To floss or not to floss? Of course, you should floss — and not just because your dentist says so. Flossing reaches surfaces of your teeth a toothbrush cannot. It protects your gums from gum disease, cavities, and tartar buildup. But how do you follow through on your flossing goals? As dentists, we know you try to floss. But be honest — sometimes (okay most of the time) you forget
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients have elevated rates of periodontal and cardiovascular disease, suggesting that their immune responses to gum disease bacteria may be linked to higher heart disease risk, according to a study published on November 17 in Arthritis & Rheumatology. Exposure to the gum disease pathogen Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans (Aa) and the protein toxin it secretes (leukotoxin A [LtxA]) was strongly associated with atherosclerosis in the coronary and carotid arteries
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted 510(k) clearance to medical device company Zephyr Sleep Technologies’ latest update to MATRx plus. The clearance eliminates the requirement for a nasal cannula during a sleep theranostic test and makes setting up the take-home Treatment Planning test simpler. Patients now only need a single fingertip pulse oximetry probe for the test. All existing MATRx plus users who are Connected Program subscribers
Dental service organization (DSO) Mid-Atlantic Dental Partners has named Wendy Flanagan as vice president of operations for orthodontics. Wendy Flanagan. Flanagan has more than 24 years of dental operations experience, the company said. She will plan, direct, coordinate, and oversee operations in the orthodontics sector, ensuring efficient operations and cost-effective systems are developed and implemented to meet the needs of the organization.
SmileDirectClub has partnered with Michigan-based dental service organization (DSO) Unified Smiles to offer the company’s signature invisible aligner treatment at Unified Smiles-affiliated practices. The partnership gives patients at Unified Smile’s affiliated dental practices the option to begin telehealth orthodontic treatment at a dental office. The offering will bring new patients into the DSO, according to Kevin Burniston, Unified Smiles vice president of sales. The partnership extends the SmileDirectClub Partner Network
Biolase has launched the Waterlase Endo Academy, which is dedicated to improving patient outcomes and profitability with new technology. The academy is open to all Waterlase endodontists and was created to foster peer-led learning, best practice sharing, and optimal integration of Waterlase technology, the firm said. Academy members will receive ongoing mentorship, didactic online meetings, interactive case reviews, in-person training, and on-demand access to clinical resources and webinars. The leadership
Dear DrBicuspid Member, As we enter into a season of thanks here in the U.S., we can all certainly sit back for a moment and count our blessings, even in the midst of a pandemic. Even though I’ll have family members absent from the table this Thursday because of underlying medical conditions and efforts to protect them, I’m still thankful they are healthy and we have the technology to at
More and more states are legalizing recreational and/or medicinal marijuana. With that in mind, more of your patients have access to cannabis before they come into your practice. Do you know what that means for them, their oral health, and how they will potentially react to dental procedures? These are just some of the questions I asked dental pharmacology expert Tom Viola, RPh, in a recent episode of the Dental
For Dr. Troy Schmedding, minimally invasive dentistry isn’t just a buzzworthy phrase. It’s his passion and what he believes is truly best for his patients. In Walnut Creek, CA, Schmedding has created a practice where he believes doing less means more for his patients, not only in the present but also in the future. Dr. Troy Schmedding. “Anytime we tackle a procedure or anytime we’re looking into doing direct or indirect restorations,
Swiss Smile founders Drs. Golnar and Haleh Abivardi have launched vVardis, a new line of premium oral care products. The four vVardis products feature their patented WX Formula, a polyvalent biomimicking hydrogel that whitens teeth safely, protects against stains, and boosts the efficacy of fluoride, according to the sisters: ul.editorialList li {margin-bottom:12px;} vVardis Aletsch is a brush-on gel serum that costs $250. vVardis Edelweiss is a $55 fluoride toothpaste with
Carestream Dental has unveiled the latest version of its CS Model+ CAD/CAM offering, which is aimed at helping dental practices design clear aligners in-house. Featuring advanced algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI), CS Model+ v5 enables clinicians to offer chairside aligners, Carestream said. It also includes new features such as case ranking by degree of difficulty, automatically generated intermediate treatment steps, interproximal reduction (IPR) suggestions, and a library of attachments, according
A woman hunting for shark teeth recently discovered a tooth about the size of a human palm on Hunting Island in South Carolina. She believes the tooth belonged to the prehistoric megalodon shark, according to news reports. Missy Tracewell has found numerous shark teeth over the years, but they were nothing compared to the monster-sized tooth she plucked from puddled sand a few feet from the shoreline. She was thrilled
