Treating fluorosis; talking to your patients; thoughts on Pew report

Dear DrBicuspid Member,

CHICAGO - Just as when I flew from Northern California to Boston for the Yankee Dental Congress, flying into Midway yesterday I was fortunate to be seated next to someone attending the Chicago Midwinter show. Her enthusiasm for the show and the opportunity to pack so much activity into a couple of days was apparently contagious as the show is already bustling as I write this on Thursday morning.

What is the best way to treat mild to moderate fluorosis? Brazilian researchers compared the results of two conservative treatments: microabrasion and microabrasion paired with at-home bleaching. Patients in the latter group were significantly happier with the results. Read Associate Editor Rob Goszkowski's article here.

DrBicuspid.com welcomes a new columnist, Carrie Ibbetson, RDH. In her first column, Ibbetson explores the practitioner-patient relationship, with a focus on preventive health. As she notes, relationships with patients develop and evolve, but how do you tell your favorite patients what is actually going on in their mouth? Her thoughts are here.

In this Second Opinion column, Thomas Ward, DMD, MPH, acknowledges the great work the Pew Charitable Trusts does, but on reading its report on dental therapists, he finds some crucial details missing. Read more of his opinion here.

If you haven't already, please sign up for our Insiders. Today the Imaging Insider is going out with exclusive content you'll read there first.

We'll have newsletters on Monday and Wednesday next week. If you are at Chicago Midwinter, please send me your thoughts and impressions on the show, and be sure to follow our Twitter feed by clicking here.