Cuba has achieved a goal of children’s oral health two years ahead of the deadline set by the World Health Organization (WHO), a state dental official announced. Estela Gispen, president of the Cuban Society of Stomatology, said the country has met the WHO’s requirement that 50% of Cuban children ages 5 and 6 are caries-free, according to a story by the Xinhua News Agency. The number of Cubans who have
An Australian caries management system was found to be most cost-effective in patients with a high risk of dental caries, according to a study in Value in Health (June 17, 2010), the official journal of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research. The three-year randomized clinical trial, conducted by researchers from the University of Sydney and Hera Consulting Australia, evaluated the long-term efficacy and cost-effectiveness of a preventive approach
Oral Health America (OHA) recently awarded a Smiles Across America planning grant to Tampa, FL-based More Health, which partners with Tampa General Hospital and All Children’s Hospital to bring educational health lessons to school children in the area. The grant allows More Health to work with the Hillsborough County Oral Health Coalition and the Public Health Dental Program through the Florida Department of Health to develop an oral disease prevention
People with a significant burden of periodontal bacteria are more than three times as likely to have hypertension as those with low levels of such bacteria, according to a large international study (Journal of Hypertension, May 5, 2010). Seven investigators from Columbia University, the University of Miami, the University of Minnesota, and the French School of Public Health collected 4,533 subgingival plaque samples from 653 patients enrolled in the Oral
Evidence-based dentistry is not a new concept. But over the years it has more often been associated with general dentists and specialists than the rest of the dental team. With the advent of lightning-quick access to information and the growing emphasis on preventive care and the oral-systemic link, however, hygienists and dental assistants are being called upon to adopt evidence-based decision-making into their daily clinical practice as well. “What we
Adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-driven bioluminescence — a way of measuring visible light generated from ATP contained in bacteria — can be used chairside to rapidly assess the number of oral bacteria and amount of plaque in patients, report researchers at the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) School of Dentistry (Pediatric Dentistry, May/June 2010, Vol. 32:3, pp. 195-204). The goal of the OHSU study was to examine the use of microbiological
Shock Doctor has introduced the Shock Doctor custom mouthguard, which it is distributing through sporting goods retail stores. After purchasing a Shock Doctor custom mouthguard kit at a sporting goods retailer or online at the company’s website, the consumer creates a custom mold at home and sends it to the Shock Doctor Dental Lab. The consumer then receives his or her custom mouthguard in about two weeks. The interactive online
Kettenbach has joined the social media movement. Users of Facebook and Twitter can now follow Kettenbach on the sites, where the company will offer current and potential customers the latest information on new products, company news, and sale offers. “It’s undeniable that the world of social media can have a dramatic impact on marketing,” said Yovana Patino, product manager for Kettenbach, in a press release. “We are excited about this
A preliminary University at Buffalo study of young children undergoing treatment for cavities in their baby teeth found that nearly 28% had a body mass index (BMI) above the 85th percentile, indicating overweight or obesity. The findings are being presented at the Endocrine Society annual meeting in San Diego, June 19-22. The study involved 65 children ages 2-5 who were treated in the operating room at the University at Buffalo
A bill passed June 21 by the Louisiana Legislature threatens the State Board of Dentistry with dismissal if it does not finalize rules regulating mobile dentistry by the end of the year. The bill, which passed unanimously in both chambers of the Legislature, now goes to Gov. Bobby Jindal. A June 18 conference committee meeting restored to the bill the threat of dismissal, which the Senate had stripped from it
The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) has received an Award of Excellence in the 2010 Associations Advance America Awards program. AAPD received the award for its AAPD Head Start Dental Home Initiative in which the AAPD and Head Start are partnering at national, regional, state, and local levels to establish dental homes for approximately 1 million children. The initiative, which is in its third year of a five-year contract,
Licking an unsweetened popsicle after dental treatment with local anesthesia reduces the feeling of discomfort and the biting of soft tissue and self-mutilation for pediatric patients, according a study in the International Journal of Paediatric Dentistry (June 2, 2010). Researchers from the Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Dental Medicine assessed whether an unsweetened popsicle imparts a positive feeling to children and reduces their tendency to bite the lip, cheek, or tongue