The Flossing “Controversy”

​ When I went to dental school, there was very little information given to us about nutrition. Other than the relationship between sugar and dental decay, I only remember one day of lecture in 4 years that dealt with the subject. As a result, I have never considered myself an expert on nutrition, although I have attempted to learn more over the years. A few years ago, I wrote a blog which I titled “The Cracked Tooth” The Cracked Tooth : Blogs Written by Dr. Richard Janis in which I discussed

He was more than a friend. He was a member of our family.  We got Rocky as a gift for my son twelve years ago. Last month we found out he had an aggressive cancer that could not be treated. The vet told us something I never knew: Dogs hide their pain for several reasons but one may be that they want to please you.Then sometimes you don't find out about things until it is too late.  I don’t think I have ever met a more gentle, kind being. He taught me that you can never have too many friends.

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I recently had the opportunity to complete a project that I started 7 years ago, when my mother passed away. My mother died in 2009 after a long battle with kidney cancer. She was treated for the last few years of her life at the City of Hope in Southern California, a wonderful center for cancer treatment. Although my mother taught elementary school for over 30 years, her passion in life was art. She loved many forms of art including painting, drawing, sculpture, and ceramics and she studied

While not the most interesting topic, our office gets enough questions about dental insurance that I wanted to write a blog about it. Insurance issues are confusing to patients and are among the most common questions we do receive. I am not an expert on the subject but my office manager, Melissa, is an expert and I consulted her about the most common concerns our patients have. She is always available for any questions from patients about insurance. I do realize that dental treatment can be

I had a gum tissue graft surgery done on me last fall. It was the first dental treatment I had needed for a while. It was done by a colleague of mine, Dr. Stephen Reid, an excellent periodontist that I have known for a long time.  The need for the treatment was that I have a lot of recession and the strong tissue needed to prevent further recession was missing on some teeth.  The procedure involved removing some tissue from the palate and placing it next to those teeth that have recession.  Dr.

I am writing this blog because I have noticed an increase in the number of fractured and cracked teeth in my practice over the last 6-7 years as compared to the previous 15 or so years. Why is this? I don’t know for sure but there are likely multiple reasons for this, including old fillings, the type of restoration in the tooth, and teeth grinding- which I believe is the major cause of the increase. I have researched this, even talking to a colleague of mine who is a root canal specialist.

Many patients have asked me over the years which power toothbrush I prefer or if I think power brushes are better than using a manual brush. It is a very important question because as most dental disease is preventable, if a power brush is more effective at removing plaque, then this should lead to less decay and less periodontal disease. While I generally have seen evidence of improved oral hygiene with the use of power brushes in my practice, I really wanted to review the research before

Dentistry in the last 15 years has experienced nothing short of a revolution in terms of technology, materials,  and restorative options.  Some of it is not apparent to the patient, such as technologies used in the dental lab and bonding agents and materials that are much stronger.  What this has allowed, however, is for us to be able to be much more conservative in many situations.   One thing I noticed when I first got to dental school (and probably every other dental student did as well)