Repainting completed: Thanks for your patience!

Well, we've done it! Had a painter come in and repaint the front desk area and Operatory 1 to Ralph Lauren's Chocolate Mousse. Again, we apologize for shutting down for a day... we'll be up and running on Thursday as usual.

Hans Skariah, B.Sc., DMD
Promenade Court Dental Health Group in Mississauga
2233 Hurontario St., Mississauga, ON, Canada
(1/2 km north of the QEW in the Dome Building)
(905) 273-7100

Dental Did You Know: Bad Breath is More Prevalent in Obese People

In a recent study, bad breath seemed to be more prevalent in obese people, a trend that was also found in alcoholics.

Source: Discovery News Podcast, Dec 21, 2007, Friday News Feedbag http://blogs.discovery.com/news_feedblog/

Hans Skariah, B.Sc., DMD
Promenade Court Dental Health Group in Mississauga
2233 Hurontario St., Mississauga, ON, Canada
(1/2 km north of the QEW in the Dome Building)
(905) 273-7100

Dental Did You Know: Forensic Dentistry

The hard outer shell of teeth can help protect the inner pulp where DNA is stored...even in extreme conditions. The specific anatomy of the tooth and the DNA may allow investigators and forensic dentists to identify individuals.

Source: Forensic Dentistry: The Key to Unlocking Many Mysteries, March 2007, Academy of General Dentistry, http://www.agd.org/public/oralhealth/Default.asp?IssID=332&Topic=T&ArtID=1332#body

Hans Skariah, B.Sc., DMD
Promenade Court Dental Health Group in Mississauga
2233 Hurontario St., Mississauga, ON, Canada
(1/2 km north of the QEW in the Dome Building)
(905) 273-7100

Dental Did You Know: The Four Types of Dental Fear

1. Specific Fear: These are patients who have 1 or 2 specific issues that bother them; usually procedural or physical. This situation is relatively easy to identify and control.
2. Loss of Control: usually due to adverse events during their life, these patients typically need high levels of sedation.
3. Catastrophe: A small percentage of dental patients really don't fear dentistry, but fear the consequences of dentistry. An example may be a patient with bladder control problems fearing an incident due to a long appointment.
4. General Anxiety Disorder (GAD): This is typically the most common underlying cause of dental fear. Unlike the previous categories, this is a recognized medical disorder. These patients have problems dealing with the stress of everyday life, not with dentistry per se. Minimal to moderate sedation can help in these situations. A medical referral would be great to help the patient.

Hans Skariah, B.Sc., DMD
Promenade Court Dental Health Group in Mississauga
2233 Hurontario St., Mississauga, ON, Canada
(1/2 km north of the QEW in the Dome Building)
(905) 273-7100

Dental Did You Know: Saliva Detection of Systemic Diseases

Laboratory analysis of saliva is increasingly being used to detect systemic diseases like: oral cancer, Cushing's syndrome, HIV, and hepatitis.

Source: Scientific Advances in Salivary Diagnostic Techniques, The Colgate Oral Care Report, Vol 17, No 1, 2007.

Hans Skariah, B.Sc., DMD
Promenade Court Dental Health Group in Mississauga
2233 Hurontario St., Mississauga, ON, Canada
(1/2 km north of the QEW in the Dome Building)
(905) 273-7100

New Guarantor Policy for Passports

The Government of Canada's new policy for guarantors allows any Canadian citizen (adult) to sign an application form. Previously, only certain professionals (e.g. dentists/physicians) were able to do this service.

(Great move by the government!)

Hans Skariah, B.Sc., DMD
Promenade Court Dental Health Group in Mississauga
2233 Hurontario St., Mississauga, ON, Canada
(1/2 km north of the QEW in the Dome Building)
(905) 273-7100

Dental Did You Know: The Loss of Teeth and the Type of Food Consumed

A large-scale study showed that in general, the fewer teeth you have the less fibre, vegetables, and fruits you consume. In contrast, the intake of calories, saturated fat, and cholesterol increases.

Source: Joshipura KJ et al, The impact of edentulousness on food and nutrient intake. JADA 1996, 127(4):459-467.

Hans Skariah, B.Sc., DMD
Promenade Court Dental Health Group in Mississauga
2233 Hurontario St., Mississauga, ON, Canada
(1/2 km north of the QEW in the Dome Building)
(905) 273-7100

Non-Specific Jaw Pain as an Indicator of a Heart Issue.

Hi everyone,

Sometimes it's the rare cases that provide a great learning experience :)

Recently, I had a patient with a chief complaint of general pain in the jaw. As usual, most dentists will work through the usual differential diagnoses: chipped tooth, infected tooth, infected gums, TMJ issues, external/internal injury etc. However, this case was interesting in that the patient could only point to a general area but not a specific structure (e.g a particular tooth). After consulting with some of our specialist colleagues and doing some quick research, we decided that it was a cardiac issue and told him to go to the ER as soon as possible.

A nice paper in the Journal of the American Dental Association in 2007 summed it quite nicely:

Craniofacial pain commonly is induced by cardiac ischemia. This must be considered in differential diagnosis of toothache and orofacial pain.

The most common areas for pain were the throat, left mandible, right mandible and left TMJ region and teeth. This pain is found more often in females than males.

Source: Kreiner et al, Craniofacial pain as the sole symptom of cardiac ischemia: A prospective multicenter study, JADA, 138 (1): 74. (2007).

Hans Skariah, B.Sc., DMD
Promenade Court Dental Health Group in Mississauga
2233 Hurontario St., Mississauga, ON, Canada
(1/2 km north of the QEW in the Dome Building)
(905) 273-7100

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! Just a reminder that we are on a limited schedule this week. I will be open this Thursday from 10am-6pm and Saturday 9am-3pm. We will be back to our usual schedule the week of the 7th.

All the best in 2008

Hans

Hans Skariah, B.Sc., DMD
Promenade Court Dental Health Group in Mississauga
2233 Hurontario St., Mississauga, ON, Canada
(1/2 km north of the QEW in the Dome Building)
(905) 273-7100