Anticoagulant Therapy - How It Can Affect Your Dental Appointment

Today, I would like to tell you about how anticoagulant drugs can affect your dental appointment if you forget to mention that you are taking them.

The first time you go to a dental office you are always asked to fill out some forms. Some of the information that you are asked to provide is your medical history.  It is important for the dentist to know if you are healthy, or if you have health problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart problems etc…  

It is also important to provide a list of all the medications that you are taking, since some medications may cause problems with procedures done by the dentist.  Let me give an example:

Many mature adults take daily anticoagulant medicine to prevent a stroke caused by a blood clot.  A blood clot could travel through the circulation and cause an obstruction not only in the brain, but also in other parts of the body, like the heart, the lungs, the legs, etc…

There are many drugs currently used for this purpose, with names like Plavix, Xarelto, Pradaxa, and others, but the most commonly prescribed is called Coumadin (the generic name is Warfarin).  Since these medications affect the coagulation of the blood, the person taking it is likely to bleed more and longer than normal, and they need to make the dentist aware that they are on this medication.

When a person taking an anticoagulant needs an extraction or some surgical procedure, they need to consult with their physician in order to modify or stop the anticoagulant therapy about a week before their dental procedure in order to get their clotting ability back to normal to avoid bleeding during or after the procedure.

Other substances that have anticoagulant effects are natural remedies such as ginger, fish oil and vitamin E.  It is prudent to discontinue these a week before any dental surgery.

One more related drug that is very important to mention is Aspirin.
Many individuals today take a daily aspirin, and aspirin also has anticoagulant properties.  It should be discontinued one week before the dental surgery.

So whenever you go to your dentist for a surgical procedure, please update your health history with a list of all the medications you are taking (prescription and non-prescription) and this will help him (or her) plan your procedure in the safest way possible.

I hope this information will be useful to you in the future.

Dentist In West Palm Beach
Carlos Boudet, DDS,  DICOI
1840 Forest Hill Blvd, Suite 204
West Palm Beach, Florida  33406
Phone: Call 561-968-6022

Website: http://www.boudetdds.com
Dental Implant Blog:  http://www.palm-beach-implants.com

Funny promotional Video I hope you will like

Hi there!
My name is Carlos Boudet, and I am a general dentist in West Palm Beach, Florida.
I am not doing any advertising presently, and I came across this short clip that I thought was very funny, so I decided to get this clip as a promotional video for my office.
I hope you like it as much as I.
Here is the clip:

Thanks for watching.

West Palm Beach Dentist
Carlos Boudet, DDS DICOI

Website:  http://www.boudetdds.com
Implant Blog:  http://www.palm-beach-implants.com
Spanish website:  http://www.palmbeachdentist.net

Dental Continuing Education Courses in Palm Beach County

Hello, and welcome to my blog!
As a member of the Atlantic Coast Dental Research Clinic for three decades, I would like to give my personal testimonial about this great organization, created and maintained through the years by volunteer dentists with the desire to help others.
When I graduated from dental school in 1980, I felt confident that I was adequately prepared to practice my profession.  Two years later, after serving as a commissioned officer for the Public Health Service in Indiantown, Florida, I opened my own office and settled as a general dentist in West Palm Beach, Florida, and I have been in private practice in the same location ever since.

Soon after I started practice, I realized that my dental school training was only a good foundation, and that I needed much more knowledge and training if I wanted to diagnose and treat my patients the best way possible.

I soon found out that training and continuing education courses were not cheap, and a new dental office with few patients coming in limited my spending on dental CE courses and travel expenses.

I was very fortunate that a group of visionary dentists in my area had created an organization called “AtlanticCoast Dental Research Clinic”.  The “Research Clinic”, as everybody calls it, was set up to offer continuing dental education courses to local and regional dentists that wanted to further their knowledge and training in all aspects of dentistry.

I have been privileged to be a member of the Atlantic Coast Dental Research Clinic for almost three decades.  In all the courses that I have attended, I have been able to learn many modalities of general dentistry that I wasn’t taught in my dental school training.

In my solo practice, I have to work with limited interaction with fellow dentists, but my participation in the Research Clinic has allowed me to make friends, learn from colleagues that are experts in their field, and keep up with all the latest advances in dentistry. 

The Research Clinic has made me more knowledgeable and more confident in my ability to provide the best care available for my patients.  It is local, you don’t have any travel expenses, the courses are fully AGD accredited and the membership fees are very low.  They are very responsive to your input and want your participation.

If you are looking to further your knowledge and obtain additional training and skills in a particular procedure, I invite you to look at their website http://www.acdrc.com/courses-and-instructors/ browse through their courses and enroll in a course that interests you.  You won’t be disappointed.

West Palm Beach Dentist
Carlos Boudet, DDS DICOI

Website:  http://www.boudetdds.com
Implant Blog:  http://www.palm-beach-implants.com
Spanish website:  http://www.palmbeachdentist.net

Intraoral Scanning of Implants

Intraoral scanners have been available for decades, but the scanning of implants intraorally instead of taking a conventional elastomeric impression has not been practiced for several reasons:   First, the software and dedicated scan bodies were not available, and second,  the cost of the available intraoral scanners was very high.  With the introduction of more intraoral scanners and the trend to reduce the costs of the hardware in the past couple of years, the use of intraoral scanners to replace a conventional impression has allowed more dentists to incorporate this new technological advance in their practices, and the laboratory to do the restoration of  implants accurately from the intraoral scan.

I recently published an article in collaboration with a local periodontist that explains a new protocol for the intraoral scanning of implants at the periodontist's office.  The article appeared in Glidewell's Chairside magazine, and it is available online here:  Chairside Volume 11 Issue 1.

This protocol is ideally suited for the general dentist that wants to work with a specialist who places the implants and sends the patient back to the general dentist for restoration.  It improves treatment planning, communication and efficiency.

The simplicity of the procedure for the GP is evident by the fact that the only thing the restorative dentist needs to do is deliver the crown.  There is no need to order parts like impression copings or schedule chair time to take conventional impressions.

Intraoral scanning will be replacing the conventional impression technique in the future because of the many advantages available with the digital workflow.  At present, the price of the equipment seems to be the biggest obstacle to its adoption by more dentists.

West Palm Beach Dentist
Carlos Boudet, DDS DICOI

Website:  http://www.boudetdds.com
Implant Blog:  http://www.palm-beach-implants.com
Spanish website:  http://www.palmbeachdentist.net