WHILE most people believe that the main cause of gum disease is poor oral hygiene, stress is equally to be blamed, as is poor diet.  Studies have shown that not only is poor diet the missing link in the prevention and treatment of gum disease, but it is almost always ignored.

WHEN the author of the biblical verse declared that it is what comes out of a man’s mouth that defiles him and not what enters into it, in a literal context, he obviously was unaware of the fact that it is precisely the opposite that is true.

I WON’T be surprised to learn I am the only dentist who would not perform root canal therapy on a patient’s tooth simply because that patient requests it to be done. Only if it is justified, in my professional opinion, would that request be granted. And the reason for this posture is simple: Root canal therapy literally involves killing a tooth, and I believe it is a universally accepted fact that we only kill when it is necessary. If the tooth is dead, then the body will slowly reject it, as manifested by root absorption.

Generally, unless health professionals were unusually insensitive to patients’ reactions, health education often had a patronising ring to it.