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 fighting with an 85 year old patient. He had just made the elderly woman a removable partial denture and was adjusting it.
The woman was unhappy with the denture and took it out of her mouth and threw it at the dentist and demanded a refund. The dentist had pretty quick reflexes and caught the denture, at which point the woman charged him and tried to grab the denture. They played tug-of-war with the denture all the way down the hall and then the woman bit the dentist’s hand and tried to open the door to leave.
The dentist shut the door, not allowing the woman to leave. She then jumped up on the receptionist’s desk to climb out of the window. I don’t want to spoil the ending, but you can read the full article over at the Daytona Beach News-Journal to find out what happened.
UPDATE: Here’s another article with a picture of the denture in question.
An Elderly Dentist
At 90 years old, Dr. Paul Kincaid is the oldest practicing dentist in the state of Kansas. He’s been practicing for over 66 years. He said that he did retire one day, but then came back to work the next day. He has an interesting story, and I really enjoyed reading it. He obviously enjoys what he does, and I developed a lot of respect for him by reading the article.
One thing that stood out to me was that for only $3,000, he was able to set up his own dental practice over a shoe store. If I could set up a practice for only $3,000, I might have the courage to do it right after graduation. Nowadays, it would take several hundred thousand dollars to set up a dental practice.
Using the dentist license verification search that I posted a few months ago, I was able to track down Dr. Kincaid’s license and found that he was issued a license to practice dentistry on August 16, 1945 —nearly 66 years ago!
An Illegal Dentist
Illegal dentistry is becoming more popular in the United States during the recession. This article describes an illegal dental clinic located in Mesquite, Texas. It is located in a house in a residential area and has a neon “OPEN” sign. Patients have reported that there are at least 18 illegal dental clinics set up in the state of Texas.
In this case, a dentist from Mexico came over the border and opened up shop. Without any regulation or licensing, getting services from illegal dentists can be quite risky. The article describes a man who they call Fred who wasted a lot of money and ended up with a lot more dental problems that now need to be addressed elsewhere.
Unfortunately, it seems to be difficult to shut down these illegal dental clinics.
Any Thoughts?
Do you have any thoughts, questions, or comments on the above stories? I’d love to hear what you have to say in the comments section below. Thanks for reading!