Principal Dies During Root Canal

I was on studentdoctor.net and came across an thread that linked to this article:

Chicago Tribune: Woman Dies at Dental Office

My thoughts on what was reported are these:

"I would think that she had to have some kind of underlying health problem," said Dr. Christopher Wenckus, chief of the department of endodontics at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "Healthy people just don't die from heart attacks."

I find it funny that they would quote the chief of endo here. Right off the bat, this just shows that the reporter either has no clue about anything pertaining to this subject or is lazy. Autopsy reports showed inconclusive results, but we do know a little about what happened and, if a proper expert is consulted, I am sure that an educated guess could be made about what caused the patient to go into cardiac arrest.

I also love this bit from the article:

"Both dentists had their licenses placed on probation for 18 months starting in July after the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation alleged that a "crown and bridge treatment" performed by their office was substandard. They were also cited for poor record keeping."

Is it any real wonder that we never hear about the doctor (dental, medical, etc) that takes meticulous records, proper histories, treatment plans ethically for their patients killing people? Don't get me wrong, even the best of doctors make mistakes and bad things happen to everyone, BUT it usually seems like the morons are the ones creating a scene when things go wrong. Also, if you are providing substandard crown and bridge treatment, what makes you think that you can perform a root canal properly, and on top of that, sedate your patient? These guys show once again, that just because you are a doctor, it doesn't mean you are smart.

"Watson received twilight sedation"

Don't they always? I know that twilight sedation works. I know that hundreds of thousands of procedures are done every year on patients using this method with no complications. In fact, the article states that the same patient received twilight sedation just month earlier with no adverse effects. I do not fault dentists that use this method to help their patients receive the care they need. BUT, why take the chance. I compare this to getting implants placed in a patients mouth without having a CT scan done. Does it work? Yes. Is there minimal risk? Yes. Could that risk be reduced by having a CT scan done? Yes. So why put your patient in a higher risk category? Why put yourself, as the provider, in a position to be second guessed, when there is a better way out there. I know that twilight sedation works, but I also know that there are other alternatives out there that allow the dentist to do what he does best, and the anesthesiologist to do what they do best.

"It was done at the same location, but it's unclear whether it was the same dentists."

One more example of the ineptitude of these two doctors. There should never be any doubt what procedure was done, and by whom.

I feel bad for this woman and her family. I do not know the whole story, but as it is currently unfolding, it does not look good for these two doctors. I hope I will remember what has happened here and make sure that I take the steps in my practice prevent this from happening again.

Gold Onlay Final Project RD III

So, here I am looking through photos of my new son, and I ran across these. Here is the gold onlay that we had to do as a final project in RD III. Overall, I like it, though my polishing wasn't completely perfect, and my lingual margins really suck (the only check I received on the project).

Week Two of Finals

So, week two of finals consisted of three finals. I had Restorative III, Oral Surgery and Microbiology. The stress level for this week was about the same as the previous week mainly due to the fact that I didn't do as well on my Oral Surgery midterm, so I needed a relatively high grade on the final to make sure I reached the level I wanted to. The other finals were pretty much bagged up before they started. I needed really lower scores than normal to end up where I wanted to be, so the stress wasn't there.

The tests ran Tues (restorative), Wed (micro), and Thurs (oral surgery). Restorative was relatively easy, due to, in large part, the fact that we were being tested on information that had been put to use every day in pre-clinic. How can you do well on your practicals if you don't know how deep to make your preps, the materials needed for each product, time requirements, etc.

Micro wasn't too bad either. There was a ton of information on this test. Basically, in years past, there were 5 tests in the micro class. But this year and last (I think), they decided to combine the last two tests into one test. Now, even though there was a lot of information on this test, most of it was actually dental related (what a novel concept, I know. You mean we will actually cover dental topics in dental school. Wow), so it was interesting enough that you were motivated to remember it the first time you read through all the information.

Then was Oral Surgery. I was hoping to pull a B after my low midterm score (67%). Now, there wasn't a ton of information, but knowing that you had to nail the final to get where you wanted to go was stressful. The good news was that the information was very interesting as well. The final covered complications, facial spaces, and infectious diseases. I spent the most time studying for this final. The good news is that unlike most of the other classes I had to spend a significant amount of time on, this information will actually be relevant to me 10 years from now. That made studying for this test a little easier. But just a little.

