Lessons from a tire-slashing dental patient, and this week's top stories

Dear DrBicuspid Member,

In one of those, "Wait … what?" moments from the past week, it seems that a North Carolina woman went on a tire-slashing rampage after reportedly being denied an appointment at a local dental practice. If you haven't seen the article yet, check it out. It's truly amazing the number of stories that come across my news feed that have some connection to dentistry (yes, even in a salacious way).

However, those stories that I see always have me asking a singular question: What lesson can other dental practices learn from this? If a patient is irate after not being able to make an appointment, how do you calm that person down? If there's a reason to be concerned about a patient's behavior in public, should you have resources in place to handle that situation (or alert others)? I think we can always learn from situations and ensure that the chances of those same situations happening in our own world are minimized, but we have to be open to the fact that change may be needed for that to happen.

The amount of violence that has affected dental practices in recent months seems to be something that should serve as a warning for every dentist and team member. With that in mind, how are you prepared in your practice to handle the upset patient and what could potentially come next? This story from North Carolina is another reminder that being ready is important, today more than perhaps ever.

If you have any tips or advice that would help in the situation mentioned above, feel free to share them in the comments section below. Let's see how we can learn from each other as well.

This week's top stories

In what appears to be a tragic medical oversight, a 33-year-old woman died following complications after swallowing her dental plate.

Gen Z is quickly becoming a crucial part of the labor market, so what do these workers want out of their careers in dentistry? We asked an expert.

How can a Sharpie help you improve your endodontic skills? Dr. Diwakar Kinra offers the latest clinical tip courtesy of CDOCS.

Antihypertensive medications may do more than lower blood pressure. Taking them may reduce a patient's chances of early dental implant failure, reports the findings of a large study.

Be careful what you say online. A dental practice in Pennsylvania has filed a defamation lawsuit against employees from a competing practice claiming they made damaging statements about it on social media.

According to a recent study, about 75% of patients are unaware of the connection between periodontitis and other diseases regardless of their socioeconomic status, periodontal health, or access to care.

Wrapping it up

As August has officially begun, my amazing editorial team and I wish you a good final full month of summer activities ahead. And, as always, thank you for being a part of the DrBicuspid.com family.

Kevin Henry
Editor in Chief