Henry Schein’s Back to School program returns to help children

Henry Schein’s 24th annual Back to School program for children is underway at 22 locations in the U.S., Canada, Spain, and Ireland. Employees at these locations are donating backpacks filled with school supplies to almost 4,500 children, according to the company. Back to School is a flagship initiative of the firm’s Henry Schein Cares global corporate social responsibility program. It has helped more than 60,000 children since the program’s inception

Dental orgs urge CMS to establish specific coding for dental surgeries

The ADA, the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, and the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons are urging the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to establish specific coding that would fix current billing limitations on dental outpatient surgeries performed at hospitals or surgical centers. The current coding structure restricts Medicare and Medicaid patient access to these procedures, causing healthcare disparities among racial and ethnic groups and

SmileDirectClub expands into France

Clear aligner company SmileDirectClub is expanding further into Europe, launching in Paris at the start of the fourth quarter of 2021. When its SmileShop opens in Paris, the company will be operating in seven European countries, including the U.K. and Spain. It also operates in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Hong Kong, and Singapore, the company said.

Dental Dose: How patients use gabapentin illicitly

Dental Dose is a twice-monthly video series featuring pharmacologist Tom Viola, RPh. In each episode, Viola shares bite-sized pieces of dental pharmacology news, facts, and myths. Now that Dental Dose has wrapped its review of local anesthetics, we’re turning our attention to ways patients may use legal drugs used illicitly — starting with gabapentin. “This is a realm of pharmacology that’s definitely on the darker side,” Viola said in the

You Need To Know These Facts About Bruxism

The COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally changed how we operate. The world turned upside down in the blink of an eye, leaving its inhabitants scrambling to pick up the pieces. With all the scrambling came undue hardship, and with undue hardship came undue stress, which is notorious for wreaking havoc on the body. Bruxism – also known as teeth grinding – is often the result of stress. An estimated 20 million Americans

Cotton swabs, resin aid in making accurate implant surgery guides

Fiducial markers consisting of cotton swabs and resin can be used to create an accurate implant surgical guide for patients with braces, according to an article published on September 20 in the Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry. Orthodontic brackets produce artifacts in imaging that obscure the view of anatomical landmarks, leading to surgical guide inaccuracies. During the planning process, homemade fiducial markers can help clinicians visualize the implant site to ensure

Dentsply Sirona signs 5-year agreement with Smile Train

Dentsply Sirona has signed a five-year collaboration agreement with Smile Train to support that organization’s work to provide access to cleft palate care. To that end, Dentsply will make a $5 million donation to Smile Train. Cleft care includes dental and orthodontic treatment, speech therapy, and social and emotional support, the company said. Through the partnership, Dentsply and Smile Train will support the development of global standards for digitized cleft

New model makes it easier for AI to spot pulp cavities

Combining cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) and micro-CT images as training data can help artificial intelligence (AI) models identify the location of teeth and pulp cavities in CBCT images, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Endodontics. The task, known as image segmentation, relies on large quantities of training data to locate objects of interest — and their boundaries — in images. The authors of the study proposed

Dislike of vegetables may have to do with kids’ saliva

Children’s dislike of raw cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli and cabbage, may be connected to the salivary production of high levels of sulfur volatiles, according to research published on September 22 in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Furthermore, children and their parents produced similar levels of the unpleasant sulfurous odors, indicating they may share oral microbiomes, the authors wrote. Cruciferous or Brassica vegetables contain the compound S-methyl-L-cysteine sulfoxide,

Dentsply Sirona to launch digital print expansions

Dentsply Sirona will launch four expansions of the Lucitone Digital Print denture system, a move the company said will add momentum to the digital transformation of the dental laboratory industry. Three of the expansions are for the digital production of custom tooth arches and segments, including the addition of Lucitone Digital Value 3D Economy Tooth & Trial Placement resin and DS multilayer polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) discs for milling premium denture

Heartburn drugs may be key to less severe gum disease

Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) taken for acid-related gastrointestinal conditions such as heartburn may cut the severity of periodontal disease, according to a study published on September 21 in Clinical and Experimental Dental Research. The use of PPIs appeared to be associated with fewer elevated probing depths in nonsmokers who did not have diabetes or other systemic conditions, the researchers found. With further studies, PPIs may hold potential as an adjunct

Oral ‘black fungus’ infection linked to COVID-19 treatment

Oral surgeons should be aware of a rare, serious oral fungal infection that may occur after COVID-19 treatment, according to a case report from Tennessee published on September 19 in the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. The 75-year-old man described in the report underwent several procedures, including the extraction of multiple teeth, removal of zygomatic and maxillary bone, and exenteration of his eye, to treat his rhinocerebral mucormycosis, also