After the Louisiana Senate Health and Welfare Committee unanimously agreed to send a bill that seeks to regulate school-based dentistry to the Senate last week for consideration, the Senate just as quickly and overwhelming passed the bill today. It now goes back to the House for final review before heading to the governor’s desk. The bill bears little resemblance to the original proposed legislation, which set out to ban most
Arkansas dental hygiene students will be able to further their education at a new program offered through Arkansas State University Mountain Home (ASUMH) in conjunction with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) starting in August, according to the Baxter Bulletin. Currently, only an associate degree in dental hygiene is available at ASUMH, while UAMS offers both associate and bachelor’s degrees. Students will study at the Mountain Home Christian
Editor’s note: Jimmy Earll (not his real name) is a practicing dentist in Northern California and a stand-up comic who performs all over North America. His column, Laughing Gas, appears regularly on the HuangshanDental.com advice and opinion page, Second Opinion. I’m not sure what inspired me to become a dentist. One thing I know for sure, though, it had nothing to do with my childhood dentist. I grew up in
Researchers from Universiti Sains Malaysia have developed what they say is the world’s first endodontic sealer to employ nanotechnology. It was developed over a three-year period through a collaboration of chemists, dentists, biologists, and other scientists, according to the university. The material, known as NanoSeal Plus, uses modified silica nanocomposites as filler. It has a structure similar to the tooth and actively seals all the tiny gaps within the dead
The ADA Foundation honored five grant recipients of the Give Kids A Smile Program Growth Fund at its annual awards gala, held recently in Washington, DC. For the second year in a row, CareCredit’s annual $100,000 donation to the fund has enabled five key programs to expand services and access to care for children in underserved communities, the company announced. As a result, the 2009 grant recipients each received $20,000
Dentists who place a lot of zirconia (zirconium oxide) crowns in their practice require an instrument that cuts and removes that material efficiently, and Komet USA is now offering just such an instrument, according to the company. Designed to remove zirconium-oxide restorations, Komet’s 4ZR diamond crown cutter allows dentists to feel the impact by removing zirconia crowns fast and efficiently, the company said. Similar to Komet’s ZR-Diamonds, the diamond particles
Researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) and Loma Linda University have developed a novel dental probe that uses room-temperature plasma to eliminate biofilms in the oral cavity. And they contend that this nonthermal plasma is safer and more effective than lasers for endodontic disinfection (Plasma Processes and Polymers, April 20, 2009). .pullQuoteCredit { align:right; text-align:right; font-family:arial, sans-serif; font-size:11px; line-height: 16px; font-style: normal; padding-top:2px; } “Plasma is the future.”
Cosmetic dentists can attest to the popularity of dazzling white smiles. But a new study questions whether the whitest smiles are always the best way to go. Dental practitioners and patients alike do not always favor the whitest smile, nor do they perceive all skin colors to be equally attractive with bright white teeth, according to a study by U.K. researchers. .pullQuoteCredit { align:right; text-align:right; font-family:arial, sans-serif; font-size:11px; line-height: 16px;
A new add-on for designing dental copings and bridge frameworks in conjunction with Geomagic Studio is now available as a free technology preview, the company announced. The new Copings and Frameworks Add-On enables copings and bridge frameworks to be designed directly from intraoral scans, 3D scans of dental impressions, and cone-beam CT scans. It extends the functionality of Geomagic Studio 3D modeling software, which transforms scan data and polygon meshes
The Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine has received a five-year, $9.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute for Dental and Craniofacial Research to study oral health as one of the human body’s frontline defenses against infections. It is the largest grant ever in the dental school’s 117-year history, according to the school. Under the direction of lead investigator Aaron Weinberg, D.M.D., Ph.D.,
The complexities of orofacial pain, combined with a lack of adequate pain education in most dental schools, makes diagnosing and treating conditions such as temporomandibular disorder (TMD) and burning mouth a challenge, according to some pain experts. And the situation isn’t likely to change any time soon unless dental schools begin putting more emphasis on understanding the mechanisms of, and treatment options for, chronic pain conditions, according to Barry Sessle,
A new study presented Friday at the 2009 European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark, found that more than half the subjects with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) also had periodontitis. The prospective observational study compared 25 RA patients receiving drugs that blocked the production of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) with 25 systemically healthy individuals. Subjects with both conditions had fewer teeth than healthy matched controls, a high prevalence of
