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The American Dental Association’s Health Policy Institute (HPI) released an analysis that showed dental care use by adults has not improved even with the enactment of the Affordable Care Act.

According to the analysis, the top two reasons adults they surveyed don’t intend to see a dentist in the next 12 months is because of the cost and they don’t see the need for preventative care. Respondents to the HPI survey also cited lack of transportation, anxiety, and difficulty finding a dentist who will take Medicaid payments as reasons for foregoing a checkup.

The HPI suggests several additional reasons for low dental compliance, including the fact that the Affordable Care Act does not require…

As a dentist, you are well versed in the art of asking your patients how often they brush and floss. You’re also probably pretty good at making small talk to get through longer appointments and procedures.

You might want to add a few new questions to your dental conversations. Though these questions may be a little awkward, they can help you provide help to your patients who need it.

Ask your patients if they snore. Ask if their partner complains about their snoring. Ask if they sleep soundly through the night or are experiencing unusual fatigue in the mornings.

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Arch wires are a critical tool for orthodontists. The type of wire you choose for your patient can directly determine how quickly your intervention progresses -- as well as the quality of the ultimate outcome.

There are many different arch wires on the market, each ideal for a different situation. Do you have a wide variety to choose from at your practice? If not, you might not be giving your patients the very best service possible.

Because arch wires come in a variety of sizes (from .014 mm to .022), shapes (tapered, square, ovoid) and materials (like stainless steel or activated nickel titanium) variety and choice are key.

Provide your patients with the most tailored interventions possible. Take a moment to take a look at the large selection of arch wires…

Isn’t it strange how one sibling can have perfectly spaced teeth while the other sibling has crooked and crowded teeth? Why does this happen? Well, in some cases, a child’s mouth simply doesn’t grow big enough to accommodate all of their teeth. As a result, the teeth push together, overlap, and become crooked.

Braces can’t fix this problem, at least not right away. First, a dentist must actually make the child’s jaw bigger. A dentist does this by using a special device, known as a palatal expander or a Hyrax expander. The Hyrax expander comes with two arms that push gently and steadily on either side of the maxilla (the upper jaw). Each week, the dentist (or the patient if he/she is old enough) turns a screw to…

How exciting is it to know that your talent as a restorative dentist can overcome the most critical social problem in America!The world economy is trying to overcome the financial consequences of the post-outbreak of COVID-19, now global inflation rapidly escalated into a new worldwide economic crisis.An apparent rise in anxiety, hand in hand with the growing pandemics of obstructive sleep apnea and malocclusion it’s one of the main drivers of insomnia and temporomandibular joint pain and disorders (TMJD) around the globe in America. Only 35 percent of Americans report sleeping ok, according to Gallup’s State of Sleep in America 2022 Report.Do you want to know how a…