From the Co-Editor
Louis F. Rose, DDS, MD
Dear Readers, In our informational age, continuing education is no longer bound by the walls of a classroom or the cover of a textbook. The Web has catapulted dental learning processes into your home and office, enabling you to accommodate continuing education more easily into your schedule. Compendium is your pathway to education.
The first of our continuing education (CE) articles focuses on inherited ectodermal dysplasia, in which two ectodermal structures do not develop and anodontia often manifests. Early intervention with prosthodontic habilitation or rehabilitation is critical in order to provide the most esthetic, functional, and psychological benefits. This article offers a stepwise approach, as illustrated in a 5-year-old male with ED.
The second CE delves into the potential connections of cancer and periodontitis, which share the trait of inflammation. The article notes that periodontal disease may signal a deficiency of the overall immune system or it may cause some cancers. Although research is ongoing, oral healthcare providers should be cognizant of this link and advise patients accordingly.
Our next article “Dental Economics and the Aging Population” examines a different aspect of patient care. The first of the baby boom generation will turn 65 in 2011, posing unprecedented challenges for the dental profession. How will the economic turbulence that affected baby boomers’ nest eggs impact the dental practitioner? What role does the growing clinical awareness of oral-systemic links play with this aging cohort? These are quintessential questions that all practitioners are confronting.
Our practice management article discusses an important part of our patient care: psychologic, emotional, and interpersonal traits that impact treatment-related factors. The authors provided a comprehensive questionnaire to patients who were asked to score their anxiety levels and concerns. Such results help make some of our patient care challenges more identifiable and thus easier to overcome. Understanding these factors in patient decision-making is essential for all oral practitioners.
In addition to our significant content in this summer issue, we are featuring three articles online at https://www.compendiumlive.com. Among them is a Review/Opinion piece that discusses gingival recession, which has no clearly identified etiology, and proposes a radiographic-supporting bone index.
I hope that you enjoy this issue of Compendium. Please visit https://www.compendiumlive.com to take CE courses and read both current and archived issues. I welcome comments and suggestions: I can be reached at lrose@aegiscomm.com. Thank you for your continuing support.
Louis F. Rose, DDS, MD
