Good morning. Congrats to the six winners of last week’s big contest! This week, you’ll notice that we’re testing a new upgrade for Morning Floss. If we don’t screw it all up (likely), the new look will allow us to bring you better stories, cooler content, and bigger contests. Be gentle, we’re sensitive.

A biting cold case: It has been almost two years, but Vancouver police have not yet solved their golden dental mystery. Two summers ago, police launched a daring raid on a suspected stolen property operation…. only to instead find a strange hoard of golden fillings, caps, and bridges instead. The estimated value of the dental loot is a whopping $12,000, yet multiple public appeals have failed to find an owner, who police suspect is a dentist. Maybe try stamp collecting instead.

⏰ Your reading time today: 6 mins 26 seconds

🏆️ The Toothdle champ this week is Dr. Allan Reiss, followed closely by Drs. John Mansour and Gary Powell. Join in on Canada’s dental Wordle, play Toothdle now!

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THE MORNING FLOSS COMMUNITY

The global network she founded in Canada

Have you ever organized a little soirée, only to wake up as the head of a groundbreaking global network? No? Yeah, us neither. But, for Morning Floss reader Dr. Effie Habsha, a Toronto-based prosthodontist, what started as her desire to connect to referring female dentists quickly had a major glow-up into one of the preeminent global organizations for female dental professionals worldwide. Just another day at the office!

Today, we jump into the roots of Women in Dentistry (“WID”) and find out how Dr. Habsha’s network is helping mentor, connect, and unite a generation of female dental professionals.

Roots: Dr. Habsha started her professional life as one of the first female prosthodontists working in Toronto at the time. In 2010, realizing she wanted to connect with female dentists to encourage referrals, Dr. Habsha threw a small lecture event. The next morning, she woke up to messages praising the opportunity to simply connect with other female dental pros. An idea was born.

Growth: Seeing this gap, Dr. Habsha sprang into action, building WID events that featured and brought together not only other female dentists, but also elevated the full suite of dental professionals, including hygienists, certified dental assistants, and administrative team members.

While much has changed in dentistry, for many in Dr. Habsha’s growing network, it was the first time they could get together as women and talk about the unique challenges they faced in their careers and lives.

These conversations built into an established community, launching WID’s first annual symposium, which brought together scores of female dental professionals, speakers and industry leaders.

Today: Today, WID is much more than just an event series. With chapters in Toronto, Montreal, Saudi Arabia, Israel and more in the making, the organization now delivers a multitude of programs:

• Education: WID presents various live and virtual events tailored to the specific clinical, professional, and life challenges that women face.
  

• Community: WID has translated real-life connections to virtual communities through its online platform that features online webinars, articles, and content specifically focussed on hot topics for women in dentistry.
  

• Mentorship: Noting that women can sometimes find it challenging to find a mentor, Dr. Habsha and her team launched an international mentorship program that pairs mentors and mentees across borders.

What’s next: WID and Dr. Habsha are launching their thirteenth and most comprehensive Annual Symposium yet on April 14th, 2023 in Toronto, featuring leading female dental pros from across the world, speaking on issues ranging from the clinical to the practical. And of course, the event is prime for networking and building bridges not only between women but also across the dental professions. Luckily, there is still just enough time for you to register!

Big picture: Like any good doctor, Dr. Habsha diagnosed a problem. Dentistry can be a lonely practice, especially for women in a field that has only recently shifted from its male-dominated roots. But unlike a traditional doctor, Dr. Habsha not only prescribed a cure, she discovered it. WID not only brings dental pros together, it helps them thrive. We tip our crowns to you!

🗳️ VOTE: What's your diagnosis?

SPONSORED BY DENTAL HIVE

The app solving Canadian dentistry’s biggest problem

Today, searching for that perfect office to work at, or the right person to join your team, can seem like an impossible dream.

You can spend countless hours obsessively scrolling and searching. Sounds about as much fun as online dating. You ain’t got time for that! 

Do yourself a favour and make your search so much easier by checking out Dental Hive.

Built by and for Canadian dental pros, it is the one app that actually makes posting and finding a job easy, fast, and even fun.

• For those hiring: Thousands of verified job seekers are signed up and looking. Say goodbye to unqualified applicants!
  

• For job seekers: Browse almost 1000 postings from nearly 600 clinics.

As if that wasn’t enough, Dental Hive is building a business directory that can thankfully solve every problem you face at your clinic. All on your phone.

Dental Hive is your do-it-all solution to find and build the dental team of your dreams. Download it today for free.

WEEKLY SCAN

🇨🇦 The Federal Government is locking up multi-billion dollar provincial health deals, without any mention of dental care, all but confirming the likelihood that the federal government is continuing with its ‘go-it-alone’ federal dental care program, despite earlier provincial promises to fight the plan. More to come…

🔥 This beautiful Canadian dental practice is getting lauded by the illustrious Trend Hunter, rating Toronto-based dentist Dr. Derek Chung’s clinic as a “9.2” out of 10, recognizing his big bet on creating a dream space for dental care. Swanky!

