Dr. Homam Albaghdadi

04/14/2022

The following is a piece I wrote for a medical news website that never ended up getting published. I find it so odd how people may commission your services or help with expressed urgency, only for you to end up leading the charge on the matter. I think one of the most ancient common sense ideas is that if you plan to do something do it well....

age quod agis work as worship

01/04/2021

Dentistry is full of variability. Confounders are ubiquitous. Patients are heterogenous; so are their mouths, their diets, oral hygiene habits, and dispositions. Dental materials are marvelous, but they fail. And they especially do when used improperly. And yet materials perform differently in different mouths, and are variably resilient to misuse. Laboratory standardizations are far from replicating the complexity and hostility of the oral environment(s)....

social contract reflective practice

09/14/2020

"Dentists have high su***de rates. Did you know?" I heard this sentiment so many times along my dental journey. Back when I would express interest in the profession; or when I shared that I was in training; or even currently as a practicing dentist. I used to dismiss it as a myth or a misconception and laugh at it. Other times, I would react defensively and say something like "I am pretty sure Lawyers' are higher". [ 974 more words ]

“Dentists have high su***de rates. Did you know?” I heard this sentiment so many times along my dental journey. Back when I would express interest in the profession; or when I shared th…

09/14/2020

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in the mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee" John Donne, Meditation XVII, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions

Read the story at rethinkdentistry.ca

08/23/2020

I couldn't get over the crunchiness. It was those gluten-free pretzels my mom got recently. I was visiting my parents. I have been visiting them a lot lately. I am grateful that they are only a 30 min bike ride away. I take that for granted. Both of them had to leave their parents and their familiar lives to find better opportunities. [ 990 more words ]

I couldn’t get over the crunchiness. It was those gluten-free pretzels my mom got recently. I was visiting my parents. I have been visiting them a lot lately. I am grateful that they are only…

08/16/2020

Dentistry most times is a one on one affair. The provider and the patient. I don’t mean to dismiss the role of the assistant here. But when you strip it down, it is that kind of arrangement. You engage the patient and they respond.

But how often do we talk about other arrangements? Like ones where advocacy and agency stand taller than any other labels of the different elements in that stripped down encounter. Ones like where a caregiver, or a family member is an active participant in all aspects of the care circle for the patient who is not cognitively or physically fit to make informed decisions, let alone keep up their hygiene. And there is a spectrum to describe this as well. Starting with what might be a transient affair (a stroke patient whose speech and mobility were significantly impaired but will hopefully recover with proper rehab) or permanently, irreparably (like is the case with Alzheimer’s patients or Cerebral Palsy patients).

We owe it to those who are working hard to give those patients a chance at recovery or a dignified life to afford them the same level of attention and support. They are the allies you always wished for.

Stay tuned for a story about an incredible couple whose resilience embodies the essence of this post >> rethinkdentistry.ca

07/19/2020

What compels you to write?
"I suppose it's a gap between myself and things. We live on the surface mostly and once in while we have these glimpses down the cracks into whatever is under there. And it seems important to recover those." Anne Carson


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05/31/2020

Home / RCDSO Members / COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus) / COVID-19: Managing Infection Risks During In-Person Care COVID-19: Managing Infection Risks During In-Person Care The College has developed guidance for Ontario dentists to manage infection risks during in-person care during the COVID-19 crisis:....

05/14/2020

I think we woke up with almost two hours grace. I could sense my friend was restless. Our sleep was repeatedly interrupted with micro-anticipatory-awakenings. I am sure he would have woken up another 35 minutes earlier. Knowing him, he would have accounted for those 5 min too. And in retrospect, I would have liked the additional time as well. He even had the hotel pack our breakfast for us to go. [ 1,007 more word ]

I think we woke up with almost two hours grace. I could sense my friend was restless. Our sleep was repeatedly interrupted with micro-anticipatory-awakenings. I am sure he would have woken up anoth…

05/13/2020

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/as-some-countries-ease-up-others-are-reimposing-lockdowns-amid-a-resurgence-of-coronavirus-infections/2020/05/12/6373cf6a-9455-11ea-87a3-22d324235636_story.html
Perhaps a more reliable source sharing similar sentiment.

Countries on at least three continents are renewing restrictions as new cases spike.

05/12/2020

For those eager to open up, do you really want to return to a second quarantine?

CORONAVIRUS cases in Germany have almost trebled in the past 24 hours sparking fears of a second wave of COVID-19 infections.

05/04/2020

Whenever we find ourselves on the horns of a dilemma (with) two opposites that both seem desirable, the right question to ask ourselves is not which we should choose, but whether we have the dimensions right Glenn Regher I recall when I first started thinking about my tentative research project - 2 years ago - readily struggling to formulate my research question. [ 872 more words ]

Whenever we find ourselves on the horns of a dilemma (with) two opposites that both seem desirable, the right question to ask ourselves is not which we should choose, but whether we have the dimens…