Category: Opinion & Editorial

Breaking News! All dental disease in the State of Ohio has joined the other deadly scourges of humanity like smallpox, diphtheria and polio in the archives of cured infectious diseases! Wait, you didn’t know that? Well, you probably haven’t read the 2020 report of the Health Policy Institute of Ohio in conjunction with the Ohio ... [continue reading]

There is a saying, "Timing is everything." This saying keeps popping into my head when I reflect on this past year. It probably was not the best year, timing-wise, to be president of the ODA. I certainly did not appreciate all that I was about to encounter when I signed up! However, I feel that organized dentistry, the ODA and ADA in particular, ... [continue reading]

The internet age has given us instant access to everything that is known. We have the ability to ask questions and receive answers to matters both monumental and trivial. All discoveries since the dawn of time are available for our perusal. So why do we seem to be descending into tribal mysticism and closely held beliefs that would be more at ... [continue reading]

During this COVID quarantine, I have had a family strategy for grocery shopping. Because I have a large family of six, I still felt the need to go to the grocery store and do bulk shopping every six weeks to avoid any unnecessary exposure. I would wake up at 5:30 a.m. and make my way to the large Giant Eagle in Brecksville by 6 a.m. to be one of ... [continue reading]

Limbo. An uncertain period of awaiting a decision or resolution; an intermediate state or condition. Many would say that this word describes our current condition with the coronavirus. We are not sure whether conditions will improve or worsen, and when either will happen. In our professional lives, we are not sure how much PPE to purchase – ... [continue reading]

Sadly, each generation will be faced with an event that shakes them to the core. That generation is not defined by the event itself, but by their response to the cataclysmic change in their world. The generation that were my parents (and many of your grandparents) were called “The Greatest Generation” for their response to World War ... [continue reading]

As I write this column, it is June 19. Things change rapidly, so I wanted to provide some reference to my comments. I have received several questions from members about our Ohio State Dental Board guidelines, so I had a conversation with the Board President, Dr. Kumar Subramanian. I relayed the questions that I had received and he reiterated that ... [continue reading]

Thanks to the pandemic, we have had time recently to consider more of the softer side of dental care. Understanding what makes our relationships with patients valuable and patient care successful is of paramount importance. In private practice for years and now in discussions with students, I stress the responsibility of dentists to be leaders for ... [continue reading]

A favorite of health care future-gazers these days is value-based care (VBC) or you may have heard it called pay-for-performance (P4P). Like much of health care reform, it comes down from Washington, from those who wish to transform our health care system from its present state to something few if any have ever seen. In a nutshell, VBC intends to ... [continue reading]

While sitting at my desk waiting for emergencies, I dozed off with dentistry on my mind. . . I don’t know about you, but I find keeping track of all the sales tax on our services is nearly impossible, not to mention dealing with the patients’ anger about spending more money. Oh, and the record keeping for local anesthesia that we are ... [continue reading]