OA Links: Maine Dental Association and Glamour Magazine

My wife and I traveled up to Maine this past weekend to attend the Maine Dental Association’s annual conference.  Since Maine doesn’t have very many dentists, they are trying to attract dental students to go and practice there after they have graduated.  It was really pretty (see the end of this post for some pictures), and they might have won us over…  but we’re still not quite sure where we’ll end up in 2012 when I graduate.  I’ll get to the links now, but scroll down to the end if you want to see some of the pictures we took in Maine.

Oral Answers Featured in Glamour Magazine’s Blog

Recently, an Oral Answers article, Don’t Treat Your Teeth Like Tools was the subject of a blog post on the Glamour Magazine Vitamin G blog – check it out here.

The author, Sarah Gio, commented that “dental health has never been so interesting!”  Hopefully you agree.

Are Dental Sealants Safe for Your Children?

A recent study showed that dental sealants, a thin layer of plastic placed over teeth to keep the bacteria from causing a cavity, can release a chemical called bisphenol-A (or simply BPA.)  BPA has been linked to cancer, diabetes, early-onset puberty, and obesity.  For more on bisphenol-A, you can read this information page from USA Today.

Here’s the American Academy of Pediatrics said in their statement on the BPA issue:

” On the basis of the proven benefits of resin-based dental materialsand the brevity of BPA exposure, we recommend continued usewith strict adherence to precautionary application techniques.Use of these materials should be minimized during pregnancywhenever possible. Manufacturers should be required to reportcomplete information on the chemical composition of dental productsand encouraged to develop materials with less estrogenic potential.”

Other media outlets also reported this story.  You can read what CNN wrote, what USA Today wrote, and what MSNBC wrote.

For now, it is accepted that the cavity-preventing benefits of dental sealants outweigh the risks posed from a BPA exposure.

Practicing Dentistry Without a License

Frank Cerebino wrote an entertaining article in Florida’s Palm Beach Post regarding the recent surge in arrests of people practicing dentistry without a license.  I’ve noticed this trend, but didn’t think much of it until reading his article.  Here’s a quick excerpt:

Doing dental work without a license has to be one of the least appealing crimes.  If I were going to impersonate a white-collar professional, a dentist would be somewhere near the bottom of the list, certainly ahead of a proctologist, but not by much.

Here’s a news report of someone practicing dentistry without a license, another one here, and one last one.

Pictures from Our Trip to Maine

Here’s a few pictures we took on our trip to Maine for the Maine Dental Association’s yearly conference.

In the picture below taken in Glen Cove, ME, you can see Clam Cove on the right, and the West Penobscot Bay on the left which leads to the Atlantic Ocean.

We took this picture on Highway 1 in Maine as we were driving over one of the many bridges.

We love seeing the leaves change colors in the fall:

Here’s one more view of Clam Cove and the West Penobscot Bay

We loved the beautiful scenery and the wide open spaces in Maine!  It was a welcome break from dental school in the crowded city!

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them in the comments section below.