Dental Did You Know: Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Periodontal Disease

77-79% of patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) have periodontal (gum) disease.

Source: Olmos S, Future of Dentistry (Part 3), Oral Health, October 2011, Vol 101, No 13, pg 104.

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

Growing Again! Our New Hygienist!

We are so delighted to announce the hiring of Connie Raymer as our 3rd hygienist for additional coverage on Saturdays. She has previously worked with myself and our other hygienists Gloria and Megan at the Tavistock location where I previously associated. Her personality is outgoing and relaxed while her hygiene style is similar to Gloria and Megan`s. (She`s also a foodie like the rest of the staff :)

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

Going Digital!

We are doing the final testing of a digital system for the office, complete with multiple touch screens, large patient screens, a panorex (jaw and wisdom tooth imaging) and intraoral cameras. All integrated together, encrypted and backed up locally and online. Stay tuned for details, enjoy the preview image!

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: Tooth Whitening or Orange Juice, which is more harmful?

A recent study said that enamel samples treated with orange juice for 20 minutes over 5 cycles (to simulate daily exposure over 5 days) had a 64% decrease in microhardness versus no statistically significant changes in samples treated with 6% hydrogen peroxide (a component of many whitening packages).

Source: Ren Y et al, Effects of Tooth Whitening and Orange Juice on Surface Properties of Dental Enamel, Journal of Dentistry, June 2009, Vol  37, No 6, pg 424-431

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: Bruxism (Grinding) Stats

It is estimated that 45 million Americans (and likely 4 million Canadians, keeping the population ratios of the two countries intact-my comment) suffer from bruxism. However, only 4 million guards are fabricated in the US every year.

Source: Glazer H, The Chairside "Night 'n Day Guard", Oral Health, July 2011, Vol 101, No 7, pg 45-48.

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: Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Carcinoma of the lips is the most common malignant tumour of the oral cavity. In a large review of 1252 patients, 96.7% were found in males and 95.6 in the lower lip.

Source: Lin B, Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Lower Lip, Ontario Dentist, June 2011, Vol 101, No 6, pg 59-62.

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 Incidence of Paresthesia after a Dental Injection

The incidence of paresthesia (loss or altered sensation) after the injection of an anesthetic is about 1 out of 785,000 (very low).

Source: Garisto G et al, Occurrence of Paresthesia After Dental Local Anesthetic Administration in the United States, PEAK, Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario, May/June 2011.

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: Dentist to Population Ratio in Ontario

The ratio of dentists to the general population over the years:

• 1970 1:2307
• 1980 1:1923
• 1990 1:1676
• 2000 1:1670
• 2010 1:1545

Source: Abate R, A Demographic Update for Ontario: Population and Dental Professionals, Ontario Dentist, June 2011, Vol 88, No 5, pg 38-43.

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: Estimates of Seniors in Canada without Dental Insurance

One estimate revealed that by 2021, there will be over 8 million Canadians 55 years or older without dental insurance. That will be about 1 in 4 Canadians.

Source: Belvedere P, Direct Composite Restorations, The Solution for our Aging Society, Oral Health, April 2011, Vol 101, No 4, pg 93-106.

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: Irrigation in Root Canals

When cleaning the pulpal (nerve) area of a tooth during a root canal procedure, sodium hypochlorite (a strong base - pH 11 and more commonly known as bleach) is usually used in concentrations between 0.5 and 5.25%. The overall effect is to dissolve organic tissues that can not be readily accessed mechanically.

Source: Basrani B, Endodontic Irrigation, Oral Health, May 2011, Vol 101, No 5, pg 12-18.

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

Great Dental Blog added to the Blog list

I just added to our list of dental blogs the fantastic blog of Dr. Spindel, who maintains a practice in Manhattan, NY. Great full length posts on questions often asked by patients. You can read his posts here: Dr. Spindel Dental Blog

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: Common Systemic Diseases in Elderly Patients that Affect Dental Care: Arthritis

Arthritis can cause reduced dexterity for oral hygiene/restorative procedures, joint discomfort in the dental chair, and a tendency to bleed.  Providers should be aware of antibiotic coverage for joint protheses and the possible need for corticosteroid supplementation.

