joel m. eichen d.d.s.

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I had a patient who had a terrible time with an upper denture from
years back. Her lower teeth and partial denture weren't so good
either.

When it came time to remove all of her lower teeth and make a full
lower denture, I resisted. I pulled one then added a tooth to her
cheezy lower partial denture as it became necessary. Tooth by tooth,
year by year. By the time she passed away, she still had a few cheezy
teeth left. Yes ~ bone loss, yes ~ loose, but still anchoring the
lower partial denture!

Between regular health problems and little income, this was my best
solution. No scaling and root planing, no implants, no reconstruction
were in the cards for this welfare recipent.

So if the hygienist were to butt into the mix, that would be
unfortunate. The patient and HER DENTIST have to live with the
problems not the hygienist. This is why I am adamant about dental
hygienists NOT making diagnosis.

These are MY patients not OUR patients! They are coming to see me not
to see the hygienist. I am merely unloading some of the lesser duties
onto her.

Sounds harsh but why be rude to patients when there is no solution
that fits with the hygienist's idea of what dentistry IS or is NOT?

Joel


--
Joel M. Eichen, .
Philadelphia PA

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linda

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Joel - do you have a hygienist?
Linda.
(hygienist)

drbregler

"Joel M. Eichen D.D.S." <joeleichen@yahoo.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:medmlvs4htd26q2iushq5ke94dr8u0mgh6@4ax.com...

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Thanks Joel, even if the patient could afford some treatment I agree to you.
I myself have some patients, who have the same problem. We talk about what I
had to do as a DDS and then we decide what we will do. And I go the same way
as you do. One saturday one of them called me proudly and told me she has
her last tooth in her hand. But we had fixed the lower denture for nearly 4
years - 4 years without problems with a full denture.

claus

************************

joel m. eichen d.d.s.

I am retired!

Yes I employed many fine hygienists during my career. However I told
them right from the get-go that there is only room for one cook in the
kitchen!

--
Joel M. Eichen, .
Philadelphia PA
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joel m. eichen d.d.s.

Yup,,,,,


--
Joel M. Eichen, .
Philadelphia PA
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joel m. eichen d.d.s.

Thanks for the heartwarming story! I should add that my front desk
receptionist would look over the x-rays and call it to everyone's
attrention, including the new associate we hired, that the good doctor
(me!) should be pulling those teeth!

Joel

--
Joel M. Eichen, .
Philadelphia PA
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joel m. eichen d.d.s.

By the way, I always had excellent relationships with hygienists ~ I
am interested in teaching and they sure appreciated that.

And ........ you ALWAYS get to know where I stand. If someone cannot
do that, then please just go work for my competitors .......... we GO
in peace!

Hygienists know I am correct,,,,, ,that is those who wish to debate
and reason it through!

There is no state where the hygienist "diagnoses" the disease now is
there?

Hey! You are in Ontario! What say you about denturists taking people
off the street and making removable partial dentures with no x-rays?


Joel


--
Joel M. Eichen, .
Philadelphia PA
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dr. steve

I have seen a dentist do the same thing with dentures and cancer.

The RDH is an excellent "tool" (not meant in a degrading manner) for
gathering information for the dentist to base his diagnosis on. The RDH is
more than capable of observing all sorts of things. Like whether or not the
patient is responding to treatment or not, so the team can decide on 3/4/6
month recalls. The RDH is very highly trained to observe and record
findings. The RDH is NOT trained to diagnose from that data. Some RDH's do
a good job of perio charting. That is not diagnosis, but it is data
gathering.

--
+=_-+=_-+=_-+=_-+=_-+=_-+=_-+=_-
Stephen Mancuso, D.D.S.
Troy, Michigan USA
..dr.steve@man.cuso.d.d.s.com.
smancus@this.adress.should.now.bounce.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

<LindaPhillipsBong@hotmail.com>

linda

Thank you Dr. Steve - excellent post - I agree.
Linda.