"Myths of Dentistry" LOL

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I don't feel sorry for these people. I feel sorry for their kids.

"I’m so glad you wrote this article and that I’m not crazy! I always try to say no to the x-rays that they require by saying that I think I’m expecting. They want to have my 5 year old son take xrays for a simple cleaning. I said, “he is 5, why would he need dental x-rays”? They responded saying it’s necessary for prevention and good dental hygiene. I am outraged. So I have not taken him to the dentist. We have all switched to non-fluoride toothpaste as well. I also brush with charchoal periodically to re-mineralize, brighten and help reduce bacteria. My teeth have never looked and felt better. Do you think it’s a mistake to not take my son to the dentist? What are your thoughts on that?"

"Do you know if dental sealants in children can be removed. I had some placed on my daughter’s new molars but I was not aware of the bad side effects of BPA. She is only 5 so I would really like to get them taken off if possible. If they will wear off with time then maybe I should wait, but I do not want her to have poison in her mouth."
 
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Does the charcoal need to be medical grade or, for a natural touch , will triturated charcoal briquettes do?
 
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Shh, don't tell them about sodium hypochlorite either.


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After a while, you learn to as quickly as possible "encourage" these types of patients, that the practice philosophy that you use likely won't be in agreement with what they're looking for in a dentist, and that you as the dentist wouldn't feel comfortable in adopting some of the treatment philosophies that they think are correct since you (as the dentist) would be forced to compromise what you feel is the standard of care and respectfully don't want to incur any potential liability risk by practicing below what you feel appropriate......

For some patients like that, taking that stance with them will essentially guarantee that they'll never be walking through your front door again (not a bad thing IMHO for my sanity ;) ) and for others it might cause them to pause for a minute and think about the info they read online verses what you, as a trained professional that they're able to have a face to face conversation with, is saying, and sometimes those types of patients can, and do, become "great" patients for you!
 
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I read both of the articles for which you provided links, and my knee-jerk reaction was that the IQ differences have something to do with the fact that the children are from rural areas in addition to or perhaps instead of because their drinking water had higher fluoride levels. Just like if you took two twins and raised one in suburban San Fran, sending them to schools there, and the other in inner city Detroit or rural Appalachia.

Just my $0.02
From the NIH pub:

"In many rural communities in China, populations with high exposure to fluoride in local drinking-water sources may reside in close proximity to populations without high exposure (NRC 2006)."

"Although microbiologically safe, water supplies from small springs or mountain sources created pockets of increased exposures near or within areas of low exposures, thus representing exposure settings close to the ideal, because only the fluoride exposure would differ between nearby neighborhoods. Chinese researchers took advantage of this fact and published their findings, though mainly in Chinese journals and according to the standards of science at the time. This research dates back to the 1980s, but has not been widely cited at least in part because of limited access to Chinese journals."

NRC (National Research Council). 2006. Fluoride in Drinking Water: A Scientific Review of EPA’s Standards. Washington, DC:National Academies Press.
 
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