dental school administrators
• An understanding of the meaning and value of organized dentistry and the importance of continuing membership in ASDA and the ADA
• Insight into what constitutes an ideal ASDA chapter and how to plan for achieving such a chapter, methods to improve the effectiveness of membership recruitment and retention activities, and information about member benefits
• Opportunities to exchange ideas about successful chapter activities and fundraising projects
• Updates on the objectives and current activities of ASDA’s Legislative Grassroots Network and career development opportunities
• Reports on the implementation of resolutions adopted by the House of Delegates and opportunities to comment on proposed courses of action
• Training to enable eff ective resolution writing and full participation in the ASDA House of Delegates
• Forums for presenting and discussing dental students’ concerns and for learning how ASDA’s Board of Trustees and other leaders are addressing these concerns
• Information about advances in dentistry, dental practice and dental products
• Opportunities to meet new people and to learn from others in a professional, collegial and enjoyable environment

Are you from the Eastern or Western regions? Eastern’s Regional Meeting will be held October 1-3 and Western’s Regional Meeting will be held October 29-31. All meetings are in Chicago this year. Stay tuned for video coverage of this weekend’s meeting!

~Kim Schneider, Assistant Editor

Thank you to all our readers and especially to those of you who subscribe! If you’re not a subscriber yet, it’s absolutely free and as easy as clicking “subscribe” in the little blue box to your right. Although we want you to keep tuning into Mouthing Off three times a week, I’d also like to share what we’ve been reading in the dental blogosphere. Certainly there are many blogs out there written by dentists about dentistry, but here are a few that caught my eye and kept me reading.

STUDENT BLOGS

DMDstudent.com is the blog of a recent Temple graduate. He started the blog in order to give insight to the dental school experience and to share his triumphs and grievances with peers. Now this blogger has moved to Chicago for an OMFS residency at a Cook County hospital. His thorough and occasionally irreverent style of writing makes this blog entertaining as well as informative. Keep tabs on DMDstudent.com here.

There and Back Again is written by a D4 at the University of Illinois, Chicago. His quirky and again irreverent style of transcribing his dental school experience provides laughs as well as a lot of nods from fellow students. His most recent post is all about pediatric rounds and profiling the types of patients he’s seen. He doesn’t hold back, which makes this blog a solid indicator of the depths of dental school.

SCHOOL BLOG

The University of Michigan’s Taubman Health Sciences Library runs the blog Dental Information & Library Innovation. Most of the posts are short jumping off points for topics that include clinical information, publications and education. It’s a nice resource for current strides in dental information.

PROFESSIONAL BLOGS

Ever wonder what it would be like to be an Army dentist? Major Kendall Mower blogs frequently to give you all the in’s and out’s of military dentistry. He does a great job of relaying all the aspects of his job, his family life, and that duties that come with serving in the Army. Seeing a myriad of cases on an Army base, he also frequently posts photos of the most interesting cases he treats and gives a run down each week of what he’s seen in the dental chair. Check out Major Mower’s Army Strong blog here.

Started by Florida dentists Dr. John Gammichia, The Daily Grind is the official blog of the Academy of General Dentistry. At first read I was surprised at how personal Dr. Gammichia and his fellow AGD blogger got about their lives in and outside of the practice. But because of the candid writing style and the blunt opinions, I’m absolutely hooked. Recently Dr. Gammichia wrote a post about dress code in the practice. This set of a debate within the comments section and lead to a couple follow-up posts. It’s a fascinating topic that becomes very personal once you’re not only a dentist, but also a small business owner. The contributors of The Daily Grind really cover all aspects of general dentistry and owning a practice. Check out their contribution to the blogosphere here.

ADDITIONAL NOTEWORTHY BLOGS

Still want more? There is a lot out there so you have your pick. The INCI-DENTAL blog is written by a 25 year old dentist named Chris O’Conner in South Yorkshire, UK. Here you have the perspective of a young dentist and international dentistry all in one. Chris also posts some detailed photos from the cases he’s seen. Marty Jablow is a general dentist from New Jersey with a special interest in dental technologies. If you have a penchant for new technology, take a look at his blog here. The Endo Blog is just what it sounds like: an entire blog devoted to endodontics. If you love to gaze at photos of root canals and watch videos of procedures, this is the blog for you.

Do you write a blog or subscribe to a blog that I didn’t mention above? Tell us in the comments section!

~Kim Schneider, Assistant Editor

David DeVore, now 9 years old, is the recognizeable kid whose father recorded his hazy car ride home from the dentist. David asks his father “is this real life?” as he babbles incoherently after a dental appointment. Surely you’ve seen it, since this video went viral and has been viewed 65 million times. Now David is back and this time he’s promoting a light-up tooth brush with a timer. The New York Times blog “Media Decoder” explains how the drowsy patient was tracked down and wooed to star in an Internet commercial that is hoped to be another viral hit. Read the blog post on David DeVore’s next gig here.

