BEIJING (Reuters), May 9 – China reported two more deaths on Thursday from a severe strain of hand, foot, and mouth disease, bringing its toll from the outbreak to 30, all of them young children, Xinhua news agency reported. Hand, foot, and mouth is a common childhood illness, but the current outbreak has led to fatalities in China, mostly when linked with enterovirus 71 (EV71), which can cause a severe
As more and more Americans abuse crystal methamphetamine, the effects are showing up on their teeth. And that poses a moral challenge for U.S dentists, says Mitchell Goodis, D.D.S., a Diamond Springs, CA., general dentist. “Meth abuse is an ongoing, growing problem among high-school students, many of whom see a dentist regularly and are not diagnosed despite readily apparent symptoms,” Dr. Goodis told a standing-room-only audience at the California Dental
Does the human body stop growing once we reach our late teens or early 20s, as most of us assume? Recent studies indicate that soft-tissue and skeletal patterns in the nose, lips, and ears grow continuously throughout our lives. In fact, the actual maturation process of longitudinal soft tissue continues from 18 to 42 years of age, according to David Sarver, D.M.D., M.S., a Birmingham, Ala., orthodontist and adjunct professor
NEW YORK (Reuters Health), May 7 – Periodontal disease and increased levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) in pregnant women heighten the risk of developing preeclampsia, researchers report in the April issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. “Maternal periodontal disease clearly contributes to an increased risk of preeclampsia,” lead investigator Dr. Michael Ruma told Reuters Health, “and our results demonstrate that this risk is further increased in the
Dental esthetics firm Heraeus Kulzer recently announced that it will relocate its North American headquarters to its current manufacturing and distribution facility in South Bend, Ind., by December 2008. All business functions, including sales, customer service, finance, accounting, technical services, and marketing, will be centralized at the South Bend facility, according to the company. “This is a time of unprecedented innovation in esthetic dentistry … and in the history of
NEW YORK (Reuters Health), May 6 – Children with diabetes may develop their permanent teeth earlier than normal, which could potentially increase their risk of dental problems, according to findings published in the medical journal Pediatrics. The researchers found that 10- to 14-year-olds with diabetes tended to have their final permanent teeth come in earlier than their peers did. The problem with such accelerated tooth “eruptions” is that they could
A law passed April 15 allows hygienists in Maine to serve patients at any location without supervision by dentists. Maine is hard-pressed for dental care and this legislation has expanded the scope of practice, said Jean Conner, president of the American Dental Hygienists Association. Hygienists have the ability to reach more underserved communities, and from there they can make references that bring more people into the system, she said. So
ANAHEIM, CA – The exhibit hall at the 2008 California Dental Association (CDA) meeting opened for business today, and crowds packed three halls at the Anaheim Convention Center, hoping to discover the next new product or service that will keep their businesses booming and their patients smiling. From improving practice management to imaging in multiple dimensions, hundreds of new products were on display to see and test out. Some of
Sales grew in the first quarter for Align Technology, the Santa Clara, CA, manufacturer of Invisalign, although the company’s net income dipped. For the period (end-March 31), Align posted sales of $74.8 million, up 17 percent compared with revenues of $63.8 million in the same period the year before. The company’s net income for the most recent quarter stood at $5.3 million, compared with $7 million in the same quarter
ANAHEIM, Calif. – Infected tooth? Replace it! With the rapid improvement in implantology, that kind of thinking comes easily, but in many cases, endodontics still offers a better alternative, Jerome H. Stroumza, D.D.S., M.S., D.Sc., told an audience Thursday at the California Dental Association (CDA) Spring Scientific Session. “The trend now is probably to extract too easily and forget what endodontics can do,” said Dr. Stroumza, who has combined the
Maryland hygienists will be able to treat patients without dentist supervision under legislation passed this month in Maryland. The Maryland Legislature also allocated more than $16 million to fund other measures aimed at improving dental care in the state. The new rules will go into effect October 1, 2008. Currently, public facilities needed to file a waiver with the Maryland State Board of Dental Examiners to allow dental hygienists to
NEW YORK (Reuters Health), Apr 29 – Patients with symptomatic oral lichen planus respond equally well to betamethasone oral minipulse therapy and to topical triamcinolone acetonide, but they may respond more quickly to betamethasone, results of a randomized comparative study indicate. Betamethasone oral minipulse therapy “may be a useful and convenient alternative either as a monotherapy or to achieve rapid symptomatic relief during periods of exacerbations,” the study team concludes
