Yelp.com dentist reviewer fights back; biofilms, beware!

Dear DrBicuspid Member,

It's been another week full of legal news involving dentists.

Remember that lawsuit filed in January by a California dentist who got a bad review on Yelp.com? Now the reviewer is fighting back -- and his legal defense is more creative than you might think. Read more.

Meanwhile, a New Jersey jury has awarded $10 million to the family of a 21-year-old man who died after having his wisdom teeth removed. The jury found the oral surgeon who performed the procedure guilty of malpractice because he knew the patient had a genetic disorder that made the surgery unsafe. Read more.

And a California jury ruled this week that a dentist who claimed he was trying to help female patients suffering from temporomandibular disorder by massaging their chests is guilty of numerous counts of sexual battery. Read more.

More from Chicago, and beyond

In more news from the Chicago Dental Society's Midwinter Meeting, keeping the oral cavity bacteria-free before, during, and after a root canal is critical to successful, long-lasting outcomes, according to Robert Goldberg, D.D.S., an endodontic specialist. Find out what he recommends in the battle against biofilms here.

And will dentists one day opt to videotape rather than take notes during patient visits? One Michigan dentist sure hopes so. At the Chicago meeting, he described the benefits of his latest invention: Beyond Seeing, a video camera plus microphone that can attach to any operating light and potentially eliminate note taking altogether.

Another new product launched at the meeting was Novalar's OraVerse, the first local anesthesia reversal agent for dentistry. Read more about how this product can help patients deal with soft-tissue numbness more comfortably.

Finally, on the practice management front, a new study out of Israel suggests that altering the sensory environment in your office -- particularly sound and lighting -- can considerably lower kids' anxiety during a dental visit.