Tag: dentistry

Don’t Let Just Anyone Touch Your Occlusion

Dental Revelations14 Comments

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Grinding or clenching of the teeth is a very common problem. It is a nasty problem for its bearer as it causes pain in the muscles and in the jaw joint, headache, toothache and even disturbed sleep at night. If nothing is done to the problem the teeth will eventually suffer from the grinding especially if the occlusion is imbalanced. There will be a recession in the gum, worn enamel, chipped enamel and periodontal problems to start with.

So if you do know that you grind or clench your teeth at night – or even more so if you clench your teeth during the day which is a definite sign that you do it also at night – go to see your dentist. But here’s an important advice:

Do not go to see just any dentist. Find a specialist in that has done 3 extra years of stuyding to gain the title prosthodontics (even better if one has a PhD).

Why? I will tell you the reasons from my own experience.

My First Mouth Guard Or Should I Say Bite Block

I am a dental professional and in my early career I was quite naive and thought that all the dentist can do all the stuff they are taught at school. I was so wrong.

In my first year after graduation I had a bite guard made by a regular dentist in my practice. I soon realised it wasn’t perfect and sought help from a specialist in prosthodontics who was working in our practice.

The first thing the specialist did was that he filed away about 0,7 cm (0,28 inches) of the hight of the bite guard without fitting it in the middle of the filing. Once he was done with the filing he started to adjust it to my occlusion. He was covered with acrylic dust and he did lots of eye rolling and head shaking.

He told me that the bite guard is not ideal and it would be better to have it redone. I never really used it after that and I carried on suffering from the grinding and clenching of the teeth.

My Second Mouth Guard – When Desperate You Accept Anything

Couple of years later I lived in another country and once again sought help from a dentist for the grinding. She recommended me an anterior night guard (also known as NTI or MCI) which she did routinely for every patient suffering from grinding.

Now I tried to find you a web site that had a photo and impartial info about anterior night guard but wasn’t able to find one. So I took a photo of mine. I must apologise that the device is not in a mint condition anymore. There is my current mouth guard (that I will tell you more about later in this post) in the photo for comparison.

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NTI/MCI/anterior night guard on the left

I felt this anterior night guard – I will call it MCI from now on – relieved the symptoms I had. I was very happy about the dentist and the MCI. Until I spoke to a former colleague of mine, a very good dentist.

He warned me that I was in risk of developing an anterior open bite due to a use of MCI. I did not second guess him once he explained the reasons.

With MCI the back teeth do not make contact. And when the teeth don’t make a contact with the opposite side they will erupt while the front teeth are kept in place by MCI. The over-erupted back teeth cause the open bite in the front. Simple as that.

We’ve all seen what happens to a tooth that lacks an opposing partner in occlusion. It over-erupts!

So I got an advice to use the MCI for 2 weeks and then keep 2 weeks break to avoid the over-erupting back teeth. So I did. But it did not keep the symptoms of grinding at bay.

My Third Mouth Guard Was Almost What It Should Be

Five years later I was back in my home country where I was advised to have a mouth guard done by a dentist in my practice. I did and she removed my upper wisdom teeth so that it was easier to have the mouth guard done. Once I received the mouth guard I didn’t feel it was helping me at all.

At this point I had had enough of the dentists in this matter and decided to see a specialist in prosthodontics. One that was known to be a good one.

The specialist did a careful examination on my teeth and the mouth guard. He said the mouth guard was ok’ish and that he just needed to adjust it. I also showed him my MCI which he advised to use only as emergency basis and only 4-5 days in a row.

I told to the specialist that I have a feeling that only my last molars were in contact. He checked it and said there was no imbalance – meaning that my bite was as it should be. I also asked if I should do the exercise for the jaw muscles. The specialist said there is no benefit of it.

I had to return to see the specialist every 6 months and every time he adjusted the mouth guard and charged quite a lot even compared to the specialist’s fares.

After 3 years of using the mouth guard there was a hole in it. I had apparently “bitten” through it. It was time to have a new mouthguard done.