👍 Former NBA players sentenced to prison for their big role in a huge dental benefits fraud scheme, helping scam the NBA by submitting fraudulent claims. We’re calling a foul.

💎 U of T is masterfully telling the story of one international dentist who is making his dental dreams come true, so don’t miss the story of Anju, whose family are jewelers, but he’s now making teeth sparkle instead.

🇬🇧 Fancy working in London? The UK’s dental licensing body is making it easier to get licensed, creating greater flexibility for those taking the Overseas Registration Exam in their quest to be qualified. Just in time for the coronation!

😭 Employee fired due to the company's smile policy gets a dream dental make-over, thanks to the charitable efforts of Dr. Daniel Rubinshtein stepping in to help her smile again. Her story resulted in her former company’s reversal of their policy. Finally, some good news!

🤔 Dr. Doucet of the Coalition for Dental Care is calling for the nationalization of corporate dentistry in a notable American magazine, claiming access to care and cost as driving factors.

DENTAL ECONOMICS

Inflation drilling into practice profits

News broke this week that the Bank of Canada might raise interest rates yet again in response to inflation and companies raising prices. And while talk of inflation may tempt you to pull the covers over your head, everyone’s most loathed economic trend is profoundly impacting dentistry as we speak.

In this week’s Morning Floss, we survey some of the ways in which interest rates have and will impact the tooth trade.

Practice market: Speak to any dentist considering a practice purchase and they will remind you that the Canadian dental practice market has been on an incredible run for the past several years. However, over the last several months, the hot bull market has cooled considerably.

To combat inflation, the Bank of Canada has raised interest rates, which makes taking out loans for practice acquisitions considerably more expensive. For dentists considering a big purchase, it is not just the cost of their practice loans that they have to consider, but also the impact of rising interest rates on their home mortgages and student debt. The net effect? It has now become a buyer's market as there are fewer corporations and financially qualified individuals to cause bidding wars for clinics.

Supplies: While practice prices may be down, the costs of operating dental practices have gone way up due in part to both inflation and supply chain issues. According to the American Dental Association’s Health Policy Institute (HPI):

• Roughly 1 in 4 practices have seen costs of supplies and materials increase by at least 20%

• Nearly half of dentists say lab fees have increased more than 1-10%

• Over 40% of dentists believe rising costs are the biggest challenge facing their practice.

Labour: As reported near-weekly in Morning Floss, the significant shortage of staff in dental practices continues to be a significant challenge for dentistry. According to the ADA and HPI, two-thirds of U.S. dentists identify the issue as the most significant challenge in their practice.

This staffing squeeze, as well as the heightened cost-of-living experienced by staff, has led to increased wage demands. A recent U.S national survey saw increases ranging from between 3 to 7.5 percent, with over 80 percent of owner-dentists providing increases in 2022.

Patient concern: While dentistry is popularly considered “recession-resistant”, statistical research demonstrates that recessions and troubling economic times do decrease demand for oral health care. In fact, studies have found that dental care tends to be the form of care patients are most likely to delay in light of financial troubles.

Big picture: No sooner have dental practices turned the corner from the pandemic, they have run smack into a recession marked by inflation and a whole new host of issues. In this environment, practice owners are feeling the squeeze on all sides. While fee guides have risen in some provinces, it remains to be seen if these increases can keep up with new pressures and potential patient declines. Hold on tight, Flossers.

🗳️ VOTE: What's your diagnosis?

THE BUSINESS OF DENTISTRY

🔢 Straumann announces an AI initiative to transform data to improve patient care, for example, from showing how aligners can transform a patient’s appearance to improving digital diagnostics. The future is now!

💰 Speaking of which, business is booming at Straumann, with almost a 16% improvement from 2021 to 2022, with sales topping 2.51 billion dollars (US), and strong forecasts for 2023.

😲 Nine hottest dental tech trends for 2023, from innovators in Israel, with everything from regenerative products to AI.

💲 Ontario Teachers Pension Plan increases investment in Henry Schein, betting on the future growth of dentistry and its strength in the marketplace.

🦷 Henry Schein showcasing innovative tech solutions, with emphasis on how AI and 3D printing tech can revolutionize clinical practice.

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

Billing $170 million may not be a great idea

Regulated dental professionals hold a special place in society - they are innately trusted to provide care, given special instruments to prescribe and treat, and provided with certain opportunities to keep their businesses afloat in difficult times.

However, when dental pros cross the line, authorities take the gloves off, as this recent case of an Oregan endodontist gone rogue demonstrates, especially when $170 million and boatloads of illegal drugs are involved. Yep, that’ll do it.

