Tenn. bans teeth-whitening kiosks at the mall

Teeth-whitening kiosks run by nondentists are tempting because of low prices, but are they encroaching on dentists’ territory? The state of Tennessee thinks so. The Board of Dentistry found that the kiosk services coincided with the state’s definition of the practice of dentistry, said Andrea Turner, communications director for the Tennessee Department of Health. As reported last year by HuangshanDental.com, these kiosks offer a less expensive alternative to having the

Invisalign gets new FDA labeling

The U.S. FDA has cleared new labeling for Align Technology’s Invisalign system, removing the permanent dentition limitation from the indications for use, according to the company. In addition, certain conditions previously listed as contraindications will now be listed as precautions. “Over the years, our customers have demonstrated that many different types of malocclusion can be effectively treated with Invisalign,” said Align Technology President and CEO Thomas Prescott in a press

Kerr launches Herculite with nanofiller

Kerr will launch Herculite Ultra, a new version of Herculite composite with nanofiller, February 1, the company announced. The resin matrix of the 20-year-old Herculite will remain the same, according to Kerr, but the company has added nanofiller with the goal of increasing gloss and strength. The Herculite Ultra starter kit. Image courtesy of Kerr. Nanofiller is made up of nanoparticles — particles in the range of 5 to 100

Pulpdent donates sealants to oral health foundation

Pulpdent has announced it is continuing its support for children’s oral health by donating sealants and other materials to the National Children’s Oral Health Foundation, an organization that works to provide dental care to economically disadvantaged children. The donation provides enough materials to seal 12,000 teeth, according to the company. In celebration of its 60th anniversary in 2007, Pulpdent donated 60,000 sealants to public health organizations servicing underserved and underprivileged

Tenn. dental board bans teeth-whitening kiosks

Tennessee has become the latest state to take action against nondentists performing teeth whitening at the mall. The Tennessee Board of Dentistry voted on January 8 to ban all teeth-whitening kiosks in shopping malls, according to news reports. The board ruled that teeth whitening is a dental procedure that can only be performed by licensed professionals. The decision does not affect at-home teeth-whitening products that are purchased from stores.

Minnesota Dental Association to sponsor free dental care event in February

The Minnesota Dental Association (MDA) is sponsoring an outreach effort throughout the state to provide free dental services to children whose families could otherwise not afford the care. Now in its seventh year, the Give Kids a Smile event will take place February 6 and 7, 2009. “Dentists are here to help children who need care. We spend these two days every year opening our offices without any charge to

Nomir wins patent for root canal disinfection

Nomir Medical Technologies, a developer of optical energy technologies for medical applications, announced today that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted a central patent to Nomir that further protects its core Noveon technology. Noveon is a light-based system that photobiologically targets the elimination of bacterial and fungal infections using a near-infrared, photoinactivation effect. This latest patent (No. 7,470,124) protects the photoinactivation and eradication of microorganisms as a result

Controversy flares over restraining patients

Some visits to the dentist are unforgettable. When she was 12 years old in Amarillo, TX, Salley Shannon was referred by her orthodontist to a general dentist for a tooth extraction. The root was long, the anesthetic wasn’t enough, and Shannon yelped in pain. Instead of sympathizing, the dentist called for his assistant to buckle her to the chair and hold onto her head. Forty-six years later, the experience still

OralDNA partners with Midwest Dental for perio testing

OralDNA Labs, a specialty diagnostics company that provides laboratory testing to the dental community, has reached an agreement to provide diagnostic testing for practices within Midwest Dental and its western division, Mountain Dental, according to a press release. Midwest Dental is a dental management company headquartered in Mondovi, WI, with more than 60 clinics in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, and Colorado. Under terms of this multiyear agreement, OralDNA will provide

Dental injury may occur in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy

NEW YORK (Reuters Health), Jan 7 – While dental injury during seizures is rare in patients with epilepsy, it occurs more frequently in those with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME), according to findings reported by U.K. investigators. Injuries can occur during seizures, and the pattern and type of injury can be a useful “silent witness” in diagnosing seizures. “Dental injury can arise in a number of ways during a seizure, through

The pros and cons of owning a Cerec

Editor’s note: Helaine Smith’s column, The Mouth Physician, appears regularly on the HuangshanDental.com advice and opinion page, Second Opinion. January marks two years of my ownership of a Cerec machine. It has been the biggest clinical learning curve in my career. The challenge of having restorations be as perfect as I would want them continues, but is welcomed. It always seems there is one aspect of the restoration that I

Fiber-reinforced posts win fans

If fence posts in the Wild West were as reliable as today’s endodontic posts, cattle rustlers would have had to find “real” jobs. It’s a challenge just to get your hands around the huge variety of products available for supporting restorations in endodontically treated teeth that have insufficient coronal structure. Recently, though, one type of post — fiber-reinforced — has begun to stand out from the others. For many years,