Despite a successful three years launching and managing the Office of Head Start’s (OHS) Dental Home Initiative in nearly 30 U.S. states, the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) will no longer be responsible for overseeing the program as of December 31. In early September, the OHS notified the AAPD that it had decided not to pick up the last two years of a five-year, $10 million contract with the
Poor, minority, and special needs children are more likely to be affected by toothaches, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine (Vol. 164:11, pp. 1059-1063). Charlotte Lewis, M.D., M.P.H., and James Stout, M.D., M.P.H., both of the University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, studied data from the 2007 National Survey of Children’s Health to determine the prevalence of and risk factors
The issue of teeth whitening — and who has the right to offer it — is at the center of a lawsuit filed by the New Jersey Dental Association (NJDA) against a tanning salon chain that offers the service. Beach Bum Tanning, an East Coast chain with 17 locations in New Jersey, has been offering its clients teeth-whitening services as well as tanning services, according to a story in the
The Organization for Safety, Asepsis, and Prevention (OSAP) will assist the Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors (ASTDD) in incorporating infection prevention and control efforts, as well as patient and staff safety, into state oral health program activities, OSAP announced. “Several recent reports of actual and potential cross-contamination in dental settings underscore the need for strong, integrated infection prevention policies and continuous vigilance,” Therese Long, OSAP executive director, said
The Genesis biomimetic implant system from Keystone Dental has received U.S. regulatory clearance, the company announced. The benefits of the Genesis system include the potential to achieve immediate function with a natural-looking smile, allowing the patient to leave the dentist’s office with a replacement tooth on the day of surgery, according to the company. Through its patented BioSpark surface, a nanosurface that mimics the structure of bone, the Genesis system
Lares Research has introduced the LightWalker line of lasers, the first hard- and soft-tissue laser series for dentistry priced less than $30,000, the company announced. Available in both single Er:YAG and dual Er:YAG/Nd:YAG wavelength models, LightWalker lasers are designed to perform fast cavity preps (usually without anesthetic), virtually all soft-tissue surgical procedures, and minimally invasive laser endo and perio treatments, Lares noted. The lasers are made by Fotona, a European
A single set of color difference standards is unlikely to work in dental prosthesis fabrication, so practitioners may need to take factors such as skin and gingival color into account, the authors of a new study in the Journal of Dental Research contend (November 2010, Vol. 89:11, pp.1254-1258). Delwin Lindsey, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at Ohio State University, and his colleague decided to conduct the study when they noticed
Medical face mask maker Crosstex has launched a new generation of ear-loop medical face masks. With a patent-pending design, SecureFit ear-loop medical face masks enable wearers to quickly and easily adjust the mask for a more secure and customized fit, according to the company. A recent study (American Journal of Infection Control, September 2010, Vol. 38:7, pp. 501-508) found that a tighter-fitting mask may offer more than 100-fold greater infection
Women who consume large amounts of alcoholic beverages and have low consumption of folates have a three times greater risk of developing oral cancers than women who also drink a lot but have high folate intake, according to researchers from Columbia University Medical Center and Harvard School of Public Health (Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention, October 2010, Vol. 19:10, pp. 2516-2524). While the number of women diagnosed with oral and
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Gingival and retinal hemorrhaging are predictive of each other and most often reflect an underlying disorder in glucose metabolism, researchers report in an October 11 online paper in Diabetes Care. “When we looked at individuals over 40 years old who bled in both the gums and the inner lining of the eye, it was most commonly associated with chronically elevated blood sugar levels,” lead author
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is donating $927,400 to Operation Smile to support upcoming medical missions in Kenya, Ethiopia, Egypt, and Jordan. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been a long-time supporter of the medical charity, but this donation is the largest gift it has ever given to Operation Smile. With this donation, more than 3,800 children will receive new smiles and hope for
Large composite restorations have a higher survival rate than amalgam restorations in some patient groups, although amalgam has better survival for three-surface restorations in high-risk patients, according to a 12-year study published in the Journal of Dental Research (October 2010, Vol. 89:10, pp. 1063-1067). Using patient files from a Dutch practice, researchers from Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre examined the risk for caries relative to the lifespan of 1,949 large