This research could easily have taken me a month to pull together, but it reflects my own experience in practice. I carried out many MID restorations using CAD/CAM and milling technology. The main limitation was that you could only complete one restoration at a time.
My instinct is that, in the long run, 3D printing will prove to be far more effective. It allows multiple restorations to be produced at once, making it both faster and more efficient.
I also don’t believe a rubber dam is always necessary. In most cases, it’s enough to isolate the tooth just long enough to apply the adhesive and fit the restoration—even for subgingival work.
If you’d like to dive deeper, there are four ways to explore the information. You’ll find the full 9-page PDF, complete with 39 references, attached below.

AI is moving fast — faster than I ever imagined. Here’s how I went from thinking it would take months to optimise my dental prevention videos… to doing it in under an hour.

The AI Learning Curve
I’ve just started a course on AI. This week’s session kicked off with an update on ChatGPT-4 and its new, imaginatively named successor — ChatGPT-5.
The speed of change is staggering. Just three weeks ago, I was wrestling with processes I thought I needed to master — only to discover that now, AI “agents” can handle them for me, building pathways that accelerate my learning automatically.

Why AI Matters for Dentistry
I’ve been working for years to improve access and engagement in dental prevention.
We now know that looking after our teeth has positive effects far beyond our mouth — it’s good for our whole body.
Yet spreading that message hasn’t been easy. I’ve produced hundreds of prevention videos but never optimised them with proper descriptions or SEO hashtags, meaning they were hard for people to find.
Now, AI can analyse my transcripts, extract relevant keywords, and instantly match people’s questions with the most relevant video.

From Months to Minutes
Two months ago, I thought optimising my YouTube channel would take three months.
After my second AI lesson, I thought I could do it in a month.
After last week’s lesson — it took less than an hour.
That’s the real game-changer with AI — it removes roadblocks that have slowed progress for years.

AI and the Human TouchAI is a powerful tool for prevention, education, and accessibility in dental care.
But when it comes to treatment — especially something as personal as dentistry — nothing replaces the skill, empathy, and precision of a human professional.


#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #DentalHealth #OralHealth #HealthcareInnovation #Teeth4Life #PreventionIsBetterThanCure #DigitalHealth #AIInHealthcare #PublicHealth #HealthySmiles #HealthTech
.

In the early days of the web, Tim Berners-Lee gave the world a gift: he didn’t patent or privatise the World Wide Web. He opened it. This decision became the bedrock for the global information age, allowing humanity to share knowledge across borders without hierarchy, cost, or permission.


In aviation, we don’t hide from problems. Pilots record them. And every commercial plane has a black box in case the pilot is no longer available, but the industry learns and improves. It’s not about blame. It’s about never letting a tragedy go to waste.


In computing, Linus Torvalds created Linux, an open-source operating system that challenged proprietary giants and sparked one of the most vibrant, collaborative tech ecosystems on Earth. Today, billions rely on it every time they tap their phones or use the internet.


And yet in healthcare arguably the most important industry of all, we often build walls instead of bridges.


This BHAG is part of my homework after day 3 of AI for Workplace Productivity through @digitalPeninsula.com. My title will be “How Dental Health Advocates could revolutionise how we deliver care”—particularly in prevention. The volume of free, shared resources available or the course is staggering. But what's more exciting is the ethos behind it: collaboration, iteration, and openness.


If we want to ease the burden on systems like the NHS, we need to build a space for safe experimentation. A platform where dental professionals, GPs, therapists, and even patients can share solutions and ideas without fear of being penalised or "struck off."


The true barrier to innovation isn’t technology—it’s culture.


Too often, big companies buy or bury smaller ones with good ideas. We’ve seen it in tech. We’ve seen it in Pharma. We can’t afford that in primary care. Prevention needs community. And community needs trust, transparency, and tools that let us work together.


It's time we applied the principles of Berners-Lee, black boxes, and Linux to the future of healthcare—open by default, collaborative in spirit, and focused on better outcomes for all.


✅ Let's build it:


If you're a dental care professional, technologist, or simply someone who believes in a better, greener, more human health system—get in touch. Let’s collaborate. It will be online a lot quicker if someone with a background in working and organising LLMs would help. My dental health chatbot is a bit slow. I’ve started already at DentalHealthService.net.


