It is a blessing and a curse that I have an unquenched thirst to learn more about dentistry. A blessing because my thirst for knowledge should help me to become a little better each day. That is my hope. A curse because I cannot seem to turn off being a dentist. When I sit in bed and read at night, it is usually a journal about teeth. If I’m on a computer, I’m visiting websites that describe new dental products or technology. Youtube…dental videos. Blogs…dental posts. Apps…dental. I own the most boring iPad in town.

You might say that I have trouble unwinding. My reality is that learning and improving myself is relaxing. I unwind through the acquisition of knowledge and becoming better.

I’m sure there is some need for therapy here.

A second advantage to learning is that I’m never at a loss for subject matter when it comes to these weekly essays on teeth and life. Just fire up the world wide web and I can see what is trending in dentistry today.

Today’s top five (translated to laymen’s terms):

One dentist posted an emergency question on how to manage a patient who had knocked out two permanent teeth playing baseball. Ironically, I’ve dealt with this very situation, so I was able to add to the discussion.

There is a long, long blog discussing the evolution of “corporate” dentistry. The current trend in big cities is toward huge multi-doctor, take-a-number practices. These offices are managed by centralized corporations and run like a business. The stigma is that patient centered care is sacrificed for sheer numbers of procedures. Economies of scale are used to lower costs. The implied trade off is that, to treat patients well, either quality or quantity must be sacrificed.

There is a great discussion about what filling material and bonding agent work best under crowns. Great if you are a dentist, that is. And an insomniac.

Why are tooth colored fillings sometimes sensitive? That is question number four. The take home message is that every once in a while, a filling will be sensitive. The use of state-of-the-art materials and techniques can help to keep this to a minimum.

Finally, there’s a post about the best way to preserve bone when removing a broken tooth. It’s all about membranes, instruments, sutures, and graft materials. Lions and tigers and bears, Oh, my!

Maybe, some day, I’ll quit reading about teeth. Then again, what would I do to unwind?

Until next week, keep smiling.

-Please send questions and comments to Drs. Parrish at www.ParrishDental.com.