What is the difference between a DMD and a DDS?

Really there is no difference between a DMD and DDS. US dental schools confer on their graduates either a DMD or DDS degree. These degrees indicate no particular difference in training and dentists with these degrees , have identical licenses and can treat the same dental conditions. Their abilities to write prescriptions are identical. DMD stands for Doctor of Medical Dentistry and DDS stands for Doctor of Dental Surgery.

Back in the saddle again!

The office is open again and we are busy seeing patients. For the next two weeks if you try to reach the office you may get the answering machine instead of a live receptionist. My office manager/receptionist is on vacation(lucky her) and will be back after labor day. I will return all calls as soon as possible so please leave a message.

Are you taking a vacation this summer?

Yes I am. I am taking my Vacation the first two weeks in August in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. My son David and I are doing some father and son bonding here in Cape Cod in a rented cottage. We stay up late every night watching movies rented from Blockbuster and we have just about exhausted their supply of watchable movies.
I will be back in the office, assuming I survive the jellyfish here, on August 18Th. Meanwhile, my office manager is still on duty manning the phone at my dental office if you have to reach us.

Should we have centralized health records?

An article published yesterday in the Washington Post indicates that most people feel there is a need to make reforms in our health care system. Clearly the mandate for change is in the air. How to make true improvements to our health care system?

Almost all agree that improving access to health care is a good idea and most agree that our health care system could be more efficient.

A good place to start would be the computerization of our health care records in a national database which could be made accesable only to ourselves and our designated health care providers. This would provide our doctors with instant and easy access to a 'centralized chart'. No longer would doctors not be aware of our visits to other doctors and the results of our previous medical tests.

Also a centralized database would could allow us to us programs that might help us get information about any condition we might have online. Just feed in your symptoms and press the send button and24 hours a day we might be able to almost instantly generate a possible list of medical conditions we might have.

Our records could be accessed without actual doctor office visits(not a popular idea with all physicians) by our doctors when it is convenient for them to check them and they could correspond via email with us if that were convenient.

Duplication of tests would become a thing of the past and we would not be required to recount our entire medical history for nurses at emergency rooms when we are sick and unable to remember what day it is let alone every ailment we ever had.

Although security and privacy issues would have to be addressed, a personal medical database for each and every american is an idea whose time has come.

My tooth hurts when I drink something cold and sometimes after I eat. Do I need a root canal?

Not necessarily. Teeth can exhibit these symptoms when they have a big cavity or when they have a significant crack. When a patient comes to me with these symptoms I first try to determine which tooth has the problem. Usually I challenge the teeth a small ice cube made in my office from a disposable plastic needle cover. I also take some x-rays of the painful quadrant. The x-rays usually show large cavities, but not cracks.

Once I have determined which tooth is causing the sensitivity, I excavate the tooth and place a sedative restoration and see if the symptoms go away. If in the process of excavating decay the tooth pulp is 'exposed' I start a root canal procedure, but if not I almost always place a sedative temporary filling and usually the symptoms are alleviated.

Cracked teeth often need crowns placed to protect them. Some cracked teeth that are crowned do indeed need root canals to get rid of all sensitivity, but many do not.