Features of the Southwest Dental Convention Include:

• More than 70 clinicians

• 3 days of non-stop CE courses for the entire dental profession

• Earn up to 22 credit hours

• Most courses are free - no additional charge above registration fee

• 375+ exhibit booths

Deadline Information:

Pre-registration Deadline…………………………..December 12, 2008
Hotel Reservation Deadline………………………..December 18, 2008
Cancellation/Refund Deadline…………………….December 29, 2008

On-Site Registration Hours:

Wednesday, January 21 ……………………………12:00 p.m-5:00 p.m.
Thursday, January 22 ………………………………..7:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
Friday, January 23 ……………………………………7:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
Saturday, January 24 ………………………………..8:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.

Exhibit Hours:

Thursday and Friday……………………..10:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.
Saturday………………………………………10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.

The Southwest Dental Conference downloadable brochure is available in pdf format for easy reading and printing.

Special Events:

Plan on attending the convention’s special event party, where The Argyles will be featured at The Adolphus on Thursday, January 22nd from 8 p.m. to Midnight. The Argyles are one of Texas’ premier event bands. They have headlined the stage for national organizations, and have opened shows for such performers as The Fabulous Thunderbirds, The Producers, and Lee Greenwood. The event is FREE for all convention attendees, just be sure to bring along your SWDC badge for admission to the party.

Convention attendees should not delay in getting their hotel reservations taken care of well in advance, in order to not miss out on the best hotel prices while attending the conference. Hotel rooms in local Dallas hotels fill up months in advance of the convention, making it difficult for attendees to get the best hotel rates at hotels closest to the convention center.

More information about the Southwest Dental Conference can be found at http://www.swdentalconf.org/index.htm

I’ve been tending to the Ganglion Cyst and have an appointment with my doctor to have it drained finally, but now I’m dealing with a pain in my elbow that is very annoying. Yep, it’s the same arm as I have the ganglion cyst. Lucky me, eh?

When it rains it pours. I just wasn’t expecting HAIL too! It’s uncomfortable, although not excruciating to carry much of anything with any real weight to it, and it makes my elbow ache whenever I have to carry our dental supply “tubs” into the treatment room prior to working on patients.

I will survive and this problem will rectify itself in due time. I’ll just have to take a short break from posting, since the cause of the ganglion cyst is “overuse”, and I’m positive the doctor will tell me the same exact thing about what caused the sore elbow problem.

I’m too young to feel this damn old!

Chantix has only been on the market since 2006, and “is somewhat better than other therapies; on the other hand, it appears to have more risks”, says Dr. Sidney Wolfe of the watchdog group Public Citizen.

The guidelines mention other options too, and highly recommend combining counseling and medication. Doctors are encouraged to talk to all smokers who want to quit about trying medication. The guidelines say doctors should consider asking about their patients’ psychiatric history before prescribing Chantix. Doctors also should monitor patients for changes in mood and behavior while on the drug.

Serious concerns about the effectiveness and safety of using Chantix arose after the tragic death of Texas musician, Carter Albrecht, in September 2007. Closely monitoring patients using Chantix to stop smoking, asking probing questions that require detailed responses rather than a Yes or No answer, not one patient in our office reported having any problems or difficulties while taking the drug.

Derek De Koff took Chantix to stop smoking, and shares his harrowing experience while on the drug. “I swallowed my first pill the next day before work. It was a beautiful fall morning, an almost obnoxiously cinematic day to turn over a new leaf. But by the time I was halfway to the office, I started to feel a slight nausea coming on. Of course, that is a common side effect, as are constipation, gas, vomiting, and changes in dreaming. These five symptoms were emblazoned in a large font on the patient-information sheet,” he writes.

“By night four, my dreams began to take on characteristics of a David Cronenberg movie. Every time I’d drift off, I’d dream that an invisible, malevolent entity was emanating from my air conditioner, which seemed to be rattling even more than usual. I’d nap for twenty minutes or so before bolting awake with an involuntary gasp. I had the uneasy sense that I wasn’t alone.“

Quitting “cold turkey” has not proven effective for many smokers, and people who are trying to kick the habit need the assurance that the method chosen will not only be effective, but is also safe for them to take.

Have you tried to quit smoking with Chantix? What has your personal experience been using this drug?

In our office we use some square, plastic containers to hold our crown/bridge supplies, as well as two other containers for our composite and amalgam supplies. Whenever either was needed, I would often take down the needed container one-handed, not giving much thought that it might be a bit too heavy for just one hand.

Well, now I know better. I went to see the doctor and was diagnosed with a Ganglion Cyst. My furled brow made it obvious that I had never heard of such a cyst, so I was given the detailed explanation of exactly what a ganglion cyst is and what its cause and treatment is. Oh fun.