#OpenInnovation #HealthcareTransformation #DigitalHealth #PreventiveCare #DentalHealth
#HealthTech #OpenSourceHealth #CollaborativeCare #NHSInnovation #DentalHealthService
#digitalpeninsula

In healthcare — and dentistry in particular — we often lean towards intervention. The more complex the procedure, the higher the fee. And ideally, a specialist delivers it, with a better outcome... and a bigger cost.
But what about simpler, less invasive, lower-cost alternatives that buy time and preserve options?
During lockdown, we adopted the AAA approach — Antibiotics, Analgesics, and Advice. It was effective in the short term. But was it the right solution?
In many cases, antibiotics were prescribed either because they were clinically needed or simply to satisfy patient expectations in some cases as“They won’t do any harm”.
No meaningful research has followed up on those patients. How many later returned for proper treatment — root canals, extractions, or otherwise? It's an important question, and one that deserves public attention.
Root canal therapy, even in expert hands, doesn’t guarantee success. Just like with pericoronitis (wisdom tooth swelling), where first-line treatment is antibiotics and extraction only if it recurs within 18 months — could this approach apply to other dental conditions? Especially in children, where the alternative is referral for general anaesthetic — now costing the NHS nearly £2,000 per visit.
These are uncomfortable but necessary questions.
This post was prompted by the excellent Nudge podcast by Phil Agnew, which reminded me: studies show red tablets are perceived as more effective than blue ones. Does this apply to placebos too?
Let’s not forget — the person who arguably did the most to improve oral health wasn’t a dentist or doctor, but Claude Hopkins, an advertiser who understood human behaviour.
If we truly want to improve the nation’s health, we may need more behavioural scientists working alongside clinicians. In reality, we need both.
For more ideas goto nudgepodcast.com
​

After attending the American Mobile and Teledentistry Alliance conference in Portland, I was bought a book Infectious Generosity by Chris Anderson of TED Talks. I’ve just finished, and started reading it again. He highlights a profound truth: while children are “takers”, as we mature, we begin to appreciate the value of giving more. 🎁


Every week, Philip Agnew shares invaluable insights on his podcast, NUDGE. Even if marketing isn’t your focus, the behavioural science lessons are essential for promoting health and wellness alongside profitability. Interestingly, his research shows that those who give tend to be happier and more well-liked. 


So, which category do you fall into? 🔍 


For those of you who are retired, consider paying forward professional advice once a week by offering advice to individuals who might not be able to afford it. Perhaps you already have a platform for this! I aim to create a tool through our Dental Health Service that encourages this spirit of giving. 🎉


I often seek advice on YouTube for free, and I believe contributions should go to a charity of your choice rather than personal gain. 


If you’re not ready to buy the book, you can catch the TED Talk in under 20 minutes here: [Infectious Generosity TED Talk](https://youtu.be/I1ouTj1BQec?si=gdia5OlYEFa9OavN)


For more insights from Philip Agnew, check out NUDGE here: [Nudge Podcast](https://www.nudgepodcast.com)

And by the way, I'm still searching for the perfect golf tips on YouTube! ⛳️💻

The following list was taken from a longer Blog made on www.teeth4life.org.uk/blog.
The website is on MID and prevention and will be incorporated within the DentalHealthService website over the next few months.  I was asked to build the website during Covid, and present a three hour talk on Zoom to some newly qualified dentists. Ted talks are under twenty minutes long for good reason🙄
The three our Zoom on prevention is still there along with "My Dental History", and why I think we can deliver a prevention based dental service that delivers what the vast majority of our society need but can't access, as well as what the minority want and can afford.
The App I built over six years ago is still available on the App store "teeth4life".
We need a DentalHealthService, We need to build it ourselves.

​In October 2024, a research paper was released suggesting that “Sugar rationing during and after World War II in the UK reduced the risk of type 2 diabetes and hypertension in later life, particularly for those exposed to sugar restrictions during pregnancy and early childhood. The study leverages a "natural experiment" by comparing the health outcomes of individuals conceived before and after the end of sugar rationing.”(1)
On April 1 2025, politicians worldwide sprung into action. They stipulated that the food industry had to remove added sugar from all food products for the under fives for the long-term health benefits in sixty years. They announced a sugar tariff of 200% worldwide, except in the USA, where they decided to remove fluoride from the water to help protect vulnerable dentists.


