Category Archives: Health

Is it me or am I in a supermarket checkout time loop?

Headline from yesterday’s Guardian: “Removing sweets from checkouts could help tackle obesity – study” Every dental professional who ever lived will probably shake their head and roll their eyes, (not a good look), when they read this, and mutter, “Isn’t that what we have been trying to achieve for years, or is it decades?” BackContinue reading “Is it me or am I in a supermarket checkout time loop?”

HPV vaccination (yet) again

July 2018: The Words: “UK Government advisers have recommended extending funding for human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines to boys. The HPV vaccine was previously offered to girls aged 12 to 13, with the new recommendation meaning 400,000 boys will also benefit every year. All UK Governments took on board the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunsation’s (JCVI’s) advice.Continue reading “HPV vaccination (yet) again”

Yerkes-Dodson is still relevant – if you want to enjoy your clinical career

Why should a “law” described first in 1908 be relevant to everyday Dentistry (and more)? Robert Yerkes and John Dillingham Dodson described their tests with rats that could be encouraged to complete a maze when stimulated with slight electrical shocks. When the strength of the shocks was increased however the rats just ran about lookingContinue reading “Yerkes-Dodson is still relevant – if you want to enjoy your clinical career”

Our society is being highjacked

Thanks to Cal Newport for pointing me towards this site in his latest Study Hacks blogpost, “Beyond Digital Ethics”. He talks about the work of Tristan Harris and The Centre for Humane Technology from whose website I have taken a page. What began as a race to monetize our attention is now eroding the pillarsContinue reading “Our society is being highjacked”

The Weekend Read – This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay

Very few, if any, books have made me weep with laughter and cry with upset in the space of a couple of pages but Adam Kay’s memoir of his years as a junior hospital doctor managed it. The final chapter left me in bits for many reasons. I ordered the book thinking it would beContinue reading “The Weekend Read – This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay”

The rising north–south divide in health in the UK

This doesn’t make great reading. ….in the past 20 years, age- and sex-adjusted excess mortality has increased by as much as 46 percentage points in people aged 35–44 years in the north of England compared with the south, and by 27 percentage points in people aged 25–34 years… ….One cause of this higher mortality isContinue reading “The rising north–south divide in health in the UK”

Peter Ward exposes the NHS(E)’s “Cunning Plan”

Nice editorial in the BDJ from BDA Chief Exec Peter Ward. HERE Edited highlights only Death by commissioning ….That master plan looks like a determined effort to wrest away NHS dental care from small autonomous units. That model that has been supplied by a legion of conscientious practitioners ever since the beginning of the NHS.Continue reading “Peter Ward exposes the NHS(E)’s “Cunning Plan””

The Painful Truth About Teeth (USA)

From The Washington Post SALISBURY, Md. — Two hours before sunrise, Dee Matello joined the line outside the Wicomico Civic Center, where hundreds of people in hoodies, heavy coats and wool blankets braced against a bitter wind. Inside, reclining dental chairs were arrayed in neat rows across the arena’s vast floor. Days later, the venueContinue reading “The Painful Truth About Teeth (USA)”

The second life begins…when the drill is hung up.

  I encountered this quote from Confucius in the FT, coincidentally in the week where I was reading The Path an interesting book on Chinese Philosophy and whilst still coming to terms with the fact that since March 18th I can no longer sing the Beatles’ song which starts, “When I get older losing my hair”Continue reading “The second life begins…when the drill is hung up.”