Category: Opinion & Editorial

With two of my children graduating from college this year, I’m getting to be a connoisseur of commencement addresses. There is a fine art to this special form of speech. It is delivered to a crowd that expects little from the words and is interested only in how quickly it ends. Once completed, the audience can get on to the reason that they ... [continue reading]

Perhaps some of you have experienced an epiphany in your dental career. Even more important, ask yourself, did you recognize the occurrence and did it alter the way you conducted yourself professionally? If my special moment had occurred prior to dental school graduation or during my two years of active duty service in the Navy, I can guarantee ... [continue reading]

The other day in our pediatric dental office, I looked at our hygiene supply drawer and realized we have seven different flavors of prophy paste available to our patients. The menu reads as such: raspberry, cherry, cinnamon, cookie dough, orange, unflavored and the venerable mint. For a moment, I shook my head at the seemingly overindulgent ... [continue reading]

When we usually think of “dental safety net” programs, we are drawn to clinics, public health programs, hospitals and dental educational programs like our two dental schools and the advanced general practice residencies across our state. This list also includes local programs run by societies, faith-based groups and local health ... [continue reading]

I was in the office of my primary care physician for a routine visit recently. He entered the treatment room with his iPad, muttering under his breath and alternately cursing as he fought with entering the information he needed to record. As we talked, he finally put down the computer tablet and vented his anger at the new electronic medical ... [continue reading]

When I was young, I remember my mother scolding me when I was caught wearing make-up to school in fifth grade. She would often say “Don’t be in such a rush to grow up … everything in good time.” Today I understand that this common message really has a broad application to leading a healthy, happy life. At the age of 43, ... [continue reading]

Earlier this year, the Super-Valu grocery store in Vinton County’s town of MacArthur closed, leaving residents without a full-service food store, and relegating them to a half-hour drive for what they had just down the street for a long time. Some might say it was just the latest domino in another Appalachian town with high unemployment, ... [continue reading]

In the Feb. 17, 2014 edition of “The Wall Street Journal,” reporter Laura Landro broke the startling news of a modern medical breakthrough. “An increasing number of practices are scrapping the traditional one-on-one doctor-patient relationship.  Instead, patients are receiving care from a group of health professionals who ... [continue reading]

I met a few friends for a drink at our favorite local pub last Friday, and our conversation turned to a recap of the day.  I worked from 7 a.m. until noon, grabbed a quick lunch, and then attended my study club meeting from 2-5 p.m.  Once a month, that is a very normal Friday for me.  My friends, on the other hand, found it bizarre ... [continue reading]

A few Fridays ago, I read a news article in the “Columbus Dispatch” about a study from the “New England Journal of Medicine” on childhood obesity. As we all know, just looking around (or in the mirror), obesity is pandemic today. What was troubling was the headline that said for obese children, their fate was determined by ... [continue reading]