MMS Endodontics - October/November 2017

Check out our October/November newsletter!

UNIONTOWN, PA 625 Cherry Tree Lane Uniontown, PA 15401 (724) 438-0600 CUMBERLAND, MD 1415 River Ave. Suite B Cumberland, MD (240) 362-7107 MORGANTOWN, WV 9000 Coombs Farm Dr. Suite. 304 Morgantown, WV 26508 (304) 594-1670

October/ November 2017 www.mmsendo.com info@mmsendo.com

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HOWWE FORGE OUR PATH A Thank You to My Mentors

“Son, you’ve got to make your own way. You are welcome to come back and visit any time, but you need to find your own home now.”

looked so down, and I told him I’d just failed his midterm, he quipped back with,“You should have studied.”

These were my dad’s parting words to me right before I got on the bus to join the Navy at 17 years old. It was a real kick in the gut. My dad was right, of course. We do need to make our own way, but we don’t go it all alone. In my lifetime, I’ve had three mentors, without whom there’s no way I would be where I am today. I met my first mentor shortly after they shaved our heads in basic training. Our company commander, Chief Ralph Heasted, came in to give us a talk about how important each one of us were and how we had hidden talent. I didn’t really believe him. At the time, I didn’t know if I was lazy or just stupid, because I hadn’t done well in high school. Later, we took the GCT/ARI test, which is sort of combination of a math and IQ test. I scored an impressive 125 on the test, which is what is needed to get into the Naval Academy. Chief Heasted didn’t hesitate to give me a lot of responsibly, even making me RTC petty officer. He was the first person to really believe in me, and he convinced me to believe in myself. At Chief Heasted’s encouragement, I went to dental technical school and joined the dental corps while still in the Navy. It was in the dental corps where I met Bill Hutchinson, my commanding officer, who made sure I stuck with dentistry. When the time came for me to reenlist at 21, the Navy offered me embassy duty in Sweden. Despite my spotless record and prior promotions, Hutchinson said he would not recommend me for re-enlistment. Hutchinson told me I needed to go to college and become a dentist. If I wanted to re- enlist after that, he would recommend me then. Following his advice, I went back to school, but at the University of Oregon, I started to think I wasn’t up to the task after all. Though I studied hard, my grades weren’t the best. I remember feeling especially disheartened after I flunked my chemistry midterm. When the teacher, Dr. Koenig, asked why I

“I do study,”I insisted, reminding Dr. Koenig I was older than most of his other students and had recently gotten out of the Navy.“I study four hours every night.”

Dr. Koenig watched me for a moment before telling me to come to his office later that evening.

“Are you going to teach me chemistry?”I asked.

“No,”he said.“I’m going to teach you how to study.”

I was amazed a teacher with 500 students would take time to help me. The study strategies he taught me were invaluable. My grades really picked up, and not just in chemistry. Years later, when I taught my own students, I would give Dr. Koenig’s study lecture to them. Reading and retaining information is important in any profession. If you don’t read as a professional, you’ll never grow professionally.

I owe a lot to my mentors, and have tried to pay it forward, as it were, by being a good mentor to others. The mentors we find in life can help us shape our path and where it leads. Sometimes, mentors even circle back into our lives. When it came time for me to apply to dental school, I learned Bill Hutchinson was out of the Navy and teaching at West Virginia University. That’s where I decided to go myself and where I have been ever since.

Dr. Hal Reed

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WV (304) 594-1670 | MD (240) 362-7107 | PA (724) 438-0600

BRING IN NEW LEADS Put On an Event to

People are social animals. We like to gather together; it’s one of our most basic instincts. Want to play on that instinct to boost your business and attract new leads? Plan and throw a free event! Free events are “a great way to help attract new customers, cement relationships with existing customers, and build buzz about your business,” says small- business expert Rieva Lesonsky. A public gathering is a good way to get your foot in the door and generate some leads from the general public. It could be a free workshop or seminar, a meet-and-greet luncheon for local small-business owners, or even a birthday party for your company. Promoting your event is vital. You’ll want to invite your existing customers, and keep up a strong social media presence before, during, and after the event. One great way to advertise events is with a print newsletter, especially if you include a freestanding flyer for the event inside the newsletter. For more ideas on event promotion — as well as a great primer on event planning in general — check

out Judy Allen’s book “Event Planning: The Ultimate Guide.” It goes into all the factors of event planning in way more detail than we can here!

A free event is well worth the effort. Nothing builds the same goodwill in the community, generates leads from the public, and puts a great face on your business like a free lunch or workshop. And for some business owners, such as attorneys, hosting a free event might be one of the few ways to promote your company without running afoul of marketing rules that apply to your specific profession. Are you ready to host your own free event yet? Plan, promote, and don’t forget to follow up. Strike when the iron is hottest, during and immediately after the event, for great leads and customer retention rates. Be sure to ask people where they heard of your business as well — something you should already be doing. That way you’ll know how successful your event was at attracting new leads! HAVE A LAUGH CASE REPORT: This 64-year-old female was presented with a history of pain and swelling in the lower right quadrant in the previous week. Her GP prescribed Pen VK, and she was presented to our office asymptomatic. Clinical and radiographic examination revealed failing endodontic treatment on tooth No. 28 due to a missed canal. The patient was unsure when the previous RCT was completed. Nonsurgical endodontic retreatment was completed in one visit, and the patient was referred back to her GP for restoration of the bridge. A six-month follow-up appointment showed complete healing of the periapical lesion, and our patient was symptom-free. Save That Bridge

