The Morning Drill: January 11, 2012

I am back from a family funeral in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

So, let's go to today's dentistry and health headlines:

Road rage dentist breaks OAP's cheekbone and knocks out his teeth

A road rage dentist who knocked out a pensioner's teeth and broke his cheekbone with a single blow has been banned from the profession for a second year.

Shaun Edwards, 46, was spared jail after he admitted the 'appalling and terrifying' attack on 67-year-old Albert Finney.

The former Army major leapt out of his black BMW and issued his victim with the chilling warning: 'If you knew who I am, you wouldn't tangle with me.' 

Edwards, who at the time was running the Sneyd Dental Practice in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, was handed a four-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, when he appeared in court.

He was suspended for 12 months in January 2011 after a General Dental Council committee ruled his fitness to practise was impaired by reason of his conviction.

After the case was reviewed one year on, the GDC committee decided Edwards' suspension should continue.

Annandale Man Pleads Guilty to Health Care Fraud - Tuan Vu, 43, owns a dentist practice in Alexandria

Tuan Vu, 43, of Annandale, plead guilty on Tuesday to committing health care fraud at his dentist practice in Alexandria.

Vu, who owns Cosmetic & Family Dentistry, PLLC, was charged by criminal information with health care fraud for “fraudulently billing insurance providers hundreds of thousands of dollars for dental services that he did not provide to his patients,” according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Hulk Hogan Gets Surgery My Dentist Left a Tack ... In My Face!

Hulk Hogan's mouth is seriously messed up, after a dentist accidentally ripped out 50 stitches from his mouth.

Hulk tells TMZ ... in October he went in for dental surgery to get implants.  The doctor performed a sinus graft -- placing a donor bone in the mouth to support the implant.  Hulk then went to a cosmetic surgeon to begin the implant process.  When the doc removed the mold in Hulk's mouth, it ripped out around 50 stitches from the donor bone procedure.

Hulk says he's been dealing with the problem ever since ... his mouth became infected and the antibiotics just weren't doing the trick.

So recently Hulk had a CAT scan, which revealed -- get this -- that one of the doctors left a metal tack in his mouth.

1-800-DENTIST Chooses SiteSpect to Amp up Web Optimization Efforts with Non-intrusive Multivariate Testing and Behavioral Targeting

SiteSpect, Inc., the leading provider of non-intrusive optimization solutions, today announced that 1-800-DENTIST, the largest dental-patient matching service in the United States, has selected SiteSpect as its multivariate testing and behavioral targeting platform.

Used by more than 6.5 million people every year, 1-800-Dentist serves all 50 states and has been consistently ranked as one of the nation’s top brands by BRANDWEEK. The company plans to leverage SiteSpect’s multivariate testing and behavioral targeting to provide deep statistical data on every component of its web site in order to provide customers with a better site experience and increase conversions.

“1-800-DENTIST has been helping people find the right dentist since 1986. In recent years, we’ve greatly expanded our online presence to match how today’s consumer wants to interact with us,” said Michael Turner, President of 1-800-DENTIST. “That’s why we turned to SiteSpect. Their record of success in helping increase the effectiveness of B2C websites through rigorous testing and improvement programs is impressive. The fact that SiteSpect offers a unique, non-intrusive approach to testing was an important factor in our decision.”

Enjoy your morning!