When Oral Pathologist Dr. Laura Ike couldn’t find the radiology report on a scan of patients jaw, she wondered if other patients had scans that fell through the cracks. She uncovered gross negligence on a big scale affecting a couple of thousand patients at the Walter Reed Medical Center. Article from the Wall Street Journal: Walter Reed Failed to Examine …
Alaska Natives: Dental Care Without A Dentist
Increasing reliance upon Western diets has exacerbated problems with tooth decay in Native Alaska. Soda pop arrives by the crate to villages only reachable by plane, boat or snowmobile. Public water supplies of fluoridated water is rare. The underfunded Indian Health Service has had chronic difficulty hiring dentists to serve in remote communities. Even if they come, they often leave. …
T.O.T. Tethered Oral Tissue and Tongue-Tied
Last year, when I gave a presentation to the Academy of Laser Dentistry, I sat in on a course by Dr. Larry Katkow, a laser dentist who specializes in babies. In a ten second procedure, he can laser a piece of tissue in the oral cavity and free it from being tethered to the tongue, lip or cheek. After his …
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No Tongue and Grateful
Good thing she bit her tongue. She was resistant to seeing a doctor, but when it didn’t heal, she went. A squamous cell carcinoma more than 1/2 of her tongue. Were there other symptoms? Did she ever have pain in her tongue? Pain is the most common sign of oral cancer. Despite having most of her tongue reconstructed from her …
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Jim Kelly: Oral Cancer Survivor and ESPYS Perseverance Award Winner
How has oral cancer affected Jim Kelly? Listen to his voice. Or, rather his articulation. Can you imagine how he eats differently, swallows differently, sleeps with difficulty? Oral cancer is devastating and you cannot hide the results under your clothes. Jim Kelly accepts the Perseverance Award from ESPYS and gives a 5-minute acceptance speech mentioning his son Hunter and how …