My Top Products

Money talk is over, for now.
I struggle to think about how "tough" I have it when $150,000 is more than 95% of the world.
And here I am complaining about how it is not enough.
It is what it is.

Did anyone pick up the AGD Impact this month?
Great article on "For Goodness Sake". Well yours truely was quoted because my father and my staff and I do the Dentistry From the Heart (the day of free dentistry).
The cover of the magazine shows off my dad and I and some volunteers with our first patient.
Don't I look good in black?

I sarted watching No Country for Old Men last night. DUDE!! This movie is messed up. Who thought of this movie? There is some messed up dudes in Hollywood.
But I did watch Dead Man Walking again this week. Have you seen this? This is an AWESOME movie. I know it has Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn and is directed by Tim Robbins (the three amigos of liberalism. "Not that there is anything wrong with that") but it is a must watch. This movie is in my top three of movies of all times. So go and watch it, you will not be disappointed.

Okay back on task.
Now I don't know about you but I love the AGD Impact's "What's Hot and What's Getting Hotter" by Howard Glazer.
I eat it up. I love getting my CRA and seeing if what I have is something the critics like and I can do a self evaluation if I indeed have the best products.

But I wanted to give a product list a different spin.
I want to give you a like of items in dentistry that, I think, are must haves.
I call them my Top 10, but it is more like 15 items (my top 15 doesn't have the same ring as top 10).
Now I do not pick items that are expensive or are showy. I pick items that I NEED. I pick items that are practicle. Items I can't live without.
Not items that make me the most money or make me the most efficient.

Here is the start of the top 10, I mean 15 (you see what I mean).

NUMERO UNO is LOUPES
Dude, you need to have loupes.
I know all the excuses...
They are too expensive.
I tried them once and I couldn't get use to them.
They give me headaches.
They are too heavy.
BS.
Loupes will make you a better dentist. That is the only thing we should be worried about...they will make you a better dentist.
Stop with the excuses... buy loupes, wear loupes.
Is it a pain in the ass to get use to them? Yes.
Are they expensive? Yes.
Do I poke people in the lip with my needle because the field of vision is so small? None of your business.
Can I see my imperfections more with loupes? Yes.
Do I do better dentistry because of them? Yes.

#2
Caries Detector
Actually, I use Caries Finder.
If you don't know, this is a liquid dye that you put on teeth to indicate decay. You can cut a preparation for a MOD resin, and when you think you are all done with getting the decay out you check yourself. I take a microbrush and dip it in the liquid and put it on the tooth. You rinse it and whatever stains red is decay. Whatever is decay you take out. See it is simple.

The least I can do for my patients is make sure all the decay is out of the tooth or teeth I am working on.
I use this stuff for everything... fillings, onlays, crowns, build-ups, primary teeth.
No one is leaving with decay in a tooth.
Are there issues with this stuff? There could be (and let me explain). Lets say you are in a deep caries control and it is near the pulp. Well you are using a RED dye. This could cause an issue when you are trying to distinquish between the stained dentin and the pulp.
That is why Ultradent came out with a green Caries Detector.
But over all this is definitely a product that I can't live without.
It makes me a better dentist.
I use it so much I can't work without it. I have to have it in my room at all times.
If I volunteer at a clinic somewhere I bring my own just in case they don't have it.
Get it and make it part of your tray.

Number 3.
SEPTOCAINE
At about 4 years into my practicing dentistry, I felt like I was using my patients as pin cushions.
I mean I was poking them like there was no tomorrow.
I was working on kids that wouldn't get numb.
I was hurting people.
Now I still hurt it is not as often.
In the maxilla, it is all Septo all the time.
Now in the lower, I know what you are thinking...Tell me he doesn't do it....Don't tell me he does blocks with Septocaine.
YES I DO. I GIVE BLOCKS WITH SEPTOCAINE. There I said it.
I know what you think...I know there is more chance of parathesia with it.
But not according to Dr. Stanley Malamed, who is the authority on drugs, and he says this is not the case.
He says there is no study that says this. In fact he did his own study and it says that Septocaine is not more likely to cause parathesia than any other anesthetic.
Soooo, I do it.
I have had one instance in the last 6 years with it. The tip of someones tongue got numb and the last I checked it is getting better.
But the good about this anesthetic is profound anesthesia.
Getting patients numb on the first try, not the sixth. This is good.
Kids getting numb on infiltrations on the lower. This is good.
Great stuff.

#4
A camera.
I am not talking about an intraoral camera, yet.
I am talking about a 35mm tooth camera.
This is something I don't have to have. But it is something that I love having.
I take pictures of my work. Not all my work. But some cases.
A couple of things it does for me...
I can see my work. I evaluate if the results were as good as I thought.
Sometimes they are and sometimes they are not. But I can certainly learn from the ladder.
I can get great before and after stuff.
From fillings to full mouth reconstructions.
I can create a picture book of my work.
I have taken my pictures of my work and sent them to Walgreens and had a photo albumn make out of them. I have the book in my waiting area so patients can see what is available. Done by me.
This gets patients thinking...wow, this stuff is available to ME, not just the people on T.V.

And last one for the day is the ELECTROSURGE.
I call this the poor man's lazer.
I have one in all my rooms. I use it all the time.
I don't know how to explain it but it is something I would recommend having.
Class V below the gum line... bust it out.
Crown prep and you can't get it to stop bleeding... bust it out.
That root tip that you are taking out that has been completely covered with tissue...Uncover it with the Electrosurge.
Operculum...I leave the make of Zoro.
Any tissue in the way... Z


I have a bunch more so we will talk more about them next week.

Listen I am going to have to talk about the AGD's annual meeting in Orlando.
July 16-20th in my backyard.
I am going to have to devote a blog on places and restaraunts I love. I will have to tell you where to go and what to eat.
I have to tell you the speakers that are a CAN'T MISS.
My teacher and friend Dr. Gremillion is one of the guys doing a Wake-up call breakfast (social event, and so is Dr. Glazer, who I mentioned earlier).
If you haven't registered, do not delay. Maybe I will have a pool party or something.
In the pool that I can't afford.

Have a great weekend.
Sunday is my sons 9th Birthday. It is amazing watch your son grow up.
It is the best.
Speaking of son, we just found out there is going to be a fourth Gammichia baby. We haven't told anyone yet. So you all are the first to know.
We heard the heatbeat yesterday, so it is official.
I guess now $150,000 really isn't going to be enough.
Talk to you Monday,
john