I find this mildly interesting:(Reflections in a pile of bullshit) [View all]

[PCIntern]

Herein, I am going to examine three so-called medical truths from 1980. Each of these were stipulated to be conclusively effective and absolutely required in executing certain forms of treatment of human beings. If you failed to do any of these things, you were considered to be Subpar, not worthy of your credentials, and in some cases legally liable… Although not necessarily when it came to Good Samaritan laws in certain states.

First, anyone who had heart valve damage or a replacement valve prior to any treatment which might cause bleeding due to invasive processes, required Penicillin, or amoxicillin pre-medication four times a day two days before, the day of, and two days after the treatment. We were told as practitioners that every dose was critically important and if the patient were to admit, missing a dose or two a priori, then we were not to perform the procedure. I cannot begin to tell you the number of hours I spent imploring patients to take the required doses, following the procedure and staying up nights, worried that something bad was going to happen to them, which would ultimately be my responsibility. I am not necessarily talking about legal responsibility, but the idea that I may have damaged someone exceedingly for a dental cleaning or an extraction. But now, we premedicate using antibiotics one hour prior to the procedure and no medication thereafter. Many criteria went into the metamorphosis of this regimen, but the question is why did someone not take this into account for decades? Or conversely, is this dose of medication sufficient statistically? The answer is: I have no frigging idea.

Second, in CPR resuscitation back in the old days, the technique of the pre-cordial thump was sanctioned if you witnessed the patient actually collapse. It consisted of striking the sternum toward the lower part in order to possibly reestablish ventricular rhythm. This was a very, very big deal and was on every single test that we ever took, and it got hammered into us via all kinds of trick scenarios when we were attempting to pass our CPR test so that we may be relicensed. Now it turns out that the pre-cordial thump is no longer recommended at all whatsoever for pre-admission resuscitation. No explanation, no data presented, no contrary opinion, no Nothing it was simply announcement. The assumption, of course, is that new pronouncements are more valid than old pronouncements. Yeah, sort of like when Republicans tell you that in fact, Ukraine invaded Russia and the latter is actually just defending herself. Of course, they will say that studies show whatever, but do recall that there were ostensibly studies in existence which showed that OxyContin was non-addictive, but in fact there were no such studies.

Third, in keeping with the CPR theme, all kinds of complex combinations of breaths and chest compressions were mandated involving one or two individuals rendering CPR and it was absolutely required that everyone know and understand every nuance of the resuscitation protocol because if you dare do it wrong, the patient who has little chance of recovery anyway we almost certainly die. And this major guilt trip was hanging over everybody, as to whether they would remember exactly what to do when the time came if there ever were such a time, and it was thrust upon you randomly and frighteningly. So now, nobody talks about ventilations almost at all whatsoever. It’s all about chest compressions and rescue breaths are secondary - to be given if at all, after thirty chest compressions if able. OK… fair enough…but oh boy do I recall our groups being harangued in the early days by the EMS personnel who used to teach this. Gone are the “staircase ventilations” and all the other nuances of the procedures.

And here’s a bonus for you: for well over a hundred years silver amalgam restorations were placed in back teeth. If well-placed they might last forty years or much more. If questionably placed they might only last twenty to thirty years. In the old days I used to see fillings of long standing with fingerprints in them because the dentist hadn’t bothered to use a condenser to press the material into place and rather used his or her thumb. Really. Now, we place composites, tooth-colored fillings which, if well placed in most individuals may last 5-10 years before they wear and break and if questionably placed, are literally failing as the patient walks out the door. And as an aside, all the cavity preparation has to be is damp and the bond is failing immediately followed by recurrent decay, possibly root canal treatment or extraction.
Now there were some junk science papers that the mercury in the silver fillings was toxic to the patient. I am here to tell you that silver filling material mixed in pre measured capsules has virtually no free mercury and there’s much more in a can of tuna. But in many jurisdictions amalgam use is either forbidden or the patient is required to sign a waiver, so therefore it is rarely used now.

The combination of composite resin use executed poorly and the removal of fluoride from drinking water is going to increase the risk of dental disease exponentially and the profession will be an ideal one to make a fortune during the next thirty years and beyond. Of course, the morbidity and mortality of significant dental disease is not trivial, and death rates definitely go up in areas of poor dental care.

Good frigging luck. The whole system has been dumbed down in many cases due to highly questionable if not fraudulent research performed by hacks and greedy corporations. The point of this post is to demonstrate by example that almost none of us know what the actual facts are surrounding anything in our lives anymore and one cannot rely upon official pronouncements then or now.