My Fourth And Current Mouth Guard

For one reason or another I did not completely trust the specialist I had been seeing so I asked for recommendations of specialists from my colleagues. Based on the recommendations I went to see a specialist in prosthodontics and stomatognathic physiology – she had PhD too!

I was kinda shy when mentioning that I have a feeling that only my last molars were in contact – well hell yeah, one specialist had told me I was imagining things.

Only this time I was told I was right. She also told me that I have a partial anterior open bite. I was flabbergasted. I knew that not all the dentist master the matters of occlusion but even the specialists get it wrong!

And once she had done her magic about my occlusion by balancing it I felt the difference immediately.

By the way – my intact upper wisdom teeth were unnecessarily removed by the dentist who made my third mouth guard. A mouth guard can be done with the wisdom teeth in place as long as they are nicely positioned as mine were.

So after I had my occlusion sorted out I got my new bestest of the best mouth guard. It is amazing I must say. It brought me an immediate relief. But I was only half way through the treatment.

I was booked to see a dental hygienist who did massage for the muscles of the jaw in 3 separate visits and gave instructions (based on the specialist’s recommendations) on how to exercise the muscles by stretching and strengthening them. I realised that having a mouth guard is not enough. It won’t take away the root cause of the grinding which in my case was the weak muscles that did not support the jaw.

The MCI I was not allowed to use again. I did not argue with that.

Conclusion

I, a dental professional had three mouth guards (including the MCI) done until I got a proper one. None of the dentists I saw for the mouth guard had a clue about occlusion or what is the best treatment for it. The second specialist was only concentrating on the mouth guard and did not find the imbalance in my bite. Naughty naughty. I guess he was concentrating in money making – I sense these things as I am HSP – and that was probably one reason I didn’t go back to see him.

I worry over the patients who do not have an understanding of what is right treatment for grinding and clenching of the teeth. There are lots of people using MCI every night and they have been using it for years and years. Do they realise that the open bite they have developed is caused by the use of MCI? No they don’t as the dentist won’t necessarily tell them – especially if the patient is seeing the same dentist who recommended the MCI (see my previous post about this phenomenon). And it is not guaranteed that another dentist will tell either.

Also very commonly the treatment dentists offer for the grinding is the mouth guard. And only the mouth guard. But that is never enough! The best thing any dentist can do for the patient who is suffering from the grinding is to REFER to a specialist.

Important information for the patients: You can make a self referral to a specialist by simply booking an appointment. They will not say no to the new patients. Be prepared to pay more for the mouth guard but it is money well spent.

The occlusion is a delicate thing. I always advice patients not to let just anyone adjust the bite. It can go from bad to worse. You are in better hands when seeing a specialist in prosthodontics. The higher educated one the better – in any health matter.

I learned my lesson the hard way. I suffered from the grinding for many years. I lost two intact wisdom teeth unnecessarily. And I can’t help but think that the malocclusion on my back teeth and the partial anterior open bite were caused by the MCI. There was a dreadful moment when the specialist was thinking that I might need crowns for my intact canine teeth to fix the open bite and to get enough support for the side movements of the jaw. So I can count myself as lucky that the malocclusion could be fixed by simply filing the teeth.

Phew!

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How Clean Are Your Hands?

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I used to work with a very talented oral and maxillofacial surgeon who did not accept just any nurse to be his assistant. The reason for this was that he wanted absolute aseptic environment for the implant surgeries he was performing. In his words

“One either has an aseptic consciousness or doesn’t. It cannot be taught.”

At that time I thought he was exaggerating but I have learned since that he was actually right.

Simplified, the aseptic conscious is an ability to know when surface, instrument, hand is contaminated by bacteria and how and in which order you start to fix it to make it asepsis. It is an ability to know where you can touch without contaminating the gloves when you are treating a patient. It is the key for effective cross infection control in dental practices.

We learn asepsis at dental schools. But there are things you cannot learn by just reading from the book. Sometimes even practice won’t teach us. In my experience aseptic conscious is as hard to learn as singing. If you do not have the gift you will not become a successful singer (the one’s singing in the shower do not count in this comparison!).

