I got the chance to use an interesting piece of small "dental" equipment recently with a patient who broke a provisional: My iPhone! Whenever a patient breaks a provisional I wonder if I missed something with the occlusion? Or did the patient eat something that was hard or sticky? More and more lately I have also been doing what I call a "chew test", which I Read More
Speaking In A Language Patients Understand
I know I am not the only dentist who has patients who are not moving forward with the treatment I have recommended. Recently when interacting with a patient who was not moving forward with occlusal therapy I got to watch his understanding shift about the recommendation I had made. The difference was in explaining it in a language he understood, because I Read More
Using Mallampati Scores
Screening our patients for airway and breathing issues is becoming a standard in dentistry. One of the things we have started to use in our practice are Mallampati scores as a quick, easy visual screening process. If you are not familiar with them, it will be a tool you will want to implement. Read More
Setting Your Camera’s Diopter
Recently I was having trouble with my digital images being out of focus even though they looked right to me through the viewfinder. I called Photomed as I thought my camera needed to go in for repair. They shared a great little tip on setting the diopter adjustment. This can be very important especially in a dental office where the camera is shared amongst Read More
Helping Patients Understand “The Why”
I recently got to be part of a very impactful conversation with a patient. He had come to my practice frustrated with a previous dentist about recommendations to do adult orthodontics. After completing a comprehensive exam I saw that there could be benefits from orthodontic therapy. The challenge was: Could I help him connect with the benefits in a way that Read More