Graphene Oxide & Dental Anesthetics: Separating Fact from Fiction (Updated)
Since we first published this...
Graphene Oxide & Dental Anesthetics: Separating Fact from Fiction (Updated)
Dentistry
Who Decides What Kind of Dental Care You Need?
Who Decides What Kind of Dental Care You Need?
A lot of people are surprised to find out that dental insurance isn’t like medical insurance for your teeth. Unlike “health insurance,” dental insurance is more like a benefit plan with firm limits: a short list of covered procedures, narrow timing rules, and a...
Another Attempt to Regrow Tooth Enamel – but This Time, Biomimetically
Another Attempt to Regrow Tooth Enamel – but This Time, Biomimetically
We don’t usually blog about the “scientists regrow teeth/tooth enamel” headlines you see cropping up regularly. Each time one of those stories trends, we’ve seen more than a few people get their hopes up, believing that patients can already get these experimental...
Graphene Oxide & Dental Anesthetics: Separating Fact from Fiction
Graphene Oxide & Dental Anesthetics: Separating Fact from Fiction
Lately, we’ve been hearing more often from patients concerned about graphene oxide in dental anesthetics. The worries typically stem from online claims that such anesthetics may damage cells or affect the composition of the blood or harm neural tissue – even...
Tooth/Body Flashback: When Dental Implants Fail
Tooth/Body Flashback: When Dental Implants Fail
A while back, an Arizona TV station ran a troubling investigative report on dental implants. Reports of problems with the devices were up. Way up. Analyzing yearly data, there were less than 13,000 reports of problems in 2018. In 2021, reports skyrocketed to...
Laser Therapies Now Available for Our Dental Patients
Laser Therapies Now Available for Our Dental Patients
As a biological office, we value the human element of dental care. We customize treatment to each patient’s needs and take a conservative approach, favoring the least invasive procedures to meet those needs. Ironically, advanced technology is one of the things that...
Want Your Dental Work to Last Longer? Read This
Want Your Dental Work to Last Longer? Read This
By Michael G. Rehme, DDS, NMD, CCN, FIAOMT How long will my dental work last? I’ve been asked this question thousands of times. Over the years – from clinical observations and study of the tooth/body connection – my answer has evolved. I was once told...
Antibiotic Usage in Dentistry
Antibiotic Usage in Dentistry
By Michael G. Rehme, DDS, NMD, CCN After more than 40 years of practicing dentistry, I’ve learned many things about the usage of antibiotics. Through my dental school education, I was taught over and over again that antibiotics should always be administered for...
Yet More on the Power of Platelet Rich Fibrin (PRF)
Yet More on the Power of Platelet Rich Fibrin (PRF)
Your body has a natural ability to heal. You see it, for instance, any time you get a cut, scratch, or scrape. You bleed, and the blood clots to close the wound. Inflammation kicks in to clean and heal the site. New tissue is created. There are things we can do to...
Two New Studies : Wisdom Teeth, Dental Ozone
Two New Studies : Wisdom Teeth, Dental Ozone
Most of your adult teeth come in before you’re a teenager. So why the big delay in getting your wisdom teeth – something not seen in other primates? A new study in Science Advances offers an explanation at last. To solve the riddle, researchers created 3D...
Keeping You Safe During Mercury Amalgam Removal
Keeping You Safe During Mercury Amalgam Removal
Modern technology has done wonders for dentistry, but there are some decidedly low-tech tools that can make a profound difference in your dental care. The rubber dam is one of them – a square nitrile sheet that’s used to isolate the teeth we’re working on....
Strange, But True: Dental Edition
Strange, But True: Dental Edition
Teeth are a little strange. They look lifeless, yet each is a complex living organ. They’re easy to neglect – until something goes wrong, and then a painful tooth will never let you forget that it’s there. At the same time, we’re aware that they’re essential...
From Our Archives: A Dentist Is More than a Mouth Mechanic
From Our Archives: A Dentist Is More than a Mouth Mechanic
Pop culture isn’t always kind to dentists. Likewise, news media often goes to town when a person who happens to be a dentist acts like a horrible human being – ala Cecil the Lion’s killer. No less sensational are stories about unlicensed dentists practicing in...
How Dentistry Can Be Hazardous to Health
How Dentistry Can Be Hazardous to Health
When you think about dangerous jobs, dentistry probably doesn’t spring to mind. Yet according to a recent article over at Business Insider, four of the five most hazardous jobs involve dental workers. Hygienists were found to have the riskiest jobs, followed by...
Antibiotic-Happy Dentistry
Antibiotic-Happy Dentistry
Most folks aren’t surprised when their dentist prescribes an antibiotic. It’s so common, so expected that patients don’t pause to ask why they need the drugs to begin with. Or what the side effects might be. Or what alternatives are available. Over 24 million...
When Should Your Child See a Dentist?
When Should Your Child See a Dentist?
If you’re a new parent, you have a lot on your plate. As part of your new responsibilities, you’ll at some point wonder when to bring your child to the dentist. You may have heard that dental organizations recommend parents schedule their child’s first appointment...
Can You Regenerate Tissues Ravaged by Gum Disease?
Can You Regenerate Tissues Ravaged by Gum Disease?
If you’ve got advanced gum disease, you know how devastating it can be. Left unchecked, it will destroy your connective and periodontal tissues alike. It’s an infection that can cause pain, tooth mobility, and tooth loss. And the microbes involved are associated...
EPA Rule Finalized: Mercury Amalgam Separators a Must
EPA Rule Finalized: Mercury Amalgam Separators a Must
An early Christmas gift arrived last week: The EPA finalized its new rule for reducing mercury discharges from dental offices. That mercury, of course, comes courtesy of the amalgam used to make so-called “silver” fillings. Amalgam is about 50% mercury, a potent...
Transforming from Driller to Bio Dentist
Transforming from Driller to Bio Dentist
Most people don’t realize that dentists are doctors of dental surgery. That’s what the DDS stands for, in fact. It starts to make sense if you think about what happens when you have a tooth filled. It’s a surgical procedure. There’s local anesthetic, removal of...
Your Health Ally, Your Hygienist
Your Health Ally, Your Hygienist
What’s the secret to social acceptance, upward mobility, meaningful relationships, quality employment options, and positive self-esteem? Your smile. Yes, poor oral health really can determine whether you reach the top rung of your potential ladder – or not. Even if...