Caries, caries, caries. Making money on prevention

Dear DrBicuspid.com member:

In real estate, it's all about location. In dentistry--at least this week--it's all about caries.

How come? For starters, caries is part of the daily drill and fill every dentist deals with. So naturally, we cover this topic pretty frequently. More pressing: Today is Glucose Gluttony Day, the day when a million cavities are spawned by a horde of kids gleefully extorting candy from neighbors and then gleefully consuming same. (The candy, not the neighbors.)

What to do, what to do? If I access my inner Vulcan (see evidence at the bottom of this column), you could give the kiddies that show up at your office today--or at your front door tonight--fruit (say cumquats) along with a stern lecture complete with charts and gruesome intraoral photographs. That would scare 'em off sugar for days.

A less severe (and perhaps, more effective) approach? Check Assistant Editor Rabia Mughal's piece "Kids & Candy: Don't be a Halloween Scrooge" for real world tips from dentists like you at the front line of caries prevention. But don't stop there. Cavities could be extinct in the not too distant future, thanks to a raft of new technologies and practices. What to do, what to do? (Like, how will you make money?) Check out the latest installment of Senior Editor Laird Harrison's story on caries management; you'll discover what's coming to improve patient health and how to keep your practice profitable into the future. Worried about the legal repercussions of caries management? (Oh yes, there are plenty.) See Laird's report on this new standard of care.

But wait, there's more! The latest on calcium phosphate, new studies on caries and breastfeeding, the rise of xylitol gum (and why it beats the pants off sorbitol), and much more. Come on down to DrB and see what's what. It's the logical thing to do.