A moving testimonial from a chronic pain patient

When one of my patients sent me this lovely testimonial recently I felt I had to share it with you because she explains very succinctly, from a patient’s perspective, our approach on the SDS courses of moving gradually through initial diagnosis, anterior jig appliance, stabilisation splint and definitive dentistry.

Patricia (not her real name) had been suffering for 20 years with a TMJ problem that had quite radically controlled her life, preventing her from having any form of social interaction much of the time. Going out for a meal was unthinkable, for instance, because of her inability to chew hard food, or even eat soft foods without weird contortions. Her face looked twisted and distorted, and she was in constant pain for months at a time. It’s a mystery to me why nobody could diagnose the problem as she had been referred to the correct places, but she appeared in my practice almost a year ago.

I’ll leave it to Patricia to tell you the rest:

Occlusion and Cervical Lesions – great article by Gary Unterbrink

The latest copy of the online magazine Apex features a great article by Dr Gary Unterbrink (of Lichtenstein) on the aetiology of non-carious cervical lesions, sometimes known as “abfraction” lesions.

As many of you will know, this is a controversial area with many opposing camps, but Gary dissects the evidence and comes up with an elegant explanation, supported by a large number of references.

I’m happy to say this fits in with what we have always taught at SDS, but he puts it across so well I have now decided to make this article required reading for our delegates. Accordingly, I hope to include this article in the 4th module of the Introduction to Occlusion Part 1 distance learning package, so our delegates will see this as part of an understanding of the role of clenching and bruxism in the aetiology of what we like to call “occlusal disease”.

I’ll be interested to know what you think, so please post your comments here.

The excellent Apex ezine is well worth subscribing to HERE

Last 2 places for LonDEC in October

We’re down to just 2 places now for the Intro 2 course at LonDEC on October 23rd/24th, so if you or any of your colleagues are hoping to attend please don’t wait too long before applying for places.

Glasgow has plenty of places left at present, but with 3,000 flyers about to go out in the next few days you never know how long that situation will last!

Congratulations to Six Great Dentists

I was privileged to spend time on Tuesday and Wednesday last week with the six brilliant dentists who produced some beautiful dentistry on their lucky patients over the 8 days of the 2010 IRS (Intermediate Restorative Course), plus our two great instructors, Graham and Richie. This is what makes it all worthwhile for me – all those light bulbs switching on as they finally begin to “get it”!

Graham Browning (Lead Instructor), Nirav Thakker, Alejandra Loureiro, Rob Masters, Doug Rider, Mark Worthing, Sunil Mangla and Richie Morgan (Back-up Instructor)

The course took place over 4 2-day sessions in Poole, Dorset, at Richie Morgan’s Dentistry @ 68 Wimborne Road Practice, expertly lead by Graham Browning (of South Coast Dental Specialists, Wimborne) with wonderful technical support from John Wibberley and his team at Water’s Edge Ceramics, Saddleworth.

New POS Course dates – and a New Venue too, Newbury

Dates for the Principles of Occlusion Seminars course that starts on 11th September 2010 and runs through to 5th February 2011 have now been announced.

The venue is new to SDS too; The Briars Dental Centre in Newbury.

The Briars Dental Centre, a new venue for POS

The move was forced upon us when our regular venue in the South-East, the Maurice Wohl Centre at King’s Dental Institute, became unavailable, but every cloud has a silver lining and we think we have found the ideal replacement.

Newbury, in the Thames Valley, was chosen for its excellent transport links via the M4 and A34 (links M3 and M40) and the practice itself is only minutes’ walk from the main Newbury rail station.

We are very grateful to Vicki Holden and all the other great dentists at The Briars Dental Centre, namely Nigel Foot, Nick French, Craig Harper, Ross MacFarlane, Phil Ower and Alfie Chan, for allowing us to take over their practice for 8 days.

Latest Article: Occlusal Disease – The Diagnostic Phase, Part 1

Dentinal Tubules have now published the third article in the series I’m writing for them on Occlusion.

This time we have moved from recording symptoms and signs to the diagnostic phase, specifically using the TMD Questionnaire.

You can find the third article here: Dentinal Tubules (you might need to register with the site – it’s free – to be able to read it)

Click this link for a free copy of the TMD Questionnaire for your own use.

International Bruxism Congress 2010 1-2 October – Copenhagen

This is a great opportunity to listen to some of world authorities in the subject of bruxism, but with a uniquely European perspective.

The 2nd International Bruxism Congress 2010 takes place on Friday and Saturday, 1st/2nd October, in the lovely city of Copenhagen. The list of speakers looks very interesting, drawn such diverse cities as Naples, Tel Aviv, New Jersey, Bristol and Amsterdam. The cost (570 Euros before 30th July) looks good value for a great chance to get completely up to date on this essential subject for all dentists.

The invitation and booking form can be downloaded as a pdf file here: Bruxism Congress 2010

It would be great to get a decent turnout from the UK, and it looks like Matt Everatt from S4S would like to bring the 3rd Congress to our shores the following year. Do let us know (comment here if possible) if you’re going to be attending. Maybe we could arrange transport, hotels, etc. as a group if there’s enough of us?

Business Coaches for Dental Practices

Do you ever have days when you feel your most valuable skills are wasted, whilst you spend your life doing less rewarding, mundane items of dentistry because it’s the line of least resistance?

We all do it, but then we’re not trained to work any other way.

We ALL need outside help to discover what it is we love about dentistry, and how we move our practices towards the goals that we set ourselves. Many of us will even need help setting goals, because without them it’s hard to know which direction to go.

Does FEAR adversely affect dentists’ clinical decisions?

When I posed this question on the GDPUK site we got a very surprising result – 60% of dentists who replied experienced fear EVERY DAY that they admitted affected their clinical decision making, and only 14% NEVER let their fears get in the way of making a proper decision. A sad indictment, and unintended result, of our increasing litigious and over-regulated society.

I submitted this question to the Shirley Glasstone Hughes Trust web site

http://www.dentistryresearch.org/

and the question came out “top of the pops” for May, which meant it went for Evidence Review by Chris Fox of Peninsula Dental School.

American Equilibration Society Meeting 2011 Programme Announced

Always a “must do” for anyone involved in our field, the AES Meeting is about the only thing that would get most people to Chicago in chilly February.

Scheduled to coincide with the 2 days immediately before the Chicago Dental Society Midwinter Conference and Exhibition, the AES Meeting will be on the 23rd and 24th of February, 2011.

The full programme looks impressive, but I think the standout item for us this year will be the session on how various schools (Kois, Dawson, LVI and T-Scan) teach OCCLUSAL EQUILIBRATION to their postgraduate students. The first session on the morning of the 2nd day is as follows: