Monday, February 27, 2012

The Morning Drill: February 27, 2012



Santa Monica, California where I was running this weekend in preparation for the Los Angeles Marathon on March 18, 2012

Good Monday morning:

Tavares father-daughter dentists celebrate golden anniversary of practice


When Dr. Eugene Glenn arrived in Tavares in 1962, community leaders were so thrilled to finally have a dentist in town they started an escrow account for him in case he needed some funds while his practice took root.

But when Glenn, who had just graduated from the dental school at Emory University in Atlanta, opened his practice he had two months of appointments booked. His practice thrived and today, 50 years later, it's still at its original location, 109 W. Main St.

Nowadays though, it's his daughter, Dr. Susan Glenn Caddell, who's filling teeth and perfecting smiles. The father-and-daughter dentists will observe the practice's golden anniversary with an open house and celebration from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday with plans for special surprises throughout the year.

"To still be practicing at the same location after all these years is truly remarkable," Caddell said. "We're both thrilled and excited about our 50th year in practice."

The two worked together from 1983 until Glenn's retirement in 1992.

Dentists' Hourly Income Better Than Orthopaedic Surgeons'

After subtracting for the cost of training, dentists make about $99 an hour, beating orthopaedic surgeons but losing out to lawyers, in a comparison of well-paid professions, according to a study presented this month at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) 2012 Annual Meeting.

The study, by Suneel B. Bhat, MD, an orthopaedic surgery resident, and colleagues at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, found that studying to be an orthopaedic surgeon was a "poor financial investment" compared with studying law, dentistry, or anesthesia nursing.

"Our study, the first direct comparison of the financial return of orthopaedic surgery to other professions, highlights the point that there is a relatively lower financial value incentive for qualified individuals to enter orthopaedics compared to several other professions, which could potentially have far-reaching implications on career choice and subsequent access to care for patients," the authors conclude.

To see which professions make the most money, Dr. Bhat and colleagues collected income figures from surveys done by professional associations and other sources. The medical professions' income data were from 2008 and 2009, but the law profession data were from 1997.

The researchers noted that raw income does not accurately reflect the return on investment in education. To better capture the differences, Dr. Bhat and colleagues estimated after-tax income, savings and interest, and liabilities such as student loans and the amount of education needed to be licensed.

They assumed that educational loans would be deferred until the annual liability was less than 25% of earnings, and that interest on the loans was 8.25%.

In addition, they assumed that the individual would save 0.15% of earnings after achieving a stable income.

The researchers found that dentists earned a cumulative career total of $6,866,796. That was less than the $10,756,190 made by orthopaedic surgeons, the $8,381,250 made by lawyers, and the $7,338,412 made by nurse anesthetists, but more than the $3,867,504 made by nurse practitioners.

Of course, inflation eats up a lot of those earnings. Assuming a 5% inflation rate, the researchers came up with $1,855,430 as the cumulative career earnings for dentists in real dollars. After adjusting the numbers for the other professions, they still found that dentists came in fourth of the 5 professions.

Second child dies during dentist visit

A New Jersey dentist on probation for an earlier incident in which a patient died is under investigation after a second child has died in his care during a routine procedure.

The Star-Ledger of Newark reports that a three-year-old boy died during a Feb. 8th visit to Dental Health Associates in Irvington.

Dentist Patrick Bamgboye was still on probation for a 2004 incident in which a six-year-old girl died in his care.

An attorney for Dental Health Associates tells the newspaper that Bamgboye is cooperating with authorities and it's too early in the investigation to assert blame.

10 strangest items found in dental patients' mouths

The 10 strangest objects found in patients' mouths, as ranked by the Chicago Dental Society, which is holding its annual midwinter meeting of 30,000 dental professionals through Saturday at McCormick Place West:

10. A chicken bone

9. Part of a ballpoint pen

8. Obscene lip tattoos

7. Pet hair

6. Do-it-yourself remedies, like Super Glue and wire, to hold broken and loose teeth in place

5. Fragment of a blasting cap

Read the article for the rest and be prepared to be amazed.

Enjoy your morning!

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