DR BHASKAR & DR SILVA'S BLOG

If you have ever flown with a toothache, you may understand the impact it can have on your teeth and sinus cavities. Or maybe you were scuba diving with a toothache when you felt moderate to severe pain around your tooth or the sinus cavities nearby. Regardless of where you were when you felt this pain, you know from experience the reality of it. So what causes it?

The pain you feel is due to barotrauma (“baro” – pressure; “trauma” – injury) or commonly referred to as a “squeeze.” And squeezes occur when pressures outside your body and inside your body are not the same. Learn more about squeezes—and how to manage and prevent them—by reading “Pressure Changes Can Cause Tooth & Sinus Pain.”

Herbal or homeopathic remedies and other forms of integrative medicine (holistic medicine; new ways to treat the mind, body, and spirit—all at the same time) continue to grow in popularity; however, it is critical that you consult our office and/or your physician prior to taking them to ensure they will be safe for you and produce the desired results. One product, Arnica, is a good example of a safe remedy when used appropriately. This herb, Arnica Montana, is a member of the daisy family and may also be known as leopard’s bane, mountain tobacco, mountain daisy, or wolf’s bane. Studies have shown that certain Arnica preparations can reduce pain, inflammation, and the discoloration associated with sprains and bruises. Learn more about this herb in the article, “Herbal and Homeopathic Remedies: Real Medicine?”

The lack of teeth or an ill-fitted denture can be far more detrimental to your overall health than most people can imagine. It can have a horrific impact on your self-confidence, your ability to speak clearly, and leave you with serious nutritional disadvantages. These troubling issues are the reasons behind the research, continued development, and latest techniques in Implantology. Below is a link to a comprehensive article discussing the treatment options, the science behind them, and how this new standard of care, the two-implant overdenture, could change your life—permanently while reducing your chances for lower jawbone loss by 75%! To see if this procedure is right for you, continue reading “Implant Overdentures for the Lower Jaw.”

Until the advent of local anesthetics, surgery was a very traumatic and painful experience. The very best surgeons were by no means the gentlest; they were the fastest. General “ether” anesthetics helped alleviate pain, but were very dangerous to administer and unpredictable in the dosing. The advent of local anesthetics truly revolutionized in-the-office surgery, particularly in the dental profession. Continue Reading The Benefits of Intravenous Anesthesia.

Dr. Philip Bhaskar and his brother Dr. William Bhaskar have written and published a book.  It is called “You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know: The Health and Safety Guide for College Students (and All Students of Life)“.

“The idea for the book originated when my older children left for college. Partially stemming from a parent’s concern that I did not teach them everything necessary to survive and succeed, and partially from my realization that they did not know as much as they believed they did, we wrote this book.” - Dr. Philip Bhaskar 

The book is intended to be a guide or reference for young adults in college who are on their own for the first time, with an emphasis on health, safety, exercise and nutrition. Whether it’s deciding what medication to take for the common cold or what to do in an automobile accident, the book gives the student a framework to handle these and many other situations they will face.

If you have a college student, soon to be college student or young adult who you think would benefit from this book (or you just want to learn a thing or two), we think this book is ideal for you.

For our friends, we have a 20% discount at the Createspace website with the discount code Q42UTMPT.

If you find the book valuable, we would ask that you go to the Amazon.com page for our book and leave a positive review! You can also purchase the book at amazon.com, however, the discount is not available at that site.

For more information about the book visit ydkwydk.com.

OMSs, like many of our dental and medical colleagues, are often contacted by patients who want to safely and conveniently dispose of unused, unwanted or expired medications. Recognizing the tremendous need for this service, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has designated Saturday, April 28, from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm as National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day. You can inform your patients about this annual event by downloading promotional materials from the DEA Web site. Encourage them to visit the Office of Diversion Control to find a Take-Back Day drug disposal site.

Americans that participated in the DEA’s third National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day on October 29, 2011, turned in more than 377,086 pounds (188.5 tons) of unwanted or expired medications for safe and proper disposal at the 5,327 take-back sites that were available in all 50 states and U.S. territories. When the results of the three prior Take-Back Days are combined, the DEA, and its state, local, and tribal law-enforcement and community partners have removed 995,185 pounds (498.5 tons) of medication from circulation in the past 13 months.

“The amount of prescription drugs turned in by the American public during the past three Take-Back Day events speaks volumes about the need to develop a convenient way to rid homes of unwanted or expired prescription drugs,” said DEA Administrator Michele M. Leonhart. “DEA remains hard at work to establish just such a drug disposal process, and will continue to offer take-back opportunities until the proper regulations are in place.”

“With the continued support and hard work of our more than 3,945 state, local, and tribal law enforcement and community partners, these three events have dramatically reduced the risk of prescription drug diversion and abuse, and increased awareness of this critical public health issue,” said Leonhart.

One of the speakers at a recent symposium on alveolar grafting and ridge preservation, Thomas B. Dodson, DMD, presented an interesting paper dealing with the effects of mandibular third molar (M3) removal on the periodontal health of the adjacent second molar (M2). He also addressed weather additional surgical procedures at the time of removal such as guided tissue regeneration (GTR), grafting with bone substitute, or platelet-rich plasma (PRP), improved the outcome to M2. He reviewed about 20 quality articles on this subject. Continue Reading Third Molar Socket Grafting.

Since the introduction of dental implants into North America in the early 1980’s, we have witnessed an evolution in how implants are used to replace missing teeth. At the outset, implants were seen as a means to provide support to overdentures for edentulous patients. Subsequently, implants began being considered for single tooth replacement and even full arch dental replacement. Continue Reading Implant Site Preservation – A Key To Implant Success.

The use of lasers in periodontal practice has become a desirable alternative to traditional scalpel surgery; however, a deficiency in published evidence supporting the efficacy of such treatment exists. A recent review by Cobb, Low, and Coluzzi (2010) presents the current peer-reviewed evidence on the use of the most commonly used dental lasers over the last decade and explores why the use of such lasers in periodontal therapy remains controversial. Continue Reading The Current State of Laser Treatment of Chronic Periodontitis.

Dr. Bhaskar just returned from a three day Dental Implant Conference in Phoenix hosted by the Academy of Osseointegration .