I was shown pictures of these cysts in varying sizes and locations that made me cringe, and I was worried that my wrist was going to look like those pictures, but my doctor assured me that all will be fine. At the moment the doctor doesn’t feel there is a need to drain it (okay, that sounds really gross), since it’s still quite small.

The doctor wrapped my wrist with a bandage and prescribed some anti-inflammatory medications to help get rid of this thing. I’m supposed to wear the bandage for the next several weeks throughout each day, which will make working on patients with sterile gloves on quite interesting to say the least.

Once I got home from the doctor’s office I immediately searched online for further information about ganglion cysts, as if I hadn’t already learned more than I would have liked to know. It seems that ganglion cysts are also referred to as a Bible Bump, which I couldn’t help but laugh at because it sounded so odd. A “Bible Bump”? This I had to know more about.

According to Wikipedia, it seems that one method of how to treat ganglion cysts was to “strike the lump with a large, heavy book, causing the cyst to rupture and drain into the surrounding tissues. Since even the poorest households often possessed a bible, this was commonly used, which led to the nicknaming of ganglion cysts as “Bible Bumps” or “Gideon’s Disease”. This treatment may be effective, but is no longer recommended, as patients risk damaging the surrounding area. As this may make the cyst worse, other treatment options are preferable.” Umm, no thanks.

So for now, I’m going to have to deal with having this cyst and hope it goes away, and I definitely hope I won’t end up having to go back to see the doctor and having the cyst….drained. Eeeuuuwww.

The Newsweek article pointed out the true fact that between 300 to 400 doctors take their own lives every year. What I didn’t realize was that the suicide rate amongst male and female physicians are equal, whereas suicide rates among the general population shows males outnumber females four to one in suicide deaths.

Dr. Charles Reynolds, professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and making an appearance in the film (airing next month on public television channels), wrote in The Journal of the American Medical Association that “Undiagnosed and untreated depression is the culprit here”.

That raises this question: Why aren’t depressed doctors seeking treatment? The belief is that doctors are worried (and some believe it’s for very good reasons) about loss of respect, patient referrals, income and their medical license.

In order to raise greater awareness, prevent suffering and hopefully save lives, the new website “doctorswithdepression.org” is working hard to provide help and assistance to physicians, teaching doctors how to recognize depression in themselves and seek help.

Medical schools have launched programs that guarantee students seeking help for depression that it will not appear on their records. In addition to the documentary, an educational video called Out of the Silence: Medical Student Depression and Suicide was designed specifically as an educational tool for use at medical schools. Dr. Reynolds is quoted in the article as saying, “Get help, get well, stay well”.

The Struggling in Silence broadcast is being released in May 2008 for Mental Health Awareness Month by distributor American Public Television.

Fifty year-old Durbin must also attend sex offender counseling, but doesn’t have to register as a sex offender, his computers at home will be monitored for inappropriate content, and he‘ll have to pay counseling fees for his employees up to $1000.00

This pervert is a husband, father, dental professional, with eight female employees taking the witness stand in court to testify as to what occurred in their dental office.

Dr. Durbin has been an Ennis Texas City Commissioner since 2000 and says he won’t seek reelection. Duh. I would think not. Sicko!

Fortunately I keep very good records and notes any time I archive a patient or an entire family, and doing so helped reduce the angry tone in his voice when he asked me, “Why isn’t the schedule being kept as full as it used to be?!”

I had to explain to the good doctor that patients haven’t been coming in for treatments, or for their 6-month checkup’s for several reasons, and some of those reasons we have no control over. His question is a valid one and I don’t fault him for wondering or asking me about it since I’m the one responsible for keeping the schedule full of patients. I am not a magician and I cannot pull patients out of a hat and make them suddenly appear in our office to get their teeth cleaned or complete any other treatments. While the Hygienist’s schedule remains full at all times, there have been days where The Boss has zero patients scheduled for anything, and it bothers me just as much as it bothers him.

Why Patients Leave and Don’t Come Back

The number one reason patients leave and don’t come back is because they have moved away, with the majority of them moving to another state in order to have a job. Many of our previous patients worked for a large local corporation that completely dissolved, with thousands of workers being let go and desperately seeking another job wherever they could find one. Patient after patient called to ask if we knew a good dentist in their new location, or if we had recommendations on how to find a good dentist, since they hadn’t the chance to get to know very many people yet.

The number two reason for patients leaving is because we don’t offer what they want. Patients have heard all the buzz on the radio and television about Invisalign, one-day restorations with the CERAC machines, ZOOM whitening, etc. We don’t do root canals anymore, nor do we perform even a simple extraction, but patients are referred out for these treatments. Some patients have complained that we don’t offer these treatments anymore, and have elected to begin seeing a dentist that provides all of these treatments and more, all in one central location. We’re left with doing teeth cleanings, fillings, crowns, veneers, dentures and partials, and the occasional teeth whitening home-care kit using the Opalescence bleaching system.

