Not all is as it seems

Hello again, I hope that you are safe and well. So, December and Christmas will soon be here again. Where does that time go? There has been some lovely Autumn colour in the East Riding. Life is still as busy as ever at this end with loads of online courses. They have been a really good thing. Next week it’s my first in person, in the flesh, course since the COVID thing started. I am triple vaccinated, I’ll be masked up and it’s at a dental practice, so all should be fine. As ever looking at ways to improve experiences and outcomes.

Be careful what you believe

I do believe that at the moment there has never been so much made-up stuff. This last 18 months or more has seemed to have fuelled it further. It’s always been there as spin and propaganda but with the internet it’s so easy for people to post and other people to take it as the truth. There are fake ads with expert and celebrity endorsements, fake scientific claims to get you buy stuff you don’t need or conspiracy theorists wanting you on their side out of fear. There is even just fake stuff for the sake of it.

Some stuff looks convincing

Example: Rare condition makes teeth grow in hands

‘Calcium hyperproficiency is a rare complication of vitamin D deficiency, where excess calcium from bone resorption forms complex structures resembling teeth. Neoformed teeth grow on different bones, such as this patient's hand, causing fractures and joint dysfunction.’

The Truth

This looks very convincing and when I first saw it I thought wow, that’s interesting. I’ve never seen that before. Then realised why I hadn’t seen it before. It’s fake and does not make sense. Why would teeth just form because of calcium being there. This is photo shop at work. You have to question and ask the question. WHY? I’ve always said when I’ve been mentoring colleagues. “If you don’t know WHY you are doing something, stop, because you probably shouldn’t be doing it.”

Now you can get teeth growing in parts of the body where they should not be. There is a benign tumour called a teratoma. At university, now 29 years ago since I was there, we were shown pictures of teeth in ovaries and testicles. I’ll not put any pictures as might be ready for your tea. It makes me a bit queasy thinking about it. The geeky bit is that this makes more sense. Human teeth start from ectoderm down growths during the embryological phase and from mesenchyme. So, you need the right cells from the start. Things have obviously gone a bit array with teratomas when the wrong genes have been activated to form teeth.

Vitamin D

However, vitamin D deficiency is quite a common thing. I did some training with a French surgeon a few years ago and he said that 65% of all hospital workers in France were vitamin D deficient. Not many windows in some hospitals and night shifts so sleeping during the day. We need sunlight on our skin to make vitamin D. It’s important for good bone and a good immune system. Several studies now have shown that vitamin D supplementation had reduced COVID symptoms in people by improving the immune system. We recommend it for dental implant therapy. The darker winter months is when you benefit from vitamin D supplements the most.

Merry Christmas

I hope that you and your families have a great Christmas and New Year and if Christmas is not your thing have a great December.

Until next time. Take care and be good.