Actually, if anyone stands in breach of contract, it's the student. Dental schools require that their students sign a "professional code of conduct" statement. Everyone at my dental school had to sign one. It's a committment to the idea that healthcare providers and professionals are held to a higher moral and ethical standard than the general public, and an introduction to the idea of a professional community. This kid signed one. Some schools are more "draconian" in their enforcement of these statements, but by and large, they encompass everything from academic dishonesty to professional misconduct. Basically, the school can do whatever they want if this statement is violated, since it is a contract. Imagine if this had been a different situation. The kid publishes comments about another dentist, which his currently unpopular professor probably is. That dentist's patients read them and stop going to him. Defamation of character leads to lost income, lawsuit, kid probably loses, and probably has his license suspended. It has nothing to do with free speech, since nobody stopped the kid from writing his comments. They merely had consequences. Hopefully this kid will learn his lesson before it costs him anything more than a bit of pride.
Exactly! I saw this back when I was in dental school. The problem is that in most professional schools, you have students who are fresh out of college, without any experience in the real "your ass is in your own hands" world. Dental school is unlike any other professional program, since you're seeing patients and providing care very early on. So here they are, the molly-coddled perpetual students, in an environment where they are expected to perform as members of a professional community where they are not only interacting with colleagues, but PATIENTS, who DEMAND a higher level of maturity and tact from their healthcare providers. Free speech? Yeah, it's protected, but not when it applies to professional standards, libel, slander, or defamation of character. Suspension is a slap on the wrist. Solidarity among a professional community is what keeps it alive and prevents it from being legislated into submission. Apparently this kid was able to snow his admissions board into thinking he would be a valuable asset to the community. Later on in practice, a state dental board may not be so gullible or forgiving. At least that's what we can hope.
This reasoning is exactly why these systems are no longer widely used. There were quite a few documented instances where hepatitis B was transmitted through the use of contaminated jet injectors. For infection control purposes, it's a lot easier to use a disposable needle than sterilize an injector after every use.
The "blog" sounds more like a case of what can happen when a hypochondriac has access to too much Internet information without enough medical training. I find it interesting that he was able to self-diagnose a mitral valve prolapse and regurgitation without an echocardiogram (NOT an EKG), pulmonary sulfur granules without a bronchoscopy, decided he needed diagnostics without indications for them, and specific antibiotics without a positive microbial culture (which is hard to get with actinomycosis since it's usually found via exploratory surgery). So the problem was solved by good old Penicillin. Great. It's still an extremely effective drug, but reluctantly prescribed, since others (like cipro )have a wider antimicrobial spectrum, and are less likely to induce resistant strains. Oh, and a word as a dentist- contracting some sort of pulmonary infection from brushing your teeth is extremely improbable under any condition, even immunosuppression. Aerosols from ultrasonic scalers are a different story, but those should never be used outside a dentist's office anyway.
However as much as I like electronic media you can't beat a real news paper sitting in the sunshine or in front of the fire --- Although tossing a PDA into the flames would probably be a lot more exciting.
Endodontically treated teeth do not discolor due to lack of nutrients. Once the pulp of the tooth is removed, it must be filled with an inert material to seal the instrumented canal. More often than not, discoloration is due to incomplete removal of filling and sealing materials from the pulp chamber. The metallic additives placed in the gutta-percha filling so that it will show up nicely on an x-ray oxidize over time, discoloring the tooth. It usually isn't visible, though, since the filling material shouldn't extend above the level of the bone. Other less frequent causes include pulp tissue remnants left behind and various intracanal medications. And by the way, an endodontically treated tooth is still surrounded by neurovascular tissue in the periodontal ligament which attaches it to the surrounding bone, so it's more "brain dead" than "dead"..
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Actually, if anyone stands in breach of contract, it's the student. Dental schools require that their students sign a "professional code of conduct" statement. Everyone at my dental school had to sign one. It's a committment to the idea that healthcare providers and professionals are held to a higher moral and ethical standard than the general public, and an introduction to the idea of a professional community. This kid signed one. Some schools are more "draconian" in their enforcement of these statements, but by and large, they encompass everything from academic dishonesty to professional misconduct. Basically, the school can do whatever they want if this statement is violated, since it is a contract. Imagine if this had been a different situation. The kid publishes comments about another dentist, which his currently unpopular professor probably is. That dentist's patients read them and stop going to him. Defamation of character leads to lost income, lawsuit, kid probably loses, and probably has his license suspended. It has nothing to do with free speech, since nobody stopped the kid from writing his comments. They merely had consequences. Hopefully this kid will learn his lesson before it costs him anything more than a bit of pride.
Exactly! I saw this back when I was in dental school. The problem is that in most professional schools, you have students who are fresh out of college, without any experience in the real "your ass is in your own hands" world. Dental school is unlike any other professional program, since you're seeing patients and providing care very early on. So here they are, the molly-coddled perpetual students, in an environment where they are expected to perform as members of a professional community where they are not only interacting with colleagues, but PATIENTS, who DEMAND a higher level of maturity and tact from their healthcare providers. Free speech? Yeah, it's protected, but not when it applies to professional standards, libel, slander, or defamation of character. Suspension is a slap on the wrist. Solidarity among a professional community is what keeps it alive and prevents it from being legislated into submission. Apparently this kid was able to snow his admissions board into thinking he would be a valuable asset to the community. Later on in practice, a state dental board may not be so gullible or forgiving. At least that's what we can hope.
This reasoning is exactly why these systems are no longer widely used. There were quite a few documented instances where hepatitis B was transmitted through the use of contaminated jet injectors. For infection control purposes, it's a lot easier to use a disposable needle than sterilize an injector after every use.
The "blog" sounds more like a case of what can happen when a hypochondriac has access to too much Internet information without enough medical training. I find it interesting that he was able to self-diagnose a mitral valve prolapse and regurgitation without an echocardiogram (NOT an EKG), pulmonary sulfur granules without a bronchoscopy, decided he needed diagnostics without indications for them, and specific antibiotics without a positive microbial culture (which is hard to get with actinomycosis since it's usually found via exploratory surgery). So the problem was solved by good old Penicillin. Great. It's still an extremely effective drug, but reluctantly prescribed, since others (like cipro )have a wider antimicrobial spectrum, and are less likely to induce resistant strains. Oh, and a word as a dentist- contracting some sort of pulmonary infection from brushing your teeth is extremely improbable under any condition, even immunosuppression. Aerosols from ultrasonic scalers are a different story, but those should never be used outside a dentist's office anyway.
However as much as I like electronic media you can't beat a real news paper sitting in the sunshine or in front of the fire
---
Although tossing a PDA into the flames would probably be a lot more exciting.
Laos? Somehow I don't think adobe would work well in a rice paddy.
Endodontically treated teeth do not discolor due to lack of nutrients. Once the pulp of the tooth is removed, it must be filled with an inert material to seal the instrumented canal. More often than not, discoloration is due to incomplete removal of filling and sealing materials from the pulp chamber. The metallic additives placed in the gutta-percha filling so that it will show up nicely on an x-ray oxidize over time, discoloring the tooth. It usually isn't visible, though, since the filling material shouldn't extend above the level of the bone. Other less frequent causes include pulp tissue remnants left behind and various intracanal medications. And by the way, an endodontically treated tooth is still surrounded by neurovascular tissue in the periodontal ligament which attaches it to the surrounding bone, so it's more "brain dead" than "dead"..