Search Results for “quality” – Page 5 – Dr. Mark Venincasa, DDS

How Did the World Find Out About Novel Coronavirus?

When Did COVID-19 Transmission Begin? “Symptom onset of the 41 confirmed nCoV cases ranges from 8 December 2019 to 2 January 2020” (WHO, “Novel Coronavirus – China: Disease outbreak news : Update,” (01-12-2020). When Did WHO Find Out About COVID-19 Transmission? “Recently. . . many of the pneumonia cases received were related to South China Seafood City. . . Twenty-seven cases have been found, of which seven are severely ill. . . All cases have been treated in isolation. . . The above cases are considered to be viral pneumonia. The investigation so far found no obvious person-to-person transmission, and

Dr. Mark Venincasa April 3, 2020

Saving Dental Patients Money and Time

The delivery of dental care has changed drastically in one generation. These days, other entities are involved which can have an effect on how patients are treated. The entities include management companies, dental insurance companies, retail-type organizations, investors, large corporations, or others. The intent of these entities is to increase efficiency in the delivery of care, to hold down procedural costs, and to share dental expenses among a number of dentists, among other things. This all sounds great. With this, there are pressures on these dental offices to do more procedures since profit margins are being squeezed. As a result,

Dr. Mark Venincasa January 28, 2020

The Opioid Crisis: An Update

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that there were a record number of American opioid deaths (47,600) in 2017 (Newman, Jan 28, 2019). Per the CDC, the ten hardest-hit states of opioid deaths from 2013-2017, in order, were New Mexico, Maine, Connecticut, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Ohio, New Hampshire, and the hardest hit state of West Virginia (Newman, Jan 28, 2019). To create a plan for reversing this trend, experts from numerous hospitals met at the U.S. News & World Report “Healthcare of Tomorrow Conference” in Washington, D.C., on November 18, 2019. These hospitals and the

Dr. Mark Venincasa December 4, 2019

Limiting Opioid Usage for Dental Pain: Better Alternatives

As we all know, opioids are a concern. They are so addicting. Further, overdosing or usage with alcohol or some other depressant may lead to a change in breathing, which can result in death. There have been way too many deaths as a result of opioids. Certainly, opioids are helpful in certain situations. However, opioids also have side effects, which include nausea, vomiting, and constipation. We cannot forget that they should be stored securely and your inventory of these opioids must be monitored. As we can see, these opioids are problematic. For most dental pain, an over-the-counter (OTC) medications will

Dr. Mark Venincasa October 2, 2019

The Best Dentists in Dallas: Difficulties in Finding One

Finding the best dentist is becoming more difficult for patients because the ownership of dental practices by the practicing dentist has been going down since 2005. As a result, more and more dental practices have different dentists staffing them. With this, when a dental practice is reviewed online, it may be difficult for patients to determine what dentist is associated with the reviews. This is not necessarily a new phenomenon. This has been more prevalent among physicians. I have noticed this myself, as several of my doctors no longer have such a large ownership stake in their practices. As a

Dr. Mark Venincasa September 24, 2019

Depression in Teens: An Escalating Problem

Depression among teens in the United States has increased considerably since 2007, according to a reputable Pew Research Center’s report, published in July 2019. Per this report, 13% of U. S. teens “experienced at least one major depressive episode in the past year.” Further, compared to 2007, the total number of teens in 2017 who “recently experienced depression” increased 59%. To build on this, 29% of teens feel “tense or nervous” about their day, at least as often as almost every day. Also, 61% of teens felt “a lot of pressure to get good grades.” Similarly, 30% of teens reported

Dr. Mark Venincasa September 19, 2019

CBD and Medical Marijuana: Is it Safe?

We have all seen the CBD stores opening up near our homes. They are in fact becoming quite prevalent. This creates some interest following the state’s allowance for these CBD products in June 2019. As a result, I decided to research this. Here is what I have found, thus far. CBD is the second most prevalent ingredient within marijuana; this is second to THC, which is the ingredient known for creating the condition for being “high.” CBD is an essential component of medical marijuana, and is derived from the hemp plant, which is a cousin to the marijuana plant. At

Dr. Mark Venincasa August 25, 2019

Dental Insurance and Saving Money on Dentistry

Many patients think that going to a dental office that is listed on their dental insurance plan is going to save them money. This is understandable. These listed dental offices, in exchange for being listed and “preferred,” accept a significant hit to their profit margins due to fee contracts they sign with the insurance companies. Do you think this hit to their profit margins benefits you, and saves you money? We have had too many patients who have come to our office wanting a second opinion, because they were told they needed a “deep cleaning” for the first time ever,

Dr. Mark Venincasa June 10, 2019

Is Your Bottled Water Too Acidic?

With the Dallas weather heating up, our water consumption is increasing. Many of us think that water is healthy, and that most all water is the same. We may tend to select our bottled water based upon taste more than anything else. Perhaps, we may select our bottled water more by price. With whatever means we use to select our bottled drinking water, may I invite you to consider the acidity of the water? You see, there is much variability in the measured acidity (the pH) of bottled waters. The ideal pH of water is 7.0. However, many brands of

Dr. Mark Venincasa May 28, 2019

Search Results for: quality – Page 5