We all know the expression “the eyes are the window to the soul.” As oral health professionals, we view the mouth as the window to the entire body. Studies have shown that good oral health correlates to better overall health. Contrarily, poor oral health has been linked to a long list of systemic diseases. A 2011 article in Diabetologia found a prominent link between oral health and diabetes.
Each year of dental school brings a new learning experience. You start out learning the intricate details of each tooth. By the end you’re learning about the business of dentistry. Here are a few apps you can download to keep you on track year after year.
With more and more industries moving away from physical information, many are looking at technology as a more efficient means of capturing, translating and delivering that information. While CAD/CAM (Computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing) dentistry has been around for a few decades, the technology itself has matured to the point where it is more accessible in terms of cost and usability. Whether it’s used to digitally send an impression to a lab or to provide a patient with a same-day crown, CAD/CAM technology is quickly being integrated into the field of dentistry.
With that being said, this video is a very basic introduction to the general workflow for a CAD/CAM crown. While this video uses a specific system, the concepts discussed are general and relevant to most systems.
Flap design and suturing are critical components of surgical dentistry due to their role in exposing otherwise inaccessible teeth or osseous structures during oral surgery. Under the mentorship of Dr. Jeffrey A. Elo at the Western University of Health Sciences, I investigated how the use of a novel incision and flap design with primary closure can drastically reduce the rate of alveolar osteitis (“dry socket”) following mandibular third molar removal, a phenomenon which reportedly affects 10-45% of patients.
Dentistry is a door to many unexpected opportunities. This was certainly the case for Dr. Sam Smiley of Dublin, Ohio. 13 years into his career, Dr. Smiley received a fateful call from the Columbus Zoo. A 350-pound western gorilla was not eating properly and was in obvious distress. Dr. Smiley was asked if he’d perform a dental exam during the gorilla’s routine physical. He agreed, and so began his career as a volunteer dentist for the Columbus Zoo.
Tracking health and fitness through mobile apps and high-tech wearables has boomed significantly in the past few years. In particular, wearable devices, such as smartwatches, have evolved from simply tracking steps or heart rate to even monitoring glucose, breathing, blood pressure, cardiac arrthymia, sleep patterns and even head injury severity. When it comes to mobile apps, a 2015 study in the Journal of Medical Internet Research found that an astonishing 58.23% of all U.S. phone users surveyed had downloaded at least one health-related mobile app. Welcome to the age of the “quantified self.”
On my first day of Organic Chemistry, our professor handed each of us a packet containing the major functional groups and their corresponding pKa values. We were told to memorize them. Many students frantically made flashcards, and quizzed each other out loud. Meanwhile, I studied by watching football.
When I looked at the functional groups, I not only saw ketones, esters and carboxylic acids, but to me, each structure resembled an NFL team and my favorite fantasy football players. I make these associations subconsciously. It’s been second nature to me my entire life.
