Patterson Companies reported higher sales in its dental segment for the third quarter of fiscal year 2021. Net sales for the company’s third quarter of fiscal year 2021 (end-January 23) were $648.9 million, which is a 3.6% increase from the $626.6 million in sales it reported during the same period in 2020. The company’s dental segment sales represent about 42% of Patterson’s total company sales. Additionally, dental segment internal sales increased 3.6%

Recently, a Washington state dentist elected not to follow the standard of care with endodontic cold vitality testing for patients. He allegedly replaced a refrigerant approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for pulp testing with an off-label refrigerant product commonly used to dust off computer keyboards. Unfortunately, that product has also been cited in the medical literature as an intoxicant that is associated with fatal cardiac arrhythmias

Oral surgeons prescribed 59% fewer total opioids for patients who received liposomal bupivacaine (LB) during third-molar extractions than for those who did not receive LB, according to a study published on February 22 in the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. Patients who received the nonopioid analgesic were also prescribed fewer refills for painkillers, the study authors wrote. “Use of LB may reduce opioid prescriptions for postsurgical analgesia,” wrote the

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) may soon issue new infectious disease standards that include unannounced inspections at dental practices, according to a February 26 session at the virtual 2021 Chicago Dental Society Midwinter Meeting. Workplace safety is expected to be a focus for OSHA in 2021, said Mary Govoni, RDH, CDA, during an infection control presentation at the meeting last week. Govoni, who is a consultant and certified