The first class of dental health aide therapists (DHATs) to be trained in Alaska has graduated, according to a KTUU TV news story. The four graduates of the Anchorage-based Dentex program bring the total number of DHATs in Alaska to 14, with six more in training, according to the story. The original DHATs were trained in New Zealand. The Dentex program, which is run by the University of Washington School
The ADA House of Delegates has adopted a resolution to support public education about consulting a licensed dentist to determine if whitening/bleaching is an appropriate course of treatment, according to an ADA News article. This move comes amidst concerns about safety issues regarding unlicensed providers working in teeth-whitening businesses, the article explained. Recently, teeth-whitening kiosks operated by nondentists or unlicensed healthcare providers have popped up at malls across the U.S.
A University of Michigan study has found that regular, nonsurgical periodontal services can lower medical costs for people with diabetes, according to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. The study, funded by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation, looked at five years of claims data from 2,674 Blue Care Network members with diabetes. Overall medical and pharmacy costs can be lowered by more than 10% annually, while diabetes
Scientists at the University of Michigan claim that gene therapy can be used to successfully stop the development of periodontal disease, according to a university press release. Using gene transfer to treat life-threatening conditions is not new, but the University of Michigan group is the first known to use the gene delivery approach to show potential in treating chronic conditions such as periodontal disease, said William Giannobile, D.D.S., D.Med.Sc., a
Consider this: Your patient needs an extraction but has received oral bisphosphonate therapy. Invasive procedures can go wrong in such cases because bisphosphonate drugs can cause the very rare, but serious, condition of osteonecrosis of the jaw, in which changes in bone cells and loss of blood supply can lead to uncontrolled bone infection. So what is a dentist to do? .pullQuoteCredit { align:right; text-align:right; font-family:arial, sans-serif; font-size:11px; line-height: 16px;
An Ohio woman has filed a malpractice lawsuit against a large, multistate dental practice and two of its dentists, charging that dental restoration products allegedly imported from China have left her permanently injured and disabled. The dental hardware was “defective and unsafe” and “contained toxic materials that are hazardous to the health of human beings,” the lawsuit alleges. The plaintiff — Faye Lewis, a 73-year-old woman from Ravenna, OH —
Delcam has launched DentCAD, a new computer-aided design program for the dental industry that can be used to create all kinds of dental restorations, including copings, crowns, and bridge frameworks, according to the company. DentCAD can be used with any combination of scanner, machining software, and computer-controlled machine tool. The system’s key benefit is that it is extremely easy to use, even by dental technicians who have no previous experience
The U.S. FDA has granted 510(k) clearance to Manhattan Scientifics to market the company’s “super strong” titanium metal dental implants, according to the company. The patented new form of titanium metal, originally developed by Russian scientists in concert with scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, is expected to significantly improve dental implants, the company said. Studies have shown that bone integrates with these new metals up to 20 times
With the issue of access to oral care such a hot topic these days, an “old” technology is beginning to resurface as a potential solution for some underserved populations: teledentistry. A recent pilot study demonstrated that teledentistry can be used successfully to provide orthodontic services to underprivileged children who otherwise would likely not receive the care (American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, November 2008, Vol. 134:5, pp. 700-706). .pullQuoteCredit
Sjögren’s syndrome profoundly affects dental care, yet dentists may be overlooking the problem, according to the results of a study on the cover of this month’s Journal of the American Dental Association (December 2008, Vol. 139:12, pp. 1592-1601). Since more than half of the symptoms are oral, dentists often have the first opportunity to diagnose the disease. Yet the average patient in the study suffered for seven years before being
Editor’s note: Helaine Smith’s column, The Mouth Physician, appears regularly on the HuangshanDental.com advice and opinion page, Second Opinion. The majority of the cosmetic dentistry that I perform on my patients is rehabilitative with the added benefit of looking great. I choose the most aesthetic materials such as Empress and zirconia and use a highly trained ceramist. My practice is in Boston and very rarely do I have young patients
Align Technology has received regulatory approval from Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare to promote and sell its Invisalign brand in the country, according to the company. The company can now begin widespread marketing and promotion of Invisalign in Japan, where it has trained approximately 660 Invisalign orthodontists since launching the product there in October 2005, Align said.