6-MONTH RECALL

PRE-OP

POST-OP

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‘SHOE DOG’ GIVES INSIGHT INTO NIKE’S SUCCESS

trunk, his belief never wavered. Signing Michael Jordan in 1984 revolutionized not just the athletic shoe industry, but celebrity sponsorship in general. He surrounded himself with smart, capable people, expanded sensibly, and never lost sight of his vision. If you want a book that gives you simple, cliché takeaways about how to become massively successful,“Shoe Dog”is not the book for you. If, instead, you crave what Bill Gates calls an“honest reminder of what the path to business success really looks like,”then you should check it out. With a personal perspective, suspense, andmore than a fewwild anecdotes,“Shoe Dog”soars in a way few business books manage to. But, then again, that’s what Knight’s shoes have always promised to help athletes do. “We wanted Nike to be the world’s best sports and fitness company. Once you say that, you have a focus. You don’t end up making wing tips or sponsoring the next Rolling Stones world tour.” –Phil Knight

When an entrepreneur or company becomes massively successful, it’s easy to construct a narrative that makes that success seem like destiny. They look back on the past with rose- colored glasses, interpreting every decision as a stepping stone on their way to eventual victory. Of course, real success stories are never this linear. Honest accounts of what it takes

to dominate an industry are hard to come by, whichmakes Nike CEO Phil Knight’s “Shoe Dog”a refreshing change of pace from the standard business memoir.

If there’s one word that best describes“Shoe Dog,”it’s“candid.”Knight gives equal space to his successes, failings, and insecurities. He also isn’t afraid to admit when luck was the deciding factor. Take the story of famous Nike swoosh, for example. These days, it’s universally regarded as one of the greatest logos ever conceived. Knight could easily claim that he saw its brilliance from the get-go, but that’s not what happened. When an art student came up with the design— for the meager price of $35—Knight’s response was,“It’ll have to do.”

That’s not to say that Knight isn’t a visionary inmany ways. In the early days of Nike, Knight hustled to an extreme degree. Even when he was selling track shoes out of his

AN OVERVIEW OF CRACKED TEETH

Cracked teeth are sometimes very difficult for us in the dental profession to diagnose and treat. Many times the patient will present with diffuse and inconsistent pain, making a decision very hard to make. Below are a few types of common cracks in teeth, and how to best treat them.

that is not treated will progressively worsen, eventually resulting in the loss of the tooth. Early diagnosis and treatment are essential in saving these teeth.

Split Tooth A split tooth is often the result of the long-term progression of a cracked tooth. The split tooth is identified by a crack with distinct segments that can be separated. A split tooth cannot be saved intact. The position and extent of the crack, however, will determine whether any portion of the tooth can be saved. In some cases, endodontic treatment may be performed to save a portion of the tooth. Vertical Root Fracture Vertical root fractures are cracks that begin in the root of the tooth and extend toward the chewing surface. They often show minimal signs and symptoms and may therefore go unnoticed for some time. Vertical root fractures are

Cracked tooth Treatable: A cracked tooth means a crack extends from the chewing surface of your tooth vertically toward the root. The tooth is not yet separated into pieces, though the crack may gradually spread. Early diagnosis is important in order to save the tooth. If the crack has extended into the pulp (usually

characterized by sensitivity to cold or hot), the tooth can be treated with a root canal procedure and a crown to protect the crack from spreading. If the crack has not yet extended into the pulp, cuspal coverage alone may be all that’s necessary. Non-treatable: If the crack extends below the gum line, it is no longer treatable, and the tooth cannot be saved and will need to be extracted. Generally, these patients have been through a period of temperature sensitivity and didn’t seek treatment. Also, more often than not, the tooth will have a periapical lesion or have necrotic pulp. That’s why early treatment is so important. A cracked tooth

often discovered when the surrounding bone and gum become infected. Treatment may involve extraction of the tooth. However, endodontic surgery is sometimes appropriate if a tooth can be saved by removal of the fractured portion. These are generally caused by excessive force or excessive tooth removal during previous root canal therapy.

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WV (304) 594-1670 | MD (240) 362-7107 | PA (724) 438-0600

9000 Coombs Farm Dr. Ste. 304 Morgantown, WV 26508

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WV (304) 594-1670 MD (240) 362-7107 PA (724) 438-0600

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How We Forge Our Path

Use Events to Nab New Leads

Client-Submitted Case Study

Insight Into Nike’s Success

An Overview of Cracked Teeth

The Origins of Fear

WHICH FEARS ARE INSTINCTUAL, AND WHICH ARE LEARNED?

Where does fear come from? As the jack-o’-lanterns show their grinning, glowing faces and skeletons, cobwebs, and gravestones adorn yards around the neighborhood, it’s a question hanging in many of our minds. When you recoil from the giant mechanical spider suspended above your neighbor’s garage, is that fear instinctual, or is it learned?’

According to the Association for Psychological Science, there are only two fears we inherit at birth: the fear of falling and the fear of loud sounds.

A 1960 study, conducted by psychologists Gibson andWalk for Cornell University, sought to investigate depth perception in human and animal species. They suspended a sheet of transparent plexiglass about 4 feet off the ground and covered one half of it with a checkerboard-pattern cloth, creating a simulated cliff. Infants, both human and animal, were then encouraged by their caregivers, usually their mothers, to crawl off the “cliff” onto the clear half of the platform. Both avoided stepping over what they perceived as a sharp drop, and pre- crawling-age infants showed heightened cardiac distress on the “suspended” side. Coupled with this innate fear of plummeting to the ground is something called the Moro reflex, one of several involuntary reflexes healthy newborn infants have at birth. Often called the “startle reflex,” it occurs when a baby is startled by a loud sound or movement, especially a falling motion. The reflex usually triggers the newborn to lift and spread their arms as if grasping for support, followed by crying. Though the Moro reflex usually disappears at around 5 to 6 months of age, our instinctive aversion to sudden loud noises stays with us throughout our lives.

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