Failing in Basics

A dentist puts her face mask on, washes her hands and puts the gloves on. She gets closer to the patient, adjusts her face mask and uses her little finger to move her hanging fringe to the side of her head…

Err, what went wrong? Pretty much everything after putting the gloves on.

Not understanding what contaminates the clean areas/instruments/hands is a major problem in dentistry. It applies to all the dental professionals – not only the dentists. Even bigger problem is that it is also a subject amongst dental professionals that is hard to bring up if you see a colleague doing something that compromises the cross infection control.

But we must speak about it! How else would they learn asepsis?

Clean Hands

Washing hands needs to be done correctly for it to be effective. But washing hands can be replaced by the use of disinfection gel if the hands are not visibly contaminated. But this needs a correct technique too.

All the professional’s should watch this video about washing hands and using the disinfection gel. I bet many of us fail in the technique.

I must point out that in this video they apply far to little of disinfection gel – if you have an automatic dispenser like the ones the hospitals have, trust the amount the dispenser gives you even if it feels too much.

Also in this video they begin the use of disinfection gel in wrong order. The correct technique goes like this:

  1. Take the gel to the palm of your left hand (or the right, it doesn’t matter from which hand you start)
  2. Dip the finger tips of your right hand in the gel on your balm
  3. Pour the gel to the palm of the right hand
  4. Dip the left hand’s finger tips in the gel
  5. Only then start to spread the gel as advised in the video

Important to remember: Never try to speed up the evaporation of the disinfection gel by waving your hands in the air. This will only contaminate your hands with airborne pathogens.

Revelations

Too many of us professionals fail in either disinfecting the hands or keeping them uncontaminated during the treatments. To prove my point I will tell you my observations.

I have seen

  • dentist removing temporarily his face mask during the treatment to speak to the patient and placing it back again (the same mask and the same gloves) before continuing the treatment
  • dentist using the mirror handle’s tip to press computer keyboard key’s in the middle of the treatment
  • dentist touching the water tap (especially when adjusting dentures/bite block to rinse the apparatus) with the gloves he’s entering patient’s mouth
  • dentists, hygienists and nurses to reach instruments/materials inside the surgery cupboard with gloves that are contaminated by patient’s saliva
  • dentists removing their glove from one hand in the middle of the treatment to do something “aseptically” and then placing the same glove back again
  • dentists removing both of their gloves in the middle of the treatment to do something “aseptically” and then placing the same gloves back again
  • dentists using disinfection gel for the gloves
  • nurses having long and polished nails – I mean reeeally long
  • dentists, hygienists, nurses wearing watches and bracelets

Thank god dental surgeries are pretty much paperless nowadays. The dentists used to check the dental records in the middle of the treatment with the same gloves as they were treating the patient.

Conclusion

A Dentist, hygienist or nurse with pathogen-free hands is every patient’s right to have.

So do pay attention how you get ready for the treatment with each patient. Sometimes we are behind schedule and we cut corners but with this matter you simply cannot.

I will end this post by an information on how all the dental professionals should get ready for the patient (in every day dentistry) and hope you will follow this advise already today.

Before the treatment:

  1. disinfection gel (or hand wash if visibly contaminated hands)
  2. face mask and eye protection
  3. disinfection gel
  4. gloves

After the treatment:

  1. Remove the gloves
  2. disinfection gel
  3. remove the face mask and eye protection
  4. disinfection gel

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Morals in Dentistry

Dental Revelations5 Comments

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It’s time to get serious again. In this post I will get to the bottom problem of the dental industry. The lack of morals and the urge to maximise profit at the cost of the individuals is like a plaque that sticks around before the cure is found. For about half of the dentists I have met fall into that category and that’s a lot considering that we – the health care workers – should be the ones having the highest integrity of all.

What I will do next is give examples of the lack of morals amongst dental professionals. It will be just a (thin) slice of a (big) cake but you will get the idea no doubt. For clarification, all the examples are from real life and witnessed by yours truly.

NHS Dentists

For those who are not familiar with the NHS, it is the UK’s National Health Service. The NHS dentists work under a contract and receive payments for the treatments done.