Dental disease, including tooth decay and gum disease, is the most prevalent disease and is related to our general well-being.
In 1906, The “Father of Dentistry”, GV Black, advised the use of silver nitrate to treat tooth decay, and it worked. However, removing the disease surgically and restoring the missing tooth tissue with dental fillings became the norm. (2)


Silver diamine fluoride (SDF) has been used in Japan for over 70 years. The silver destroys the bacteria that cause the disease, and the fluoride hardens the damaged tooth tissue. It has been used in the States for over 10 years, and is available in the UK, but clearly underused.
The problem is as stated in the 2019 research paper on “Evidence-Based DentistryUpdate on. Silver Diamine Fluoride”(3)


6. Equitable—Its application is equally effective and affordable; with the medicament costing less than $1 per application, it is a viable treatment for lower-income groups.
The only apparent drawback is that as the caries lesions become arrested, the precipitation of silver byproducts in the dental tissues stains the lesions black, which can deter its use in visible areas.


This is incorrect. When given the choice, young children and frail adults would prefer a black tooth as opposed to a dental extraction. The problem is that it’s too cheap. A trained dental nurse can apply a black tooth in under two minutes in care homes and schools with suitable consent.


SDF (Silver Diamine Fluoride) has been used extensively now in care homes, with photos taken of the black staining that occurs when treating active disease. More interesting is the improvement in gum health, as poor mouth health is directly linked to more serious general health diseases such as pneumonia. The mode of action was in the 2001 research paper 2001 “Antimicrobial activity of silver nitrate against periodontal pathogens”(4), and more recently in 2023 “Effect of silver nanoparticles associated with fluoride on the progression of root dentin caries in vitro”.(5)


To learn more about SDF and other health options, see my YouTube channel, Teeth4life, and search DHS, SDF, or the care home playlist.(6)
There are one-day courses available to become proficient in taking blood. For trained dental nurses, there is a fourteen-month Oral Health Practitioner (level 4) course (7). There are seven sites for the 60,000 dental nurses, but they are underused for a variety of reasons, such as the distance of travel, little financial incentive for the nurse, and the dentists needing the nurses in the surgery.


I will set up some free online dental nursing courses on the dentalhealthservice.net website.
The registration page should be available by the end of the month so that all the dental team members can be visible on the website and the DHS App later in the year.


If you have before-and-after photos of cervical caries being treated with SDF, please look at the gingivae. We don’t need to do the research; we need to promote experience-based dentistry, just as we did for Halls crowns. This is the link that prompted my visit to the American Mobile and Teledentistry Alliance meeting in Portland in February 2025.

References

1. https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/early-life-sugar-intake-affects-chronic-disease-risk
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greene_Vardiman_Black 
3. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6500430/ 
4. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11327077/
5. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9858332/
6. https://www.youtube.com/@teeth4life/playlists
7. https://findapprenticeshiptraining.apprenticeships.education.gov.uk/courses/422

I’m currently in Vancouver where there is a dental meeting , the details can be found here https://reg.pdconf.com/website/79077/home/

Unfortunately, I can’t attend as I no longer have a UK registration, never mind a Canadian registration. Also, due to the time difference Liverpool are playing in the Champions League lunchtime, so I’ll be in a bar. Last week there was a dental meeting in Portland, that I attended, and gave a short talk on Promoting Public Prevention in the UK.

The difference is that according to an organiser I met yesterday, they are anticipating 10,000 dentists over the next few days in Vancouver, as opposed to about 300 in Portland. It represents the difference in attitude of the profession as well as our governments. While we know Prevention has huge savings for the public, the vast majority of our income is based on surgery, generally removing dental disease and restoring the dentition with what remains.
We need to share our experiences in how to have a business model based around delivering preventive care and using the whole team to treat dental disease as outlined in Portland. Any ideas? Mine are on this website.

I called in the Apple shop yesterday, and was given a demo on using their AI to make a talking emoji. This is the better one to promote Teledentistry. 
I’ll make a video on how we can help one deliver some of the positive dental outcomes from our experience during Covid.
If we want a healthier country the dental team can be the trusted health advocates our countries need. We can’t leave the decision to “here today, gone tomorrow” politicians.
We need to deliver the long term health our society needs, and in the UK help reduce the burden on our NHS, one tooth at a time.

I think the video will play, like the emoji, it was made on my old iPhone 11.