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Prevention is not expensive… Disease is!

“There are many varieties that you can get in a Dental crown/cap” I explained someone that I was speaking to last week and who needed to get that treatment done, and with that, I elaborated upon the cost of treatment. “It has become so expensive” was the expected answer that I got from the other end. “Well, why do you think you need this crown,” I asked them, “because my tooth has been treated with root canal treatment after which the cap is necessary to protect it further,” they said. “Good and what made you go through the root canal treatment?” I asked again. “Because my tooth had a cavity!” they looked at me in surprise, thinking why I was interrogating them. “Well,” I said, “and you had a cavity because for over a period of few years your food was getting stuck in that region of your mouth, which was completely ignored by you. If you would have come to me with that small problem I may not even have done a root canal treatment for you, forget the crown. You could have saved quite
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The Very Important Patient (VIP) culture in Health sciences! Do give it a second thought!

So many a times while scrolling down through my social media page I see posts like these: Mr . XYX: “Honored and privileged to have so and so Politician/Celebrity/ etc in my Dental clinic for treatment today” followed by 4-5 pictures, and of course , multiple wows and claps follow in the comment and like sections for these updates! My dear healthcare providers the very important patient is a strange culture which we have created and we promote. Wow! The so and so is coming, and we may even cancel the routine appointments and get us and our entire team working towards a single person, and not just that we create an over the top hype about treating someone who I believe should be treated like just another human being. I do agree that there are people who do hold certain posts which carry more responsibility, who do carry an image which is associated with more fame and who may have a lot more bank balance than the others, but do you think it should influence yours or my attitu

With the rising Marathon of short courses in dental sciences, where do we truly wish to reach?

    Comprehensive two-day course in Periodontology both non-surgical and surgical!     Learn Rotary endodontics and get some file sets complementary      Two sessions and two systems of Dental Implants Well, well, well I am sure even you do get many such messages on your phone, e-mails on your mailbox and advertisements on your social media profile, and by whom? The list is endless my dear colleagues isn’t it! What surprises me a little though is that, the same Periodontology which I learnt in three years of duration is comprehensively covered in two days time, the same endodontists who probably finished learning a year or may be three years back are ready to train well enough in a short course format, the same Dentist who just finished getting trained in LASERS from an institute abroad is one of the most recommended trainer in dental LASERS, and the same dental surgeon who barely did ten straight forward dental Implant cases is training on the dental Implant systems. Even i

With the Magical advent of Dental Implants, have we forgotten to conserve and save?

“The furcation is involved; this tooth won’t serve you for too long!” “The decay has almost reached the root, better to remove it and replace it!” “It’s mobile! Saving it requires more appointments, and then we are not sure how your tissues response will be; I suggest replacing it with a DENTAL IMPLANT!” Sounds like your own self? Don’t worry every second dental surgeon sounds like this today! Dental Implants are undoubtedly the biggest boon in dentistry both for the dentist and the patient. No cutting of the adjacent teeth, no ill-fitting dentures, and a magical tooth back in place along with an artificial root. But does that mean using this magic, in teeth, which can rather heal with your time and efforts? With the multiple courses which train and teach Dental Implantology we have many “trained Dental Implantologists” in the fraternity today, thus, where it was once rare for a dentist to dare an Implant in their own clinic, today everyone is in a position to take it up. T

Have a look at these two slides...I don't need to write paragraphs...Its self explanatory!

In which hurry are we when we operate? And why?

The images that I have put are that of a mandibular third molar which was extracted by a general dentist, and an anterior root canal which was access opened by an endodontist. I witnessed the first at a clinic where I went to enquire for consultations, and the second was forwarded to me for an opinion regarding the treatment plan.  To my knowledge, both the operating dentists of the independent images are very good at their work. If some of you are still wondering what’s with that extracted tooth? Then well, it does have a roughly 2-3mms of apical segment broken from one root, and the marginal gingiva is attached to the tooth on its proximal and buccal aspect. And with the radiograph! I am sure many of you from the other specialties would be gasping and thinking, wow! I am indeed better than the endodontists! But my point to put these here is to make you aware that good practitioners too may create blunders when in hurry! While at the clinic for consultation where this extractio

Is this how we “Cut our expenditures” in dentistry!

So day before yesterday I had this middle aged lady in my clinic with discomfort and pain in the upper right quadrant. I could see no frank pathology in that region, except a metal ceramic crown with the second molar which she had got placed some eight months back. After removing some local deposits from that region I could locate the pain to the area between the first and the second molar. There was some food lodgment there and I suspected a proximal decay with the first molar because there was some discoloration and roughness. I went ahead with a radiograph but the tooth appeared intact with no radiolucency, I was still in two thoughts; both the first and the second molar were slightly tender, but neither could I see any periapical pathology nor I could see a decay. I removed the food that was sitting in between the two teeth but could not find a lot to curette. I scheduled the patient for my endodontist, to finalize, take a call and start any RC/Re-RC. Since even he could not pin