Bright Smiles for the Holidays

All students whose families accepted a generous invitation have had their teeth examined and cleaned, courtesy of Forsyth Kids, a free dental program that provides children in underserved Massachusetts communities with high-quality preventive dental care and oral health education. To encourage students to care for their teeth at home, each participant leaves the dental clinic with a new toothbrush and tube of toothpaste. Extras are left with the school nurse to be given out as requested.

To encourage students to care for their teeth at home, each participant leaves the dental clinic with a new toothbrush and tube of toothpaste. Extras are left with the school nurse to be given out as requested.

Last week, Forsyth Kids set up their portable and disposable equipment at Nathaniel Wixon Middle School in South Dennis. “Every fall Forsyth contacts each school nurse to set up visits for cleanings, fluoride treatments and temporary fillings for students,” said Wixon nurse Kathleen Downing. All students bring home a packet of information and a questionnaire asking about medical and dental history and the family’s insurance status.

On clinic day, dentists, hygienists and certified dental assistants arrive at the school early to set up shop in a designated area. Four or five students are served simultaneously, with several quietly seated, awaiting their turn. The clinic is a happy place, with no pain inflicted. Patients leave smiling, fielding jokes about keeping their mouths open for so long without emitting any sounds.

Should a student have major dental needs, pediatric dentist Jennifer Soncini, director of ForsythKids, is on hand to do temporary work to tide the student over. “Forsyth immediately contacts the child’s parent with information on a local dentist who has agreed to continue treatment free of charge,” Dowling said.

How Forsyth works

Founded in 1910 to provide free dental care to children living in Boston, the Forsyth Institute, an affiliate of Harvard University, is the world’s leading non-profit organization dedicated to prevention, treatment, research and education in oral health and related biomedical science. Between 1914 and the mid-1950s, approximately 500,000 children received dental care at Forsyth’s Boston facility, courtesy of its school-based, cavity-prevention program.

ForsythKids was launched in 2003 as a pilot program traveling to elementary schools in Boston, Hyannis and Lynn, three communities with either shortages of dentists or other limits to children’s access to care. Its success led to grant-funding, allowing ForsythKids to serve thousands of children throughout eastern Massachusetts.

Forsyth offers its dental program to all children regardless of their ability to pay. When a child is covered by a dental insurance policy, Forsyth bills the insurance company when possible to offset the clots of providing care to all. “as a non-profit, we require ways to offset costs, and we depend greatly on philanthropy to aid our mission, Said Jennifer Kelly, associate vice president in Forsyth’s office of advancement and external affairs.

“We confront one of today’s most pressing oral health challenges, delivering effective oral health care to children at risk,” said Soncini, a 14-year veteran of ForsythKids. Soncini sees her work as a way of reaching out to communities and their children. “It’s a way of giving back by helping kids who don’t have access to dental care,” she said. “After we check on them, if they need more work, we find a doctor in the community who will provide a dental home for future work.”

Dental hygienist Meredith McEwen was among the Forsyth staff working at Wixon last week. “I’m a firm believer in what we do,” she said. “We all are or we wouldn’t be here.”

Forsyth is a great institute which aims at delivering effective oral health service to children without any charge. Read more from: http://www.wickedlocal.com/dennis/features/x1651489137/Bright-smiles-for-the-holiday

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Cosmetic Dentist West Palm Beach – Official Dental Procedures

The requirements for a cosmetic dentist are actually the same with that of a general dental professional. The individual would have to go through an undergraduate program centered on a subject that is related to medicine or dentistry.

So before you run out seeking cosmetic dentist West Palm Beach – Pay close attention to how an official procedure for cosmetic dentistry should go! Because cosmetic dentistry can be quite expensive, so if you are going to invest your hard earned cash into this type of dental procedure, you might as well get it done right the first time by a cosmetic dentist West Palm Beach that knows what he or she is doing!

This article describes a cosmetic dentist and explains his role in people’s lives. It also explains what his qualifications are and the requirements he has to meet.

Many people require the services of a cosmetic dentist, whether they wish it or not. Despite having numerous dental professionals, this field is specialized because these professionals focus more on aesthetics and the techniques that come with it.

The requirements for a cosmetic dentist are actually the same with that of a general dental professional. The individual would have to go through an undergraduate program centered on a subject that is related to medicine or dentistry. This should be a four year course that will help the individual prepare for the actual dat tests. It is important that the undergraduate program should have at least the basics of college level Biology and Organic Chemistry and that the individual have passed these. Although not necessarily a requirement for the Dental Admissions Test, a lot of what is in the test can be found in both subjects. Therefore these can be advantageous to have under one’s belt.

With the passing results of the dat practice exams, the aspiring cosmetic dentist can then try for admission to dental schools of his choice. Some schools have requirements centered on undergraduates’ grades and other shave requirements centering on the dat test result. In dentistry school, the aspirant would have to spend two years centered on lab work and classroom theories. The last two years of dentistry will be focused on actually working at a clinic under the supervision of several licensed and qualified dentists.

