By Jessica Gold and Anna Urbano A week on a mobile dental clinic from the students’ perspective Last March, for a week, we were fortunate enough to participate in an outreach mission to Honduras. The mission was led by pediatrician Dr. F. Gorodzinsky and pediatric dentist Dr. C. Friedman, and included pediatric dentists, pediatric residents, and registered nurses. It was the first time in fifteen years that dental students participated in such a mission and it has been the most eye-opening experience of our careers as dental students, thus far. Daily, before joining our brigades, where we provided emergent dental ...

One of CDA Oasis priority topics for 2015 is Communication and its role in the success of the dental practice. As “language is the garment of thought”, communication determines who we are and how we think about ourselves vis-à-vis the other. In this context, the use of the word patient or client to describe the recipient of oral health care services may be significant for dentists. In this video interview, Dr. Cheryl Cable opens up the conversaation around this topic and invites your reactions and feedback.  Dr. Cheryl Cable is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the University ...

Dr. Vinay Bhide, periodontist, spoke with Dr. John O’Keefe, Director of Knowledge Networks at the Canadian Dental Association about his personal experience of being a patient with the Ramsay Hunt Syndrome.  Watch the video    

This summary is based on the Recommendation Statement published in the American Family Physician journal by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force: Prevention of Dental Caries in Children from Birth Through Five Years of Age: Recommendation Statement (February 2015) Context Dental caries is the most common chronic disease in children in the United States.1 According to the 1999–2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, approximately 42% of children two to 11 years of age have dental caries in their primary teeth. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) found adequate evidence that oral fluoride supplementation, also known as dietary fluoride ...

Dr. David Patrick spoke with Dr. John O’Keefe about the prescribing patterns of antibiotics among health professionals in B.C. Dr. David Patrick is a medical doctor, Associate professor in the Division of infectious diseases, School of Population and Public Health at UBC, and Director of Epidemiology Services at the BC Center for Disease Control. To contact Dr. David Patrick by email: david.patrick@ubc.ca  Watch the video Additional resource  Fawziah M, George D, Chong M, Sutherland S, Patrick DM. Antibiotic prescribing by dentists has increased: why?. J Am Dent Assoc. 2016 Feb 5. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.adaj.2015.12.014 [Epub ahead of print]

Dr. Gary Samson and Dr. Ian Doyle lead a humanitarian mission to the remote areas of Guyana. RAMV mission to the Pakaraima Mountain area of Guyana, South America. Empowering the Amerindians to service the dental needs of the remote village of Paramakatoi and the surrounding villages in the Pakaraima Mountains of Guyana has been the goal of Dr. Ian Doyle since his first volunteer dental mission there in 2007.  At the request of the Guyanese government, the mission’s goal was to provide dental services to this remote area accessible only by air.  Retired dentist Dr. Gary Samson organized the mission ...

Dr. John Kershman spoke with Dr. John O’Keefe about the importance of having dentists become blood donors and then for them to advocate for their patients to become blood donors. As oral health care providers, dentists care about people’s health and should take their leadership responsibilities and lead by example.  Dr. Kershman’s Template Letter (PDF) Dr. Kershman is an orthodontist and periodontist, graduate of McGill University, and practices in Ottawa, ON. you can contact him at jkcbs@drkershman.com Watch the video interview   Dr. John Kershman would like to thank Dr. Sam Kucey and the associates and staff at Argyle Associates in Ottawa for their ...

By now, every dentist in Canada must be aware of the Facebook group behavior at Dalhousie University that has featured prominently in media across the country for the past month. There has been a lot of very heated discourse about what should be done in the wake of this series of events, and I know that many dentists feel particularly hurt by how our profession has been portrayed in some of the more biting commentaries. On a personal basis, I have wrestled with how to analyze the behavior and place it in proper context. I have also wrestled with what ...