Today (tonight) is the lase day for you to sign up for the Vancouver dental conference, I went last year and it was far superior to the PNDC in Seattle.

Here is my summary.

1.  Vancouver dental conference is cheaper.  (the PNDC is getting atrocious)

2.  Vancouver dental conference gives you lunch (and wine)

3.  Vancouver dental conference has better hotels  (and they are cheaper)

4.  Vancouver dental conference doesn’t seem as stuck on itself

5.  Just thumbing through the sessions available in Vancouver I found six sessions I would like to attend that one day,  I’m better off looking at the things I don’t want to attend at the PNDC and just going to what’s left.

Last year was fantastic, hopefully this year is even better.

Match 6-8

 http://www.pdconf.com

I will be doing a healthtalk interview on January 5th talking about oral health as we grow older, and the difficulties, solutions thereof!

I thought I would use this blog to collect my thoughts, so stay tuned!

First up

some tools for when we get older, or are just getting more cavities.

American Dental Associations link to a new publication called Oral Longevity.

Great publication for the folks like my mom and dad who are retired, and need to think about their long term health.

http://jada.ada.org/content/vol138/suppl_1/index.dtl

C3 Jian lollipops

New CANDY, yes a dentist suggests candy for fighting cavities, the link below is a paper on a pretty cool little sucker.

https://www.c3-jian.com/pdfs/Licorice-lollipops.pdf

https://www.c3-jian.com/

above is the home page

Xylitol gum

Trident, and a slew of other gum makers are sweetening their gums with this.
it can help fight decay.

http://xylitolnow.com/
http://jada.ada.org/cgi/content/abstract/137/2/190

A new product for dry mouth flavored with xylitol

Stoppers 4 (found at Walgreen’s)

Some tricks to help you take care of your mouth

loop your floss, it’s easier to control if you can’t wrap it around your fingers tie the ends together so it forms a loop.

Use an electric tooth brush, and keep the head fresh

wash the heads in the dishwasher sometimes, once or twice a month. keeps bacterial growth down.

use xylitol gum

use fluoride toothpaste

brush or scrape your tongue

minimize acid attacks during the day by minimizing complex sugar intake and incidents.

Floss, or toothpicks, or floss aids.

Had a fun interview with Chris Pirillo over the Ultreo toothbrush he is using, really really a fun time. Ultreo solves the Bristle fatigue problem every other sonic brush has by using a nubbin to create a sonic wave, kind of one big bristle……..brilliant.

Chris | Live Tech Support | Video Help | Add to iTunes

As Chris noticed the Ultreo logo looks very similar to an RSS feed icon……. I don’t know if that was on purpose, but it was a very astute observation…. good eye Chris.

Geeks rejoice although the Ultreo isn’t wifi or bluetooth compliant yet it will keep your mouth healthier than any brush out there.

Thanks for the talk Chris, I will keep you posted with any other geek dental tips I come across.

Gregory Birch DDS

canine@olypen.com

1. Microsoft used to save me money, and XP was occasionally annoying, but saved me enough money vs Mac to tolerate it. Vista removes this incentive.

2. The Mac saves me time.

I am no Apple fanboy, the recent death of my father in law has solidified the fact that time is the most precious thing in our lives. I don’t have time for Vista.

    Ok, ok I know I haven’t really made a lot of dental related posts,  the purpose of this blog is to post when there is value in the posting.  I will therefore post good stuff, and only good stuff.  There was enough interest in the blackberry door post for me to repost another video that was easier to watch.  There are lots of dentists with the 8830 at least here in Washington State because the Washington State Dental Association backs Verizon (another rant for another day)

Since I figure there are a ton of Mac folks out there or soon to be Mac folks out there, I will publish my Vista vs Mac  comparison in the next post VISTA Ramblings.

Folks still having problems with the battery door of the 8800 series Blackberry phones….

Would still love a working GPS….cmon Verizon

oh and fully capable bluetooth would be nice too.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=202404027

  The practice is getting to the point that I really need an associate dentist,  why doesn’t the state dental society help members recruit, associates/partiners?  it still baffles me why this service isn’t taken up by an organization  either National, State, or local?  I don’t know….

Everett Burkhart

Son of William Burkhart, founder of Burkhart dental, and once president of the company has passed away. When I first moved to Port Angeles, purchased my practice from W. Alvin Gross I was treated to beers, and good times on Alvin’s boat while Everett would be poking around and fixing things. All being Washington husky fans we would listen to the games, and talk fishing or whatever. While much younger, I always felt I was in the presence of giants, especially the way Everett could fix things, and the way Alvin could skipper his boat. Everett, and Alvin were good friends, I’m sure Al misses him very much, I’ll have to have a beer for him, salute life, go boating, and fix my own dental equipment in his honor (for a bit anyway)

Thank you Everett, for making me welcome in my new town, new practice, new era, and for giving me a new plateau to see things from.

Sincerely

Greg

Is this my Macintosh of old?

the butterfly key is in the same place…….Finder etc.  There is no slot for my 2.5 in floppies?  no problem.

Love the magnetic power cord.

isight camera is pretty cool

I will probably try VMware fusion to run XP?

So what happened with apple care.

I put in my code, and it worked….  must have been the lag time between getting the code and the time it was activated?  or maybe someone at apple read my blog?  anyway my quicktime pro now works, thank you apple.

For dentists, using a MacBook to create content………….probably a good idea, especially if you can run windows from within, then it is almost a no brainer….