Before the year 2006 (when the contract was replaced with a new one) the misuse of the system was widespread. The dentists were laughing at the system that was like a gold mine to them. They could easily make an outstanding pay by doing certain treatments that would not raise questions. It did anything but raise questions. The treatments made them look like they were concentrating on preventive care and looking out the patient’s best interest.

A revelation:

The truth is that they did not care about patients. Patient was merely a tool for money making. An example: The dentists made fissure sealants for every patient who did not have them and they made them from first premolar to the last molar. There was no evaluation if the fissure sealant was needed and it was an easy treatment to justify to the patient as it was preventive treatment.

“It prevents you getting a decay…”

Who would say no to that?

Fissure sealant was very quick treatment to do as it could be done in batches (all the premolars and molars from the left side in one go and next the right side) guaranteeing a very productive day moneywise for the dentist. There are probably millions of people in the UK whose teeth are coated with fissure sealants.

Eventough the NHS contract was renewed in 2006, the dentists found new ways of misusing the system.

Root Canal Treatment on Wisdom Tooth… What The?

The most immoral dentists have found a way to make the most out of every tooth – moneywise. Normally the decision to remove a fully erupted wisdom tooth is made lightly if there are any problems like decaying, periodontal problem, malocclusion with the tooth. But more than once I have seen wisdom teeth that have been heavily filled, root canal treated and even have had crowns on them (on top of the root canal treatment).

There is no other explanation to this than a dentist who is practicing dentistry only to gain wealth.

Performing Treatments Without Having the Skills

Some dentists suggest treatments they have no skills to perform and charge the patient as if they were specialists. An example: A dentist recommends periodontal treatment to the patient. The course of treatment consists four 30 minute visits to remove calculus one quadrant per visit and the cost is the same as if a periodontist would perform the treatment. Once the course of treatment is done by this wannabe specialist, the patient goes to see a hygienist for oral hygiene instructions. The hygienist soon realises that there is still lots of subgingival calculus left and therefore the gum disease is still active.

The hygienist does her best to remove the calculus (which she has skills for) and the patient is left under an illusion that nothing is wrong.

It is called collegiality what just happened. Dental professionals covering for each other’s mistakes and malpractice.

Root Canal File in the Root Canal

In our business the equipment can malfunction and instruments can break in use. In these cases it is good practice to tell the patient what happened. For example a curette’s tip can break inside the pocket of the tooth. It can be found from there but the patient needs to know what happened. Some dentist cover these kinds of incidents or mistakes they have made by simply not informing the patient. Now THAT if anything is malpractice.

An example. A root canal file broke inside the patient’s tooth whilst the dentist was performing a root canal treatment. The nurse did not notice the incident until a control x-ray was taken and the file was clearly visible. The dentist did not inform the patient about the broken file or attempt to remove the file.

Treating Patients With Cold Sore

This matter is so serious that I am going to write separate post about it. When a patient comes in with a cold sore, the guidelines are quite clear about what us dental professionals should do. We should not treat the patient unless it is urgent treatment that cannot be postponed. Why? Because there is serious risk with the virus causing the cold sore – the herpes simplex virus.

Herpes virus can easily spread in the aerosols our high speed instruments produce. Dentist, nurse, hygienist and the patient are in risk of contracting it through their eyes. This can result in blindness.

This is just one worry over the herpes virus. Follow my blog to find out more in detail why we shouldn’t treat the patients with cold sore.

Even though we have guidelines, even though the dentists have the highest education (so they should know better), too often they decide to treat the patients who have cold sore. And the reason for this is greed. The ugly side of our profession.

Conclusion

The dental industry draws in immoral individuals because it has been allowed to happen. It wasn’t until the 21st century when the dental schools started to interview the applicants for the undergraduate programmes of dentistry. Before this the suitability of the applicant’s personality was not measured by any tests. This means there are dentists in the field that should not be dentists.

In my opinion all the dentists who have not gone through the MMI should be asked to have one. If they fail, they should be struck off their profession.

But no test is a fool proof way of finding the bad seeds. The most rotten souls can often talk their way through any obstacles. And the reason why these individuals are drawn to the dentist’s profession is the well known fact that they make rather nice pay (here’s one article about it).

Greed. One of the Seven Deadly Sins.