A licensing examination is necessary before the dental professional can actually practice dentistry. This dat exam may differ from state to state since there are varied requirements and preferences for each state. It is advisable to take the licensing exam in the individual’s preferred state. The requirements for general and cosmetic dentistry are similar, if not the same. The difference between the two is the follow up or additional dat test prep training that the cosmetic dentist west palm beach must undergo to learn the different techniques for this field of dentistry. These additional trainings will help the cosmetic dentist west palm beach understand the intricacies of combining form and function. The additional dat preparation training can be taken up through the various dental schools that offer these or through product makers that are keen to market their products for use with dentistry and aesthetics. Many manufacturers or makers of such products promote their products through the endorsements of cosmetic dentist west palm beach who believe that the product can actually improve the appearance and function of the oral cavity. There is a dental association that is specifically made up of dentists who specialize in this field.

Article Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Cosmetic-Dentist-and-His-Role&id=5587954

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Mercury-free fillings healthy, says dentist

“It takes one gram of mercury to poison a 20-acre lake,” Warwick explained, but only if it was atmospheric. “The amount dentists bring in would pollute almost half the lakes in Canada and make the fish inedible in one year, and we do this every year.”

About half the dentists in North America still use mercury fillings, according to Dr. David Warwick, a dentist at the Hanna Dental Clinic.

“They look like silver, but they are actually made of half mercury and half silver, tin and other metals,” Warwick explained. “The new fillings can be made of quartz, they’re white, and there is an acrylic resin that binds them.”

Warwick is the team leader for the audio/visual and the environmental committees in International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology (IAOMT). In 1992, the Hanna Dental Clinic become mercury-free. Warwick said he started thinking about mercury and its effects when he attended school in the late ’70s and early ’80s.

“We were taught all these precautions on how to store mercury, but we’re still placing it in to people’s mouths,” Warwick said. “I didn’t get that. I thought if it’s so safe, why would we have to worry about the precautions? Why couldn’t we just throw it in the garbage?”

When Warwick started his own practice, he was exposed to the effects mercury could have.

“I started getting some symptoms quite possibly from not being as careful as I should have been,” Warwick said. “You want to be as safe as you can, and mercury isn’t just bad for the patients it’s bad for the dentists and staff, too.”

The dental industry in Canada alone brings in 5,000 kilograms of mercury each year.

“It takes one gram of mercury to poison a 20-acre lake,” Warwick explained, but only if it was atmospheric. “The amount dentists bring in would pollute almost half the lakes in Canada and make the fish inedible in one year, and we do this every year.”

Environment Canada is trying to have all countries sign a document that globally binds against the use of mercury.

“In general, they want to eliminate or reduce dramatically the globalization of mercury in all products,” Warwick explained. “It has a negative impact on the environment so why are we using it in the mouth when we have perfectly good alternative?”

Mercury has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease and autism, but is still being used as fillings.

“A study took a bunch of kids with autism, and they counted the number of mercury fillings the mothers had in their mouths. It was something like a four-times increase in the chance of them having a severely autistic child, if the mother had six or more fillings in her mouth,” Warwick acknowledged.

Another study showed there was enough evidence to connect autism to mercury, then there is to connect smoking and lung cancer.

“The World Health Organization came out, several years ago, and said if you have any mercury fillings in your mouth, then the amount of mercury that leaches off your mercury filling, is more than all the other sources of mercury combined. This study still stands true today,” Warwick explained.

When a mercury filling is put in, it increases the mercury exposure of the individual.

“This is the problem. Various government agencies still maintain that mercury fillings are safe and do not cause problems,” Warwick said. “They choose not to consider studies that show there is damage.”

Patients are asking for the new fillings constantly. They match the colour of the teeth, but dentists are still using mercury fillings. A recommendation from Health Canada in 1996 stated that if you can, you should not use a mercury filling in a child. The dentist curriculum, however, still allows them to teach mercury fillings.

“As a result, all the dentists who complete school, come through thinking it’s fine to use mercury fillings,” Warwick said. “Health Canada recommendations are not being upheld.”

Mercury fillings are easier to put in, Warwick said.

“They are a lot less technic sensitive, and as a result the white fillings cost around 20 per cent more to put in than the mercury ones.”

Health Canada and Environment Canada don’t see eye-to-eye on the subject. “Environment Canada seems to be more interested in is the mercury coming out of the coal-fired plants from India and China coming across the Arctic and polluting the land,” Warwick said. “That is sad because we’re still putting mercury inside people’s mouths.”

With all the research being done on mercury the best research in coming out of the University of Calgary.

“They showed that mercury was the only element they could find which changed nerve cells and made them look like a cell from someone with Alzheimer’s,” Warwick said.

When a person is exposed to mercury, they either have the defense to fight it off or they don’t. “Some people have a very poor protective mechanism to keep mercury out of the brain. That’s where we get into trouble,” Warwick said. “The same kind of damage could be said about autism as well.”

Article Source: http://www.hannaherald.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2910528&archive=true

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