So, finals came and went, and I am pleased to say that I continue to improve my gpa with every semester and cannot believe that I now have 3 of the 4 horrible semesters over. Just a couple more months til I get to play dentist!

Whoa....long layover....

A lot has happened since my last post...wow, it is crazy to even sit back and think about it. In the last two months, I have finished up all the classes that will be covered on the boards, waded through the first half of my second year of dental school, been lucky enough to receive a huge scholarship and I have become a father. I sit here at 2 am in the morning and really don't believe it all. I do know one thing, after a long day of my new son being awake, he is finally asleep. I know what you are all thinking, "silly rabbit, the kid is sleeping, go get yours" but the extended fam is still up and in the middle of a vigorous game of countdown and youtube'n it, so here I am thinking I may get caught up with the last couple of months of my life.

So, to the catchup.

I have pictures, I really do. I just, uh, forgot them back in Philly. I swear. Really. So this catchup is all words. School first, seeing how that takes up 76.89% of my body, mind, and time (an accurate stat, I had my people verify it this morning). School ended the 14th of December, after 8 finals. As I sit here and look back on this semester, it really wasn't bad. If I absolutely had to re-do a year (knock on wood that it never happens), I would rather re-do this year. It was hectic at times, but overall, the material seemed more straightforward and easier to study.

8 Finals; Path Lab, Ortho, Restorative, Path, Micro, Dental Public Health, Perio, and Oral Surgery. Technically 7, but I split the Path into two separate finals seeing how the classes weren't too related. Finals started out with the dreaded Path final.

I actually went into the Path test feeling very confident in my knowledge of the pathological conditions that would affect the body that might happen to appear on the current investigation of my intricate knowledge....okay, I'll level. My complete lack of knowledge. Thinking of how well I did on the midterm (100% Woohoo!) I kinda coasted a little in my study leading up to this examination and it showed. I received an 80% on the written, and I got a 50% (WHOA!) on the slide portion. It really rocked me, until I looked on blackboard and realized that I scored the class average. So, I am amazing at my midterm, and perfectly average come finals.

The next day was the Ortho final. I studied about 1/2 hour for that class, because, frankly, that class was a joke. All we did was bend a few wires and look at a bunch of pictures of the wonderful work our instructor has done in the past. And the final matched that. So, chalk up an A in Ortho for me.

We then had the weekend, which we really didn't. I spent the whole weekend studying Perio, Dental Public Health and Path. Actually I spent the whole weekend studying Path, seeing how I hadn't touched it since our last test in the class. After a Friday, Saturday and Sunday of Path, I decided that it would be wise to look at the Perio on Monday, the day before the test. Which was wise, because Perio was cake. The general stuff relating to age, smoking, and a little bit of viral. All in all, nothing to worry about.

After Perio, I went home watched some Family Guy, then busted out the DPH. I spent about 3 hours studying for that, which was about 2 hours too much.

Then came Path. I was worried about Path, not due to my grade going into the final, but to the fact that you needed a 74% to pass (which is higher than the other classes) and we had a student in our class that failed it last year and is now class of 2010 instead of 2009. Nobody wants to be that guy. So I basically spent all my time going over Path again and again and again. Over and over and over. Until about 3 am the morning of the test. I took a three hour nap, woke up and began the drilling over again. I traveled to school repeating the differences between AK, SA, basal cell carcinoma, etc hoping that some of the information would stick in my sleep deprived brain. Well, I am glad to say that some did stick, and I passed quite easily.

I was so relieved at having Path done for a couple of months (until I have to get ready for boards at least) that I celebrated by coming home, heating up a Swanson Meatloaf frozen dinner and called it a night. I slept like a rock, and for about a day. And taking my cue from that plan of action, and seeing that it is now almost 3 am, I am off to bed. I shall plan to return on the morrow (or later today, depending on how you look at it) and finish this less than riveting tale of my finals.

Night.