Dentistry 
A Trip to The National Museum of Dentistry(2)
You know how when you go on vacation, there’s always that one place that stands out as the pinnacle of your trip? Well, today was one of the high points of our vacation for me. Not long ago, I learned about the existence of a National Museum of Dentistry located in Baltimore, Maryland. Since I’m [...]
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My Final Final Exam Week
After three years of lectures at dental school, my test-taking days are numbered. This is my last final exam week! It seems like just yesterday that I started dental school and was thrown into an endless routine of cramming for exam after exam. In just three more days, I will break free from that routine! [...]
Newly Updated ADA Seal of Acceptance Website
The American Dental Association recently launched a new website at ADA.org/Seal. It is a re-vamped site that discusses the American Dental Association Seal of Acceptance. They even made an easy-to-access list of every single product that has received the ADA seal. I’d like to think that maybe they were jealous of the full list of [...]
OA Links: Fighting, Elderly, and Illegal Dentists
There’s been a few interesting stories about dentists in the news over the past few weeks. Since I haven’t done an “OA Links” post lately, I decided to share them with you in this edition of Oral Answers Links. A Fighting Dentist Yesterday afternoon, a dentist near Daytona Beach, Florida was taken to jail for [...]
Dental School Finals Week – Guest Article on DFC
Life has been pretty crazy over the past several days! This week is finals week in dental school – I’ll be back to my regular posting schedule next Monday. It’s hard to believe that three years have already gone by. The 4th year students are heading out to their residency programs, specialty programs, or straight [...]
The Dental Smell: Why Dental Offices Have That Smell
After getting a job at a dental office, a woman who goes by the name of W wrote, “Ya know that dental office smell? Well, imagine working at one. You come home and that smell is stuck to you like white on rice…It’s in my hair. It’s on my hands… I can tell you I [...]
A Full List of Dental Products with the ADA Seal
Not many people are aware that the American Dental Association keeps an updated list on their website of all of the dental products that have received the ADA Seal of Acceptance. You can view and print the entire list of ADA Accepted dental products here in PDF format. When people think of the ADA Seal, [...]
The Best Place to Start a Dental Practice
Disclaimer: This isn’t my ordinary oral health-related article… But, if you’re interested in some of the things that dentists look at when choosing an area to practice, you may enjoy it! We took a trip up to Vermont on Thursday and have been up here in the Burlington area for the past few days – [...]
How to Get a Copy of Your Dental Records
Many people are curious about the information contained in their dental records. Sometimes people may just want to have a copy of their dental records to see what procedures they have had done. Others, like Elaine Benes from Seinfeld, just want to know what their medical professional has written about them in their medical records. [...]
OA Links: Why Is Dental Work So Expensive?
I’m at the beginning of what should be a pretty tough semester! I have nine classes on top of seeing patients four days a week. I’ll try to keep writing three days a week, but if I miss one here or there, know that it’s because I’m busy studying! Why Is Dental Care so Expensive? [...]
OA Links: Do You Lie to Your Dentist?
There are many good dental articles on the Internet, and I would like to share them with you every few weeks in a series I will call, Oral Answers Links. I won’t interrupt my regular Monday/Wednesday/Friday posting schedule for these links, I’ll try to post them on Tuesdays or Thursdays. If you have any feedback [...]
Rubber Dental Dams: What They Are and Why Dentists Use Them
Have you ever gone to the dentist and had them put a big rubber blanket over your mouth? In 1864 (nearly 150 years ago), a New York City dentist by the name of S.C. Barnum invented the rubber dam for use in dentistry. He was looking for an easy way to isolate the particular teeth that [...]
How to Tell if Your Dentist Has a Good Infection Control Program
I’m a bit of a germophobe. Learning in my microbiology class at dental school that there are literally millions of bacteria living on me has helped me cope a little bit, but I still like things to be clean. When I was a kid, I used to love watching the dentist open a new packet [...]
The Experience Dental Students Get Before They See Real Patients
Many people are skeptical about visiting dental schools to receive dental care because they are worried about a lack of experience on the student’s part. I won’t lie: dental student’s are not as experienced as most general dentists. However, that doesn’t mean that the quality of care is any lower. Dental students spend much more [...]
The Nine Dental Specialties: What You Should Know
When you go to your family dentist, chances are that you are visiting a general dentist. This is a dentist that has completed four years of postgraduate dental school and has received the dental degree of DMD or DDS. Upon graduation, I am planning to practice general dentistry. Some dentists choose to obtain two to [...]
The ADA Seal of Acceptance: Everything You Need to Know
The American Dental Association’s Seal of Acceptance can be found on many dental products ranging from denture adhesives to toothpaste. There are over 300 products that currently carry the ADA Seal of Acceptance. The ADA Seal of Acceptance was started in 1930 to help consumers find out what products actually are effective at doing what [...]
What Is the Difference Between Dentists with DDS and DMD Degrees?
Have you ever noticed how some dentists have the abbreviation DMD after their name and some have DDS as their suffix? You’re not alone. I too had this question, and wanted to find out why there are two different degrees for dentists. Here’s the answer: Way back in 1840 the world’s first dental school was [...]
Hi, I'm Tom. I'm currently a 4th year dental student in the USA. I started this blog to help people take better care of their teeth. You can