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August 15, 2007
Ethics and Legalities in Dentistry - The Case of the Dentist Joker and the Assistant's Pigs
A really bizarre case has appeared in the legal literature. In this case a dentist performed surgery on one of his assistants who was also a patient. The assistant had a hobby or outside interest of caring for pot-bellied pigs. The surgery included the placement of temporary implants. As a practical joke, while the assistant/patient was under anesthetic, the dentist placed temporary implants of boars teeth, took photos, and then removed the boars teeth and continued with placing the actual temporary implants.
As you might have guessed, when the assistant saw the photos, she did not find it at all funny, which was the beginning of the legal cases. The dentist expected that his insurance company would cover him when he was sued, however they declined. He settled out of court with the assistant, but then sued his insurance company for not covering him. He won. He not only won, but he was granted the entire sum of money he paid the assistant plus three times that for mental distress.
This looks to be a very interesting case. More details and information are included in the following two FindLaw articles.
Scales, Adam. Can This Pig Fly? How A Dentist Assaulted A Patient And Made A Million Dollars: Part One in a Two-Part Series. Findlaw Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2007.
http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/commentary/20070814_scales.html
Scales, Adam. Can This Pig Fly? How A Dentist Assaulted A Patient And Made A Million Dollars: Part Two of a Two-Part Series. Findlaw Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2007
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/commentary/20070815_scales.html
Posted by pfa at 10:19 AM | Comments (0)
August 12, 2007
"For Each Child the Mother Loses a Tooth" - Where Did it Start?
In 1740, Joannus Baptista Mongin wrote a short (7 page) work describing pregnancy as a risk factor for tooth loss. You may remember the old saying, "for every child, the mother loses a tooth"? Well, perhaps this is where it began. The original book is in the Rare Book collections of the Dentistry Library, but for those who would like to take a look at this without coming to the library, here are images of the original pages in Latin.
Flickr: Mongin on the Teeth of Pregnant Women:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rosefirerising/sets/72157601464435811/
Posted by pfa at 04:17 PM | Comments (0)
August 10, 2007
AGD has New Dry Mouth Education Campaign
The Academy of General Dentistry has launched a new consumer health education campaign on dry mouth (xerostomia). This includes articles, posters, brochures, and faqs, all free and downloadable / printable from their web site. For more information, see:
AGD: New Dry Mouth Campaign: http://www.agd.org/public/OralHealth/drymouth/
Posted by pfa at 11:15 AM | Comments (0)
August 04, 2007
Science Learning Opportunities in Second Life
Second Life is an immersive virtural world, also known as a MultiUser Virtual Environment or MUVE. It is of interest on campus in part because it has become increasingly prominent in education and commerce. Following after our earlier bootcamp sessions on Second Life, we were asked to make a video to help illustrate science learning opportunities in Second Life. The video is now available! Without further ado, please see the following.
YouTube: Science Learning Opportunities in Second Life: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfsSGBraUhc
Posted by pfa at 11:33 AM | Comments (0)