Dental Schools

It was Dr. H. Lynn Brown's last day on the Culver City Board of Education, and he wanted to make sure that he retired in a fitting manner. So Brown, a 60-year-old dentist who has served three terms on the board--longer than any other member--chose to spend some time Tuesday lecturing children about the importance of dental health. "Remember," he told the children at the completion of an hourlong talk. "Always brush your teeth the way they grow, because Dr. Brown tells you so."

A small industrial saw controlled by a minicomputer can carve perfect porcelain fillings for decayed teeth while the patient waits in the dentist's chair. The compact unit, manufactured by a Swiss company called Privatdovent, was introduced at a recent Greater New York Dental Meeting, and its promoters say it may someday make the tedious process of tooth restoration quick, perfect and cosmetically attractive.

Lasers have displaced the dental drill and the scalpel in the offices of a small but growing group of dentists who credit them with making cavity treatment virtually painless and reducing bleeding during gum surgery. Various instruments, each using a slightly different type of light, can cut gums, soft tissues, even enamel, as well as detect tiny cavities, and whiten or desensitize teeth.

Pamela Blake Actress in action serials Pamela Blake, 94, a B-movie actress known for her roles in such late 1940s action serials as "Chick Carter, Detective" and "Ghost of Zorro," died of natural causes Tuesday at a Las Vegas care facility, her family said. Born in 1915 in Oakland, Blake came to Hollywood after winning a beauty contest at age 17. Originally known by her given name, Adele Pearce, she adopted the stage name Pamela Blake in 1942, the same year she signed with MGM, according to the All Movie Internet database.

When dentists peer into patients' mouths, perhaps they also should look into their own souls. This is the opinion of Dr. Clifton O. Dummett, a professor at the USC dental school, who believes it is time for a "crusade" to renew the importance of ethics--as a part of professional education and as a lifelong guide to professional conduct--in his and other disciplines.

Every few days, an agonized child or adult shows up at the emergency room of this mill town's lone hospital, seeking relief from a pain that should have been treated elsewhere. They have an abscess or a toothache, long-festering and suddenly unbearable. They turn to ER doctors, who can do little beyond supplying antibiotics, because Berlin -- like hundreds of communities nationwide -- has too few dentists.

Are you due for a cancer screening test? Don't let cost stand in the way. Yes, it would be easier to schedule such tests if you have insurance, a regular doctor who can refer you to screenings and money in your checking account to foot the bill. But with some digging, you can often find free or low-cost cancer detection tests that could just save your life. A study published in June in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians found that about 650,000 deaths from cancer were avoided or delayed between 1990 and 2005.

He is an AIDS patient. And like many with acquired immune deficiency syndrome, he was shunned by friends and family members. But Edward at least found acceptance from health practitioners treating him for the deadliest disease of our time. Until he broke the crown of a tooth. Then, suddenly, Edward (a pseudonym) faced a form of health-care discrimination common to AIDS sufferers around the country. His dentist of long standing refused to work on him because of his disease.

For Lloyd Manning, the owner of the last beef-packing plant in Los Angeles County, absolutely no part of a cow is sacred. "If I could sell the moo, I'd do it," said the tall, big-boned president of E.B. Manning & Son Inc., sitting in the office of his family's custom meatpacking house in Pico Rivera. Don't think he hasn't tried. A few years ago, he tape- recorded bawling Holstein steers as they entered his small corral and called Walt Disney Co.

Dozens of people seeking dental care waited quietly in an untidy, poorly lighted hallway in the school of dentistry here. Beyond a wooden partition, students hovered over patients in 30 operating chairs crammed into a single open space. The Spartan facilities and overcrowding were familiar to Romanians enduring the fifth year of siege-style economic austerity.