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An Easier Trip to the Dentist – Dr Kevin Barrett on Dr Phil
“I hate going to the dentist, and I will do whatever it takes to avoid another appointment,” says Michael, a Dr. Phil staff member. “I’ve got a cracked front crown, which means that I have to get both of my front teeth replaced, yet again, which will be my sixth set of new front teeth. Just the thought makes my skin crawl.”
Dr. Phil sends Michael to Dr. Kevin Barrett, a Los Angeles based dentist, who uses a new technology that can fix many tooth troubles in only one visit. Before his visit, Michael meets with Dr. Frank Lawlis, chairman of the Dr. Phil Advisory Board, to learn relaxation techniques.
When Michael enters Dr. Barrett’s office, he performs the techniques he learned to relax before the procedure.
“When people go to the dentist, they have phobias,” Dr. Barrett explains. “Cad-cam eases the pain of being in a dental chair, because the patients don’t have a second visit, and they know that.” He explains how the procedure works. “We take a digital impression, no goopy impression. Then we put it in a three-dimensional computer. We design it, we mill it or make it, we try it in, glaze it, and we bond it. It’s that simple.” This procedure avoids having to send a mold to a lab and waiting for the dental pieces to be sent back.
Dr. Barrett fixes Michael’s two front teeth. When the procedure is complete, Michael exclaims, “They look amazing. The process was a whole lot easier than I thought it was going to be. I’m really happy with the results.”
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The Anatomy of an Opportunity
By Allison M. DiMatteo, BA, MPS
Scientific advances in biomarker research have led dentistry and medicine to consider saliva a viable diagnostic medium. The intricate composition of this body fluid, combined with emerging science designed to exploit its inherent capabilities, could potentially change dental practice, patient care, and usher in an age of individualized treatment protocol.
Part folklore and part scientific documentation, the history of saliva’s use as a tell-tale indicator of what’s taking place within the human body dates back centuries. In ancient China, an inability to swallow a handful of rice whole was a sign of guilt, since if an individual was nervous (as a result of lying, for example) and their salivary secretions dried up, they would be prohibited from making a food bolus. In the early 20th century, cytochemical tests of saliva were used to study such conditions as gout and rheumatism.
Much of the early work conducted in the saliva diagnostics field related more to an assessment of better understanding the composition of saliva and its function at the patient level in terms of supporting the ability to speak, lubricate, masticate, and function, as well as its effects on quality of life, explains William Giannobile, DDS, DMed.Sc,the Najjar Professor of Dentistry and Director of the Michigan Center for Oral Health Research at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry. Within the field itself, what has really greatly benefited saliva diagnostics research has been the support and investment by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), specifically the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), that enabled a merging of many earlier technological advances in engineering and chemistry for the examination of the many properties of saliva, he says.