The third reason is because patients have no idea what all we do, and what cosmetic choices they have available to them to enhance their smile. Some patients have come in for their regular checkup, and we’ve discovered they had gotten anterior veneers done at another dental office saying, “I didn’t know you do veneers”. Patients sometimes will call and talk to me about how they aren’t happy with having discolored teeth, and when I’ve suggested teeth whitening or even coming in for a consultation to discuss veneers, The Boss gets upset at me because he “doesn’t like” the patient and would prefer they go elsewhere. This week we had a patient who was getting his teeth cleaned and the Hygienist determined three old crowns needed to be redone due to recurrent decay, and The Boss got mad because he doesn’t want to do the crowns. The patient was referred to a Prosthodontist instead. Sigh…

Here I am doing everything within my power to bring patients in, fill the schedule and increase production, and he’s going to get mad at me because there’s a personality clash? Damned if I do, and damned if I don’t. What good does it do me to keep up with the latest dental technology and advancements, regularly reading dental magazines, taking hours upon hours of continuing ed courses in order to stay on top of everything going on in the dental industry, only to have The Boss shoot down everything I try to do for his office?! To say that I’ve grown disillusioned with my job is an enormous understatement.

The fourth reason patients have left is because their insurance changed and we don’t take it. Some patients have chosen an insurance plan that requires them to see a contracted In-Network dentist on their list, and if they were to see a dentist not found on the list, they are not given any benefits whatsoever or benefits are greatly reduced to the point where treatments are not financially possible for patients. This hasn’t been a problem for the majority of our patients, but it has put a real dent into our existing patient database, as I’ve had to archive those patients who left due to insurance reasons.

The fifth reason patients have left, and I believe this is the most important one, is that patients don’t think we care about them. Some of our existing patients have been with us since The Boss’ father was in practice, and chose to stay with us when he retired back in the late 80’s. The problem is, many of these patients are now elderly and their health has declined to the point where they are unable to come in on a regular basis anymore. Several of our elderly patients have passed away over the last year or two, but the great majority of existing and new patients are much younger.

One of the things that I always admired about The Boss when I first began working for him nearly twenty years ago, was how the dental practice felt like a big family. Whenever we’d be working on a male patient, there were always general discussions about sports, fishing and hunting, and that sort of conversation. The ladies would discuss their children or grandchildren, what was going on in the political arena, but things have changed where these discussions aren’t happening so much anymore. The Boss tends to focus more attention now on the clinical aspect of treatment and getting the job done, rather than spending those extra few moments to really connect with the patient on a more personal level.

I’ve begun to wonder if The Boss has lost much of his passion for his own career, which has subsequently rubbed off on me to where I now dread going to work each day. What used to be fun and challenging has morphed into monotony, and I truly believe I could do much of my job blindfolded. The Boss claims he doesn’t have interest in retiring for another ten years, but from what I’m seeing going on in our office, I’m thinking that his retirement may happen much sooner than that.

In the meantime, I wanted to say Thank You to a few Entrecard blogs that have been kind enough to be regular chain-droppers and visitors by giving a bit of Linky Love to their blogs in return.

Top Five Entrecard Chain Droppers-

Life’s Context- I really enjoy keeping up with each new post written by “Periadex”. Even though he is a Endodontist, and surely could write phenomenal posts all about the technicalities of Endodontics in dentistry, I appreciate that his posts are more personal in nature. You have to appreciate the good Doctor’s sense of humor in his post about cheap dentistry, and the “get your mind out of the gutter” comments that kept me laughing.

Healthy Lifestyle- I’m a big believer in eating healthy and taking care of my body, and I understand the importance of teaching children to eat healthy foods and getting enough exercise. Healthy Lifestyle is an excellent source of information relating to healthy living, quitting smoking, and I especially enjoyed the post about dealing with bad breath since it’s a subject that gets discussed with patients quite often in our dental office.

Healthy Cooking Recipes- Since my husband and I are both healthy eaters, it’s quite fun to discover new recipes to add to our growing collection of recipes to try ourselves, and serve to our dinner guests. Our family loves barbecued chicken that is tender and delicious but also healthy, so it’s great to have another healthy chicken recipe to keep things interesting at mealtime.

Obesity Therapy- The subject of child and teenage obesity in society is a topic that needs to be taken seriously by parents, and needs to be dealt with in schools and school cafeteria’s and society in general by learning how to prevent childhood obesity. Obesity in children and teens has become an epidemic around the world, and these kids are not only experiencing health problems now, but are increasing their chances of developing Diabetes, Cardiovascular problems and Stroke, just to name a few.

