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 …
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Oral Cavity Biopsies: 3 Do’s and 3 Don’ts
My first biopsy was misread as hyperkeratosis when in fact it was moderate dysplasia. I should have been flagged two years before I was diagnosed with Stage IV Squamous Cell Carcinoma on the lateral border of my tongue. Here is what I learned about biopsies: They are not 100% definitive. Why? Imprecise tissue sampling; Improper tissue handling; inaccurate interpretation. I …
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The Complaining Patient: Tumor or Trauma
In the 1996 “Seinfeld” episode called “The Package,” Elaine is blackballed from being seen in medical offices and tries to steal her own medical records to erase her “difficult patient” status. I had a similar experience. I had been seen by one doctor in an Oral & Maxillofacial office for the non-healing sore on my tongue that was becoming more painful. The …
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Medical Field and Dental Field: To Marry
Blood from your gums may soon be the new way to test for diabetes. Some 8 million of the 29 million Americans with diabetes are undiagnosed. Since Americans are more likely to visit a dentist every year rather than a primary care physician, it makes sense to provide diabetes screenings at dental check-ups. NYU’s recent study is mentioned in this article …
The Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) – Common Yet Unfamiliar
25 million Americans are actively infected on any given day with high-risk HPV. We should know more about it. “3 is Key” is the slogan for Gardasil, one of the two vaccines for the HPV. It is recommended that the second vaccination take place about 2 months after the first and the third to take place 6 months after the …