What happened: This week, Dr. Salwan Adjaj, an endodontist from Oregon, was sentenced to nearly six years in prison, after narrowly dodging a sentence of many more years. His crime? He attempted to defraud more than $170 million in Covid-related government programs and illegally prescribed thousands of controlled drugs. What the….

The gateway lie: When the pandemic struck, governments worldwide deployed COVID recovery programs of all shapes and sizes to blunt the economic disruption. As many Floss readers will have experienced first hands, dental operations were initially heavily impacted by lockdowns.

Seeing the roll-out of the programs, Dr. Adjaj took the opportunity to put together several fraudulent loan applications claiming his dental-related revenues had suffered. Not one for subtlety, Dr. Adjaj submitted dozens of cooked-up applications to small business programs. All of them were rejected. Usually, a good sign to stop.

The gamble: Apparently not learning his lesson on his dental-related applications, Dr. Adjaj took his fraudulent scheme to the next level, creating multiple fake restaurants and businesses across the U.S. to unlock targeting government funding programs.

In total, the doctor submitted more than 100 fraudulent applications, stealing the identity of 40 victims in the process, and generating over $11.5 million in illicit funds. A true risk-taker, Dr. Adjaj then used these funds to speculate on stocks and cryptocurrencies, which he continued to do even after his inevitable arrest. From breaking files to Breaking Bad.

Bad dose: In concert with Dr. Adjaj’s avalanche of applications, he developed a side hustle of using his position as a dentist to collect and distribute thousands of doses of controlled drugs far outside the scope of dentistry. To gain his illegal supply, he tried to trick a pharmaceutical manufacturer with his credentials to send him 23 different medications for a total of 69,3000 units, and even took to the dark web to bolster his ne'er-do-well apothecary. And you thought this could not get worse.

Lockdown: Dr. Adjaj’s embezzlement empire came crashing down due to a wee mishap: the bad doctor used his home address as the place of business on nearly all of his applications, despite concocting a myriad of fake commercial fronts and identities. Not so smart after all.

This mishap, in combination with anonymous tips, led to the dentists’ downfall, and now to significant fines, six years in jail, and the seizure of his 2017 Maserati Levante SUV.

Big picture: Headlines often focus on the fraud, but rarely on the consequences for those who get caught. While regulated professionals get some perks alongside their responsibilities, they also get the book thrown at them when they deviate from the path, and cause immense harm. In this case, the dentist went fully off-road, but the tale still serves as a cautionary reminder in light of Canada’s upcoming government dental programs. Don’t even think about it!

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CLINICAL BITES

• 🦠 A side-effect-free method to reduce gingivitis, has been revealed in this study about using the bacteria B. lactis HN019 in the clinical management of gingival inflammation. Bacteria v. bacteria!

• 🌬️ Vaping shown to cause DNA damage to oral cells, in vapers who never smoked cigarettes, in this cautionary study at the USC Keck School of Medicine.

• 🧪 Melatonin helps post-wisdom tooth removal healing, through its anti-inflammatory effect, even helping with mouth opening post-surgery. No positive effects on bone healing were found. Will it improve sleep too?

• 🫄 Discovering decay with AI-digital tech in pregnant women during a trip to the doctor, is possible with AICaries, a smartphone app that can be used to assess patients, and other kids they tote to the appointment, helping avoid painful dental problems getting out of hand.

• 🤢 What makes kids barf at the dentist, is the focus of this study on gagging, which was found to be based on many factors including fear and previous bad dental experiences. Let’s hope they find a solution, fast!

• 🥤 A mouthwash can reduce the spread of airborne infection at the dentist, by incorporating hypochlorous acid, which is inexpensive and non-toxic to oral tissues, and has shown positive results against oral pathogens and a SARS-Covid surrogate.

• ❤️‍🩹 How oral hygiene reduces death from heart disease, was the focus of this study in the BDJ, revealing that good oral hygiene reduces death from coronary disease and that adding a mouthwash did not help beyond the benefits of good brushing and flossing. Floss your heart healthy!

POLL RESULTS

FUN AND GAMES

Play wordle for dental professionals! Last week’s Toothdle champion was Dr. Allan Reiss! Will you get this week’s high score?

TOOTH PICKS

• The delicious history of the pancake. Pass the syrup! 

• Reviving Zellers with in-store diners. Mac n’ cheese please.

• Escape: Five best countries to move to. We are packing our bags!

• Learn what your dog is trying to tell you. Paging Dr. Dolittle!

• Life hack: How to dry your clothes faster. Who knew.

• The truth about how caffeine affects our bodies. We need it, period! 

• Is working two full-time jobs wrong? Is the coffee free?

Great 😃 / Solid 🙂 / Meh 😐️