Source: Committee of Clinical and Scientific Affairs, Best Practices for Aging Adults in Private Dental Practice, J Can Dent Assoc 2011;77:b40.

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: JCDA is on Twitter!

The Journal of the Canadian Dental Association is on Twitter!  You can follow them at: @JCDATweets.

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: General Dental Website Info

The average time spent on dental websites was 142.7 seconds. The top 10 pages accounted for almost 79% of total page views.

Source: Sesame Communications Research Brief on Dental Websites, Read on April 20/2011 http://www.sesamecommunications.com. Research study completed Feb 2010 on 24 523 page views with Google Analytics.

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: Number of Dentists in Ontario and Professional Corporations

As of the end of 2010, there were approximately 8 500 dentists in Ontario with about 4 500 registered as professional corporations.

Source: Chong D, Incorporation: More Questions You Should Ask, The Professional Advisory, April 2011, Vol 49, pg 12-13.

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 Ontario Dental Association is on Facebook and other Dental Social Media Information

Yes, it has finally happened :) The Ontario Dental Association is on Facebook. (Search for Canadian Dental Health). In addition, a survey of 620 ODA members found that 82% of dentists were on Facebook personally and 28% for business reasons.

Source: Sorger C, ODA Launches on Facebook, Ontario Dentist, April 2011, Vol 88, No 3, pg 25-26.

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

Our New Hygienist!

We've just hired Megan Pearson as our 2nd hygienist. Megan has worked with me at the Tavistock Dental Health Group's practice in Tavistock Ontario and will be expanding our Saturday hygiene coverage at Promenade Court Dental in Mississauga. She has a style very similar to Gloria, our senior hygienist.

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: Mothers and Dental Appointments

Mothers make 90% of their family's dental appointments! (Wow!)

Source: Wilson C, Word of Mouth, Delivered Digitally, Dental Practice Management, Spring 2011, pg 5.

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: What is IPR?

IPR is an acronym for Interproximal Reduction. A technique usually used in orthodontics and restorative dentistry to thin teeth using sanding disks or strips. Up to 8-9mm of space per arch can be gained through this technique.

Source: Goodman J, Interproximal Reduction for Dummies, Oral Health, March 2011, Vol 101, No 3, pg 10-17.

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: Analgesic Prescribing Patterns for Dentists

When combating pain, dentists prescribe acetaminophen (Tylenol) or NSAIDs (like Advil) 89.6% of the time, with narcotics being prescribed 10.4% of the time.

Source: Steele S, Dental Patients: Narcotics Abuse and You, Ontario Dentist, Vol 88, No 2, March 2011, pg 18-21.

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

Nice Decision Guide for Performing Root Canals on Compromised Teeth

Saw this nice link to the American Association of Endodontists website. It's a large PDF file (4.0MB) presentation showing some of the great ways to save near hopeless teeth through endodontics and selective restorations.

You can view the presentation here: Treatment Options for the Compromised Tooth, A Decision Guide

Source: http://www.aae.org/uploadedFiles/TreatmentOptionsGuideWeb.pdf Viewed March 2, 2011

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 Risk of Dying from Anaesthesia

The risk of dying from anaesthesia is very low: about 0.58 cases per million. In comparison, Air Canada lists its fatality rate at 0.33 per million flights and lightening strikes are about 0.11 per million.

Source: Nkansah P, Is it Dangerous?, Oral Health, Vol 101, No 2, pg  3-6, Feb 2011.

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 number of dentists in Canada

There are approximately 20 000 dentists in Canada.

Source: http://www.cda-adc.ca/en/cda/news_events/statistics/default.asp Read on Feb 12/11.

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: Bacterial Counts in Dental Plaque

Bacterial levels can reach more than 100 000 000 000 micrograms per mg of dental plaque.

Source:  Li X et al, Systemic diseases caused by oral infections, Clin Microbiol Rev, Oct 2000, Vol 13, No 4 547-558.

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