The Explorer Winter 2018 2019WExplorer | Page 12

YOUNG DENTIST DEBUNKS STEREOTYPING (CONT.)
“I know things are going to progress the
way it has in every other industry,” he
said. “And so I thought, hey, why not, I
could be the individual who could drive
that change.” His drive and
commitment to the business did not go
unnoticed.
His brother and he in May were named
by Crain’s Chicago Business as two of
the 20 people in their 20s who are
change-makers in the Chicago business
scene.
Besides working about one day per week
as a periodontist in an office in
Algonquin, Dr. Drucker also travels two
days a week on business and to lecture
at dental organizations and at dental
schools.
“I think there are a lot of aspects with
being an entrepreneur, running a
startup company, a lot of similar aspects
to being in a practice,” Dr. Drucker
said. “You work as a team; I don’t work
alone as a practicing dentist or
periodontist. There are assistants and
office staff, we are an entire team.”
His start-up business team has grown to
seven full-time employees. Also
independent contractors and some
summer college interns are involved in
the business.
Even though his business is growing,
Dr. Drucker said he plans to always
keep his hand in practicing dentistry.
my (dental) schedule so I can let the
practice know of my availability, and the
office will take care of scheduling
surgery or follow-ups so I can spend my
time devoted to running one business
instead of two,” he said.
He and his brother have divided
responsibility at the company. His
brother is CEO and handles the internal
aspects of the business.
As the company president, Dr. Drucker
is the “outward facing” component,
dealing with anything involving the
dental world.
“I speak the language, so to speak,” Dr.
Drucker said. 䡲
“The nice thing about working the way
I work is that I have full flexibility over
JADA Specialty Scan – Periodontics. Posted online October 18, 2014 at
http://www.ada.org/epubs/highroad/jadaPeriodontics/150121.html#one
Copyright © 2014 American Dental Association. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.
The literature suggests that patients with aggressive
periodontal disease have a greater risk of developing peri-
implant diseases and that they experience higher implant
failure rates compared with patients who have chronic
periodontitis (CP) or patients who are healthy.
Scientists from the University of Michigan and University of
Lisbon sought to clarify the effect a history of aggressive
periodontal disease has on implant treatment outcome.
To investigate, researchers explored human clinical trials,
either prospective or retrospective, that compared implant
survival rates and marginal bone loss in patients with a history
of generalized aggressive periodontitis (GAP) with those who
were healthy or had CP. They searched MEDLINE,
EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials
and Cochrane Oral Health Group Trials Register databases
for articles published from 2000 to 2013.
The researchers found six articles that met the study inclusion
criteria. All were comparative prospective controlled trials
assessing implant treatment outcomes in patients with GAP
compared with healthy patients and/or those with CP.
The findings showed no significant difference in implant
survival rates for the GAP group when compared with the CP
or healthy group. Implant survival rates ranged from 83.3
percent to 100 percent for the GAP group, 96.4 percent to 100
percent for the CP group and 96.9 percent to 100 percent for
the HP group.
However, when researchers analyzed failure rate they found
statistically significant differences between patients with GAP
versus healthy patients (overall risk ratio of 4.00) or those with
CP (overall risk ratio of 3.97).
The researchers said that because of the small sample size of the
failed implants group, it was not possible to draw conclusive
statements regarding the risk ratio.
Also, although the systematic review showed that individuals
with a history of GAP displayed higher marginal bone loss when
compared with healthy patients or those with CP, authors said
those results should be interpreted cautiously because the
amount of bone loss was small (0.28 to 0.43 millimeters) and
might not have clinical significance.
Unmodifiable conditions might play a determinant role in both
GAP and peri-implantitis processes, authors observed. They
encouraged a comprehensive implant maintenance program to
identify peri-implant bone loss early, specifically in patients with
a history of generalized aggressive periodontal disease.
http://www.joponline.org/toc/jop/85/10 䡲
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