Telling It Like It Is- Well, I guess it should only make sense that my other blog would be amongst those who chain drop with Entrecard at a higher rate than other users. Regular readers of Dental Aggregate know that I also author Telling It Like It Is, which is a large compilation of posts dealing with relationships, marriage, parenting, caring for elderly parents, deciding when is it the right time to change careers, and much more.

Thank You very much for your regular visits to Dental Aggregate, and I look forward to continuing the chain dropping exercises along with you.

It is important to note that almost a third of all women are or have been abused by their boyfriend or husband, possibly including the women you have working for you in your dental office. Anastasia L. Turchetta, RDH, and Teresa Duncan, MS have published “Domestic Violence” in the RDH Magazine that is well worth your time to review and print for further evaluation. If you are a Dentist, and you have more than three women working for you, the odds are that at least one of those women has been a victim of domestic violence at some point in her life.

“Domestic Violence: Proactive Role for Dentistry” provides important intervention strategies for dental practitioners; clears up myths surrounding domestic violence; and explains the signs and symptoms of domestic abuse that Dentists and Office Staff need to look out for:

Dentists can, and should, be proactive in recognizing abuse and reaching out to help the victims. The first step in helping these women is to consciously empathize with them and their needs. Women do not stay in violent relationships because they enjoy it or are able to tolerate it. Survivors talk about their horror, helplessness, and terror as they tried to endure the violence. Fear of losing their children, fear of being killed, financial instability, and rejection by their friends and family are examples of the realities that prevent victims from leaving an abusive partner. The most dangerous time for a woman is when she actually decides to leave an abusive relationship.

“Tackling Domestic Violence: the role of health professionals” is available in a 15-page PDF file at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs04/dpr32.pdf, so Dentists and dental office staff can carefully examine the ways in which they can work together as a team and provide needed help and awareness to victims of domestic abuse.

Having been in an abusive relationship myself (at the hands of my ex-husband), I am very passionate about bringing greater awareness to women who are being abused, and there have been several occasions in our office where it has been necessary to use a variety of assertive techniques to assist these women in getting the help they needed.

Signs and symptoms of abusive relationships:

• Physical abuse or battering- involving shoving, pushing, kicking, hitting, grabbing, pulling hair and threatening bodily harm.

• Emotional or psychological abuse- including controlling a woman’s freedom to come and go as she pleases, brainwashing, spying or stalking her at work or with friends, monitoring phone calls.

• Sexual abuse or rape- physically forcing or coercing sexual favors against her will or with threat of violence if she does not comply, sexual acts following physical violence with or without harmful and painful devices without her consent.

• Damaging property- involving breaking household items, damaging walls, throwing objects at his victim or near enough to cause great fear of physical harm while in a rage.

In order to break free from their abusive partners, women need to identify and recognize the early warning signs of abusive behaviors, and take active steps to leave the relationship with their boyfriend or get a divorce from their husband.

Leaving an abusive relationship is typically a highly volatile time in a woman’s life, as angry and controlling men tend to react with increased levels of abuse, sometimes even killing their wives or girlfriends. Dentists and dental team members need to be proactive with female patients who show signs of having been abused, offering compassionate and empathetic attention, tactfully quizzing female patients regarding possible abuse, and provide helpful information and resources of how and where to seek immediate help.

More often than not, abused women do not have free access to money in order to quickly leave their abusive husbands, and they need to learn how to hide money from an abusive husband so they can begin making secret plans to escape the abuse and move on with their lives.

In your dental office, have you had occasions where you suspected or believed a female patient was being abused by her husband? What actions have you taken in order to provide her assistance and help? What suggestions can you offer women that need to know how to hide money from an abusive husband? Please leave any experiences, suggestions or ideas in the comment section below.

Many dental offices and staff members celebrate Boss’ Day, so it’s reasonable to think that dentists can and should acknowledge the hard-working assistants and front desk staff each year as well. Without their efforts to help in providing excellent dental care for your patients, as well as working together as a team to assist you in reaching goals set for the practice, where would you be?

How can you celebrate dental assistant recognition week?

A handwritten note or store-bought card expressing your sincere gratitude and appreciation for their hard work is always nice.

Taking them out for lunch, and verbally expressing your thanks is also an idea. My boss actually makes dinner reservations for one evening after work, where we can relax and enjoy a nice meal and talk like friends do rather than discussing anything about the practice. Making it a dinner celebration is especially nice since there isn’t the usual lunchtime rush to get back to the office in time for the afternoon patients.

What are you going to do this coming week to thank your dental assistant(s) for all they do for you and your office?