DentalBuzz – a jolt of current…

Working in the dental industry, you can expect your fair share of stress, headaches and professional challenges, but it’s unlikely that your office has an atmosphere that could accurately be described as “sexually charged,” right? Dentists may be many things to many people, but few would call them “sexy” – until now. Word broke in Hollywood this week that none other than Jennifer Aniston is set to play a dentist in the upcoming film Horrible Bosses. That’s right: Brad Pitt’s ex-wife, the former Friend who launched a thousand copycat haircuts, is going to portray one of our own. And not just any dentist, mind you: Ms. Aniston will be playing a dentist whose aggressive sexuality toward her coworkers makes her one of the “horrible bosses” of the movie’s title.

Read the rest of this entry »

So maybe it was the equipment allowing backflow into patients mouths during extractions (blecch), or inadequate sterilization measures, but whatever the case, Hepatitis B has been officially contracted during dental procedures.

A free, volunteer-staffed program offered at a West Virginia high school found that three patients and two clinicians came down with Hepatitis B viruses that were tested and matched at a molecular level, indicating that the infections came from a common source.

All people involved at the Mission of Mercy clinic last summer were mailed letters last week encouraging that they be tested for the virus. The testing is being paid for by the state of West Virginia. (Insert your best West Virginia joke here. And then be ashamed of yourself for doing it).

If you have any response to this news, it should be to check your own infection control systems, to be sure that your high speed evacuation is up to par, that you aren’t just wiping down handpieces, and that every patient is treated with those universal precautions that were so important in dental school.

After all, you wouldn’t want this happening in an elite state, like Washington.