Category: Opinion & Editorial

Dr. Matthew Messina and his staff celebrate with John Ponstingl. John Ponstingl was a wiry old guy, slight of build with wispy white hair.  Always impeccably dressed, slacks and sweater vest, even if it was a warm summer day.  Sparkling eyes with a hint of laughter.  He was an engineer by trade, working for years at NASA; his career ... [continue reading]

I just came back from a dental conference in Orlando with mixed feelings. On the one hand I felt very excited about the future of dentistry, but on the other hand my husband and I felt a little “over the hill.” When I first finished my endodontic residency in 2002, my husband and I looked up to the folks that were in their mid-40s who ... [continue reading]

Time passes and memories fade. Since this is the 150th year of the Ohio Dental Association, I decided to visit the central office and look up the proceedings of the House of Delegates for 1966. While the HOD is not the entire meeting, it serves to document what activities took place. Dr. Harold Barlow of Akron was the president and presided over ... [continue reading]

I think the old saw is something like this: “Absence of evidence does not equal evidence of absence.” The absence of data supporting the health benefits of flossing from longitudinal, multi-center, multi-populational, randomized controlled studies doesn’t mean flossing has no benefits.  It just means those complex, very ... [continue reading]

My time as president of the Ohio Dental Association is drawing to a close. As I look back, there are so many who help contribute to the success of the ODA and I want them to know how valuable and important they are, long after my time in leadership has concluded. I am so grateful to the volunteer leaders, who are those that provide the ideas and ... [continue reading]

The cable channel HGTV has shown explosive growth in viewership over the last 10 years.  I have to confess that it is on often around my home and is a channel of choice for many patients in the office.  It seems that there is a voracious appetite for ideas regarding decorating and renovation of homes.  The hosts of the various shows ... [continue reading]

“I brush really well … so do I really have to floss?” The young NY Daily News reporter asked sweetly, hoping I would tell her it was OK not to. “You only have to floss if you want to be healthy,” I admonished gently. “The ADA recommends that the way to good health is to brush twice a day, floss once a day, eat ... [continue reading]

That’s my usual reply when someone informs me that a friend has unexpectedly died. Our mortality, as we age, becomes more difficult to ignore and it is a subject that is commonly suppressed in the deepest recesses of our consciousness. That’s how we cope and how we survive ... while pushing on to the next sunrise. Just writing about ... [continue reading]

Thomas Jefferson said, “We in America do not have a government by the majority.  We have a government by the majority who participate.”  A recent report from ADPAC, the American Dental Political Action Committee, stated that 31 percent of dentists are not registered to vote.  That’s nearly one in three of our ... [continue reading]

I live and practice in the Dayton metro area (live north and practice south).  Over the past couple of months in southwest Ohio there have been an unusual number of wrong-way accidents on local freeways caused by drunk drivers.  All of these incidents resulted in the loss of lives; one such incident had five fatalities.  The ... [continue reading]