Treatment planning in general dental practice: case presentation and communicating with the patient.

Presentation of treatment plan options to patients in general dental practice involves the collation of information and its presentation in a clear and uncluttered environment. Visual aids are of value, as are effective verbal and written communications with the patient. Fees should be discussed openly, as should guarantees for, and limitations of, proposed treatment.

A meta-analysis evaluating the risk for implant failure in patients who smoke.

Failure of dental implants to achieve osseointegration is often attributed to patient baseline variables, such as smoking. This meta-analysis examines outcomes of clinical studies that monitored the performance of machined-surfaced and Osseotite, implants; the analysis also isolates the effect of smoking. The implant data for the machined-surfaced implants are derived from three prospective multicenter studies (n = 2,614) and from six prospective studies (n = 2,274) for the Osseotite implants.