Office decorating; patient sedation; and extraction of unerupted third molars

Dear DrBicuspid Member,

Do you decorate your office? Dr. Sheri Doniger does. It's more than just a tradition for her. It's a way of welcoming her patients and building her practice. Read more here.

Last week, the North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners has suspended the sedation permit of one dentist and revoked the license of another following the deaths of two patients who were deemed "not good candidates" for sedation.

But is there more to the story than oversedation? Read Features Editor Donna Domino's investigation here.

The prophylactic extraction of unerupted asymptomatic third molars may be beneficial, according to a new study. A new study analyzing data gathered from the U.S. Veterans Affairs Dental Longitudinal Study has concluded that "the presence of a third molar that was soft-tissue impacted increased the risk of incident second-molar pathology 4.88-fold." Read Associate Editor Rob Goszowski's interviews with researchers here.

Recently, our Forums have seen some interesting debates, such as on the CareCredit situation (read more here). No matter what your views are on any particular side or on any particular subject, we want to hear your opinions. There's room for respectful debate on all sides of an issue.

DrBicuspid.com will be running new articles periodically throughout the week, so please visit the site, the Forums, the continuing education, and all our features. Wishing you and yours happy holidays.