I was minding my own business on YouTube, and I happened to stumble onto a dentist sketch that wasn’t very funny. It got me thinking- what are the good dental sketches out there? I started searching YouTube for them…

This one has to do with an abnormally incompetent dentist who is working right out of his book with the patient. He numbs his hands, and hilarity ensues.

This one has to do with a dentist who talks about toilets while talking to a patient and gets pretty inappropriate. He is called “rude dentist” and he actually has a large handful of sketches where he is rude talking to the patient.

This sketch has to do with a dentist who doesn’t seem to understand his patient unless he has his hands in his patient’s mouth.

This patient got some embarrassing results.

In this one they mock Bane from the Batman movies, until the punchline kicks in.

A young man doesn’t floss enough.

A woman attacks a dentist thinking he is talking about her breasts.

Crazy woman goes to the dentist.

Bill Cosby goes to the dentist.

I was actually pretty unimpressed with all the dental sketches I could find. Though I remember Bob’s Burger’s dentist and I found that to be pretty entertaining. The character’s name is Dr. Yap, here is the preview to the episode:

Engineers have perfected a robotic female patient, her name is Showa Hanako 2, which allows dentists to practice new procedures on non-living subjects. The robot is designed to help figure out the amount of discomfort that the patient may have, having the ability to both gag and swallow. It even has the ability to flinch at perceived pain. Japan’s Showa University is so comfortable with their life like training robot that they feel she is ready to work with actual dentists.

It actually does more then flinch- it blinks on its own, and is capable of sneezing. There is an actual list of other human like habits it can display, but most of them are a little inane to write about (for example displaying signs of wanting to close its mouth from jaw pain). It actually even response to voice recognition technology to help react to the doctor, and can even carry out very simple conversations using Raytron. This started being developed about 10 years ago, this is the first version that has realistic skin and movement. Showa Hanako 2 has several major improvements over the previous model. The skin has been changed from PVC to silicone, and the tongue and cheek linings have been formed in one piece. And the head, which previously moved only pneumatically, now has a motor.

“We considered the motions of the tongue and mouth lining separately. To prevent water getting into the machinery and causing problems, we wanted to form those parts in one piece if possible. But the molding technology for doing that wasn’t available to us. Orient Industry had that technology, and it helped us a lot.” continueing on… “If you don’t try to make a robot’s face look realistic, it doesn’t have the same effect [on] users psychologically,” Koutaru Maki, a professor at Showa University’s School of Dentistry, told DigInfo TV. “It makes quite a difference if patients can train while experiencing the same kind of tension they’d feel about a human patient, thinking, for example, ‘I’m really going to make this treatment work’ or ‘Even the smallest mistake would be unforgivable.’”

Laser-assisted new attachment procedure (LANAP)

LANAP is a type of surgical therapy used to treat periodontitis. It burns and cleans the area around a tooth which then allows it to regenerate back and heal appropriately. It can currently be done at our Lake Oswego Dental Office.

Here is a video displaying how the procedure works.

Picture Demonstration

This technology has been in use for over a decade, and was cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration to be used on the general public in 2004. Typical a dentist or doctor would be trained or certified to use this procedure. They use the laser to remove the diseased or infected areas, remove tartar, and remove the connective tissue, which heals and reconnects to the tooth. While this technology is still new, it has been shown to be more successful and effective then old procedures used by dentists. The procedure has also proven effective at reducing pocket depth without gingival recession over a 6-month period.

There has been some questions about the results. The American Academy of Periodontology (AAP) has yet to amend its August 1999 statement questioning the procedure, when it stated, “The Academy is not aware of any randomized blinded controlled longitudinal clinical trials, cohort or longitudinal studies, or case-controlled studies indicating that ‘laser excisional new attachment procedure (or Laser ENAP)’ or ‘laser curettage’ offers any advantageous clinical result not achieved by traditional periodontal therapy.

The premiere tool for this procedure is the Periolase MVP-7, which is an award winning technology and rated “Best in Class”. Beyond that, there is simply a lack of competing tools out there as well, making it easily in the lead with its other technological function, such as being able to connect to Samsung Galaxy technology. You can investigate it more on the website, though I found it a bit hard to discover information there with all the clutter. I believe this tool was also made by the people who created and improve upon the procedure itself, but I am unsure as its hard to gather real information on the subject using the website. As always, Wikipedia stays the best place for proper information on the tool and the procedure.

In 2010, the DEA approved sending some control substances through the mail as long as they were prescribed. It took two years of testing with government guidance in Berkshire County, MA, before they were able to launch EPCS (E-prescribed Controlled Substances). From this, a certain amount of business have emerged to be able to sell these prescriptions online. Individual states have different laws when it comes to electronic prescriptions.

Why ePrescribing? a report in the ehealth initiative has estimated that ePrescribing could save up to 29 billion for the US healthcare system, by limiting certain pharmacy interaction. They also are more accurate in detecting medical duplication and are less error prone. Another potential benefit of the same vain for ePrescribing is to do some tasks for physicians, one of the most prominent task is dose calculation specially for children and some drugs where the dose is weight dependent, previously these calculations were done manually and were liable to human error, the study here shows the great benefit of using ePrescribing in ambulatory settings to calculate pediatric dose.

Level of Electronic Processing

Level 1: This is a simple system consisting of a reference handbook containing drug information, dosing calculators. The information is available only if the physician explicitly looks for the information.

Level 2: Allows searching for a drug name and gives generally used dosage details.

Level 3: Patient unique data such as allergy, and information can be stored. So the physician can prescribe drugs according to the specific needs of the patient. The system also provides alerts for drug allergies.

Level 4: Medication history for the patient is maintained which enables alerts for drug to drug interaction. It also provides reminders for renewal.

Level 5: Linkage between the physician’s office and pharmacy. Physician can transmit the prescription to the location of the pharmacy specified by the patient.

Level 6: Integrated with an electronic medical record, which enables disease management and access to lab tests, problem list and diagnosis.

What Are Controlled Substances?

Controlled substances are drugs or other substances that are regulated under federal law depending on medical use, potential for abuse, and addictiveness.

Schedule I: High abuse potential, no medical use, considered unsafe
Schedule II: High abuse potential, approved for medical use, has severe dependence risk
Schedule III: Lower abuse potential, approved for medical use, has moderate or low dependence risk
Schedule IV: Relatively low potential, approved for medical use, limited dependence risk
Schedule V: Drugs that are cough medicines with codeine

Here is a video that might explain it a little better, even if it is a pitch for a service:

Dentist have to take classes every year in order to meet their requirements- and being the most educated dentist is often bragging rights. This is why they even have dental conferences with the ADA where people set up booths for dentists to visit. This organization has found a better method to help dentists meet their class quotas- by having classes occur between rounds of tennis! The United States Dental tennis Association was founded in 1969 and has over 300 members. It is not required to participate in the tennis matches, but they are available to watch for your enjoyment.

They currently have a Spring meeting planned April 7th - 13th in Destin Florida, and a fall meeting planned November 3rd - 9th in Hawaii.

here is a link to some of their benefits.

Physical exercise is good for everyone’s physical and mental well being, regardless of their level of skill. It is a fun pass time that allows the exercise many people have a hard time finding time for in their life. However, many of our members and their families choose to take part in activities other than tennis during our meetings. The USDTA staff works to ensure that every event is unique, informative, and fun with a variety of events to keep the whole family busy.