Align Technology to buy Cadent for $190M

Align Technology has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Cadent, a provider of 3D digital scanning solutions for orthodontics and dentistry, for $190 million, making Align a new competitor in the intraoral scanning and digital impressioning market. This is Align’s “first real acquisition,” noted Thomas Prescott, president and CEO of Align, in a conference call following today’s announcement. The two companies announced a joint development agreement in January 2011 to

3M ESPE makes sensitivity guarantee on Adper adhesive

3M ESPE is offering a “no postoperative sensitivity” guarantee on its 3M ESPE Adper Easy Bond self-etch adhesive, when used according to manufacturers’ instructions. 3M ESPE will replace or exchange the product should a patient experience postoperative sensitivity after its use, the company said. Adper Easy Bond is designed to etch and penetrate into demineralized dentin and enamel in one step, which means that dentists do not have to be

Health officials call on baseball groups to ban tobacco

With opening day of the 2011 Major League Baseball season set for March 24, public health officials in 15 U.S. cities are calling on Commissioner Bud Selig and the Major League Baseball Players Association to ban tobacco use by players, managers, coaches, and other staff at major league ballparks. Tobacco use was banned in baseball’s minor leagues in 1993, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the National Hockey League

Soy-based denture adhesive takes top prize

A team of Purdue University students who developed a soy-based denture adhesive has won top prize in the annual Student Soybean Innovation Contest, sponsored by the Indiana Soybean Alliance. Some products that students have created in previous years have led to commercial development and additional research projects, the university noted. Soy crayons, for example, are available in stores under the Prang brand, and a soy pharmaceutical excipient is undergoing full-scale

Kaiser donates $600K for school-based oral health programs

Kaiser Permanente has awarded a $600,000 grant to the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care (NASBHC) to increase access to oral healthcare for 3,000 children and adolescents. NASBHC will use a competitive grant process to distribute a majority of the funding directly to the SBHC field to expand the scope of practice of existing staff. The geographic reach of the project will be across the U.S., with a focus on

NCOHF honors UCSF pediatric dental program

The National Children’s Oral Health Foundation (NCOHF) has named the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Dentistry’s Division of Pediatric Dentistry as its 2011 affiliate of the year. The Affiliate of the Year Award is presented annually to a member of the NCOHF affiliate network in recognition of exemplary commitment to eliminating pediatric dental disease in their community. As part of this affiliate network, the NCOHF has provided

Study finds link between perio treatment, diabetes costs

Periodontal disease treatment may help reduce medical costs for patients with diabetes, according to the findings of a three-year study conducted by Cigna and presented during the recent International Association for Dental Research (IADR) meeting in San Diego. The study was presented by Clay Hedlund, a Cigna dental director; Marjorie Jeffcoat, DMD, from the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine; Robert Genco, DDS, PhD, from the University at Buffalo

New DANB guides update dental assisting requirements

The Dental Assisting National Board (DANB) has published two guides featuring up-to-date dental assisting requirements for dental assistants, educators, state legislators, oral healthcare organizations, and state dental boards. DANB’s 2011 State Career Ladder Templates for Dental Assistants features charts with information on each state’s rules and regulations for dental assistants. Each state chart highlights job designations for dental assistants; education, exam, and training requirements; allowable functions; nondelegable functions; and levels

PowerDent launches PowerDent Pulse Multi

PowerDent, a division of Harrison Hygiene, has released the PowerDent Pulse and PowerDent Pulse Multi, cleaning tools created specifically for all types of oral appliances, including dentures, night guards, mouthguards, and retainers. Patented dual-head technology and longer, stiffer bristles remove plaque and stains before a harmful biofilm can form, according to the company. “The concept started as a way to combat the problems we were seeing with the amount of

Partnership targets craniomaxillofacial surgery needs

Materialise has entered into an exclusive partnership with Synthes, a U.S.-based medical device firm, to develop and distribute Materialise’s technologies for craniomaxillofacial surgery. Under the terms of the partnership, Materialise will provide preoperative planning services directly to the surgeon via interactive, Web-based collaboration tools and will fabricate intraoperative guides and anatomical models. Synthes will distribute these intraoperative guides and models and continue to deliver patient-specific surgical implants.

Komet adds sonic tips for crown preparations

Komet USA has added special sonic tips for the preparation of crown cores to its SonicLine sonic handpiece (SF1LM) system. SonicLine tips are offered in six configurations (SF979.000.014 and 016, SF862.000.014, and SF847KR.000.016 and in fine-grain versions SF8979.000.014 and 016). After supragingival preparation has been achieved with Komet rotary instruments of matched shapes, the sonic tips are used to produce precisely positioned and finished prosthetic margins and to enhance interproximal

U.K., New Zealand regulators tackle teeth whitening by nondentists

Two cases involving nondentists performing teeth-whitening services without the proper credentials — one in the U.K., the other in New Zealand — have made headlines worldwide. In the first, the U.K. General Dental Council (GDC) has successfully prosecuted a nonregistrant for performing tooth whitening, which the GDC regards as the practice of dentistry. It was the first such case of its kind in the U.K., according to the GDC. Paul