America’s ToothFairy, DentaQuest launch pediatric oral health campaign

America’s ToothFairy and oral health organization DentaQuest have teamed up on a superhero-themed educational campaign to help children learn about oral health during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the Oral Health Action Hero Challenge, kids will complete five educational missions to learn how to defeat the villain, “The evil DK (Decay),” and keep their smiles healthy, according to America’s ToothFairy. The campaign will run through August 15. All participants who complete

Align Technology awards funding for orthodontic, dental research

Align Technology has awarded nine research grants under its 11th annual research award program. The company said it awarded a total of $225,000 in research grants for projects seeking to better understand treatment in orthodontics and dentistry. The Americas research award recipients are as follows: ul.editorialList li {margin-bottom:6px;} University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada; primary investigator, Dr. Tarek El-Bialy University of Toronto in Canada; primary investigator, Dr. Siew-Ging Gong Jacksonville University in

SmileDirectClub expands its markets, reopens in Germany

Teledentistry firm SmileDirectClub plans to expand its market reach into Singapore and Austria over the next few months and to reopen offices closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. The expansion follows the company’s launches in 2019 in the U.K., Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and Hong Kong and in Canada in 2018. SmileDirectClub plans to further extend its reach into new regions throughout Europe, Latin America, and the Asia-Pacific

Biologists find snake-like dental glands in amphibians

Researchers from Utah State University in Logan and the Butantan Institute in São Paulo have found evidence of oral venom glands in amphibians, according to a report posted July 3 on Phys.org. Biologist Edmund Brodie Jr., PhD, and colleague Pedro Luiz Mailho-Fontana, PhD, discovered venomous oral glands in a family of amphibians called caecilians, which are related to frogs and salamanders. The creatures live in Africa, Asia, and the Americas;

Rare tumor linked to lingual nerve removed from floor of woman’s mouth

A woman who experienced tongue pain and taste changes for 18 months felt relief when a rare tumor linked to her lingual nerve was removed. Her symptoms stumped a dentist and were later misdiagnosed as a sialolith, according to a case report published on June 28 in BMJ Case Reports. Only 6.5% of neural tumors occur in the oral cavity, and there have been very few reported cases of floor-of-mouth

Week in Review: Some startling numbers and predictions | Lessons learned from your colleagues

Dear DrBicuspid Member, Here in the U.S., it’s the Fourth of July, a day set aside to celebrate our country’s independence. I hope you are able to spend it with family and friends while staying safe as well. This week on HuangshanDental.com, some of our most-read articles followed two trends: statistics/predictions and lessons learned by your colleagues that can potentially help you in the second half of 2020. Let’s start

How I learned from one of my biggest smile design mistakes

It’s a day I’ll never forget, and one that I think about often. There are times that we as dentists think we have it all figured out and that we know what we’re doing and what the patient wants — without asking the patient or truly understanding his or her wants or needs. I remember a day that I thought I nailed the final case. I was on top of

What every dentist and team member should know about these 2 drugs

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continues to warn practitioners that respiratory depression may occur in patients taking the drugs gabapentin or pregabalin, especially patients who are also predisposed to respiratory depression due to their concomitant use of other respiratory depressants, such as opioid analgesics, and other drugs that depress the central nervous system (CNS), such as benzodiazepines. Patients with underlying respiratory disease (such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)

AAPD Foundation, Henry Schein to provide masks to AAPD members

The AAPD Foundation has allocated up to $1.6 million to provide all American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) members with one 50-count supply of KN95 masks supplied at cost by Henry Schein. The AAPD Foundation is purchasing the masks, including paying sales tax and shipping, while the AAPD is handling the ordering logistics for its members. Henry Schein will leverage its supply chain network to provide implementation assistance, according to the

Our Teeth app targets consumers’ dental history

Micom Software has launched the Our Teeth 1.1 app for iOS devices so that an individual or family can keep track of their dental history. A graphical interface allows users or their dentist to add information about each tooth. There is an option for adult or child teeth and the ability to choose between predefined tooth problems or inputting the information directly. Users may also utilize the microphone feature on

Study finds athletes who improve oral health habits perform better

Elite athletes who changed their oral health habits to include using prescription-strength fluoride toothpaste and floss picks to clean between their teeth improved their sports performance in a recent study. The findings were published on June 18 in BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine. Athletes who implemented behavioral change programs improved their oral health habits and significantly reduced effects associated with negative performance, the authors wrote. The behavioral change model

ECU dental school receives $3.1M grant to improve special needs care

The East Carolina University (ECU) School of Dental Medicine has received a $3.1 million grant from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration to enhance and expand care for patients with special needs. The five-year grant is one of the largest in the school’s history. It will enable the school to offer a second year of training for Advanced Education in General Dentistry students on oral healthcare delivery for vulnerable