Category Archives: Clinical

The Hippocratic Oath is frequently referred to during discussions about medicine, and by extension dentistry. Portions are quoted but I never knew whether they were taken in or out of context. To my knowledge nobody ever discusses the full words and meaning of the statements, attributed to Hippocrates, some two and a half millennia agoContinue reading “Often quoted but ever read?”

In these days where many dentists offer “Botox” as part of their Aesthetic Dental Menu, a profitable procedure with the benefit to the provider that it needs to be “topped up” so there is the potential for plenty of repeat business. Perhaps we should pause and give thanks the late John Lee whose obituary wasContinue reading “Doing Botox? – here’s the man to thank.”

I wonder how many “at last an end to tooth decay” articles I have seen over the past 30 years. Ever the optimist here’s some recent research. From Medical News Today The Groningen professors Bauke Dijkstra and Lubbert Dijkhuizen have deciphered the structure and functional mechanism of the glucansucrase enzyme that is responsible for dentalContinue reading “Breakthrough In Dental Plaque Research”

The British Dental Association has been criticised for its lack of resistance to the recent impositions of HTM01-05 and the Care Quality Commission. In the past couple of days they have issed the following statement and have done a U-turn on making the advice package available free of charge to members, (it was originally goingContinue reading “BDA says enough is enough”

Here’s an article from my most recent Ezine, about Mouth Cancer Awareness Month. Please read it in conjunction with my blogpost on the cause of Oral Cancers that I wrote in August last year. …….On my first full afternoon, tiring of shopping in The Mall and dreading spending any more time than I needed inContinue reading “Mouth Cancer Action Month”

I was in on the “ground floor” of Gloucestershire Independent Dentists when it formed in the early 1990s following the NHS fee cut and (yet another) new NHS contract. I still attend their meetings when I am able and am happy to present advance notice of a couple of good ones upcoming in the nextContinue reading “Two Great Meetings In Gloucestershire”

But it could be applied to any surgical specialism. Early in my hospital career I quickly tired of patients being referred to the wisdom teeth in bed 22 or the fracture on ward so and so. One of my early coaches, David Price, used to pose the question “What will you do for the benefitContinue reading “Orthopaedics v Anaesthesia”

During the later stages of my father’s life he suffered with xerostomia, or dry mouth, due to his anti-diuretic medication. It meant that he found it extremely difficult to wear his dentures; always a proud man, this added a psychological problem to his physical ones. It was a sign of the poor care that heContinue reading “Dry Mouth- Potentially Good News?”

Orthodontists – stop space closure and get on with separating those centrals. New York fashion week: “It’s all about gappy teeth” A report from the Guardian claims gap teeth are “the must-have orthodontic trait du jour” at New York’s fashion week as designers are calling for models with a diastema (a gap between two teeth).Continue reading “New York fashion week: “It’s all about gappy teeth””