The following news item was reported in the TimesOnline and reveals the ever present risk of buying cheap, "knock off"goods. Clearly the best advice is to buy all health products from recognised centres that you know and trust. "Fake Sensodyne toothpaste which contains traces of toxic chemicals is being sold in markets, discount shops and car boot sales, the UK's medicines watchdog warned … [Read more...]

A news item on Radio 2 today highlighted a letter from the Chief Dental Officer (Barry Cockcroft) advising dentists that all files and reamers (instruments used in root canal therapy) should be made single use to reduce the risk of spread of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD). The debate about the spread of this disease via root canal instruments has been running for several years now and … [Read more...]

When I qualified from Newcastle Dental School in 1989 I worked for 9 months in a very busy NHS practice in a very depressed area of the North East.  It was my first job after qualification and "wet behind the ears" doesn't come close to describing my clinical experience.  One thing that was never a concern for me, however, was having to treat children,  as decay was a rarity in all  that I saw.  … [Read more...]

An article in last Saturday's Times 2 section (Saturday 17th March 2007) highlighted an example of how it is possible for some people to be miserable about just about anything. The article in question revolved about the columnists "dilemma" over what to do about the free whitening treatment she had received as a raffle prize. According to the lady in question her friends were trying to put her … [Read more...]

A recent article in The Times (28th February 2007) has highlighted yet another problem with the funding under the new contract NHS dental contract.  It would seem that several PCTs (Primary Care Trusts, who are the people iin charge of the local funding of NHS care) have used up all of the money and dentists are now over budget for the care of their patients. The outcome of this predicament is … [Read more...]