~Kim Schneider, Assistant Editor

“One woman couldn’t bear to have a light shone in her eyes because it reminded her of what her captors did whenever they let her out of the box they kept her imprisoned in.”

On Wednesday, Dr. Bicuspid posted  a story about a program at NYU that offers free dental services to victims of torture and post-traumatic stress disorder. Since it’s launch in 2008, the Program for Survivors of Torture has offered services to more than 300 victims of torture and PTSD from over 80 countries. A dozen dental students participate in the program each year under the direction of Dr. Steven Resnick. “The question for these dentists is not just ‘how good was this root canal therapy,’ but what impact did it have on the patient’s life?” said Dr. Resnick.

Read this moving article in its entirety here.

Did you participate in this program or a program similar to this? Leave your thoughts and experiences in the comments section below.

~Kim Schneider, Assistant Editor

I watch Chicago’s WGN news every morning before work. This morning, nearly every minute of the broadcast covered the verdict in former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s trial. The jury convicted Blagojevich of just one count and was hung on 23 other counts including that of trying to sell a senate seat. I’m sure you’ve heard the tapes from the wire taps and perhaps even seen the former governor on Celebrity Apprentice. It’s all very embarrassing for Illinois and with Blagojevich’s predecessor still sitting in prison, the pattern doesn’t bode well for our state.

The homepage of the New York Times today reads “Despite Stains of Blagojevich, Illinois Resists Ethics Reforms.” It’s a reputation. When my sister moved to California, she was surprised that local politicians sought to link their opponents to “corrupt Chicago politics” in campaign advertisements. Sure Barack Obama was an Illinois Senator, but it will take an end to the corruption to save the face of The Land of Lincoln. As the New York Times wrote today, it’s a system that has long been ridiculed and: “That system molded the career of Mr. Blagojevich, as well as that of his predecessor as governor, George Ryan, who is already serving a prison sentence for corruption, and, literally, hundreds of others convicted of public corruption crimes in recent decades.”

As discouraging as the political landscape can be, there is something to be learned from all of this. Ethics is at the core of any profession. Your reputation and your integrity depend upon your decisions each and every day. As doctors, you won’t be making decisions that effect laws and policy, but rather you’ll be making decisions that effect patients’ lives.

Did you know that ASDAnet.org has an ethics page? This is where you can find ASDA’s White Paper on Ethics as well as a SPEC (Student Professionalism and Ethics Club) start up kit. ASDA has a firm stance on ethics and as a future health care professional, so should you.

~Kim Schneider, Assistant Editor

Back in April, Kim wrote a wonderful post about budget-friendly travel options for the summer ahead. It’s hard to believe it’s already mid-August and the summer weekends are fading quickly. If you’ve had any time off this summer, I hope you’ve spent it exactly as you wished – whether at home with family or in a completely new and exciting setting.

ASDA members have no doubt had great summer adventures, and it’s wonderful to know that many are exploring career options and global oral health while they’re at it. Kudos to the UCLA-Honduras collaboration for its inspiring scope and great documentation! Don’t be shy to share your own travel stories with ASDA, especially those related to school and/or oral health.

I’m writing now from a small cafe in San Pedro La Laguna, Guatemala, where I’ve spent the past three weeks shadowing medical students in rural health posts. Dentistry is not an explicit focus within these clinics, but it’s clear that poor oral health is affecting quality of life in this country in ways I had not previously imagined. I’ll admit to having done very little research ahead of time on the oral health status of Guatemalans, nor the system of dental care delivery. But the information out there is grim.

Interesting differences exist between the expectations of doctors and dentists here. For example, medical students are required to spend 1 year in public service before they can graduate and practice independently. However, dental students have no such requirement. I’m curious whether this means dentists and doctors are thought to have differing levels of commitment to health.

While I don’t see myself practicing in a foreign country in the future, I hope to work in a setting that reaches Americans (whether newly immigrated or longstanding citizens) who are suffering from oral diseases as much as these rural Guatemalans. It’s clear that citizens from many developing countries are going to be entering the United States at high rates for years to come, and they’ll need great dentists like everyone else.

If you have any great resources on global oral health systems, we’d appreciate your comments!

~Colleen Greene, Harvard ’12, Contributing Editor

It’s Friday. Here in Chicago the temperature is already pushing 80 degrees with an expected heat index of 106 today! On hot summer days such as these, it’s hard to think of much else but a pool and a cold glass of iced tea. Although we’re still working hard here at ASDA, this post is dedicated to wasting time. We’ve posted quirky dental videos here (and here) before that probably helped you waste a bit of time before clinic or studying. But if you’d like a whole catalog of time-wasting dental videos, check out DentalToons. It’s a website dedicated to funny photos, videos and archived references that all share the common thread of dentistry. But before you go, participate in today’s poll!

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~Kim Schneider, Assistant Editor