2016 Dental Excellence Awards nominating continues

There’s still time for you to participate in the 2016 HuangshanDental.com Dental Excellence Awards. Already hundreds of your colleagues have taken the opportunity to tell us who should be nominated for dentistry’s most prestigious awards. Categories include Best New Restoratives Material, Best Practice Management Consultant, Best New Operatory Product, and more. There are eight categories in all. Your award nominations will be used to assemble a list of candidates to

Dental Pain After Filling

Why does tooth pain occur after you’ve gotten filling for your dental caries or cavities? Actually, this is a surprisingly common thing. Usually, the dentist only fills in damage from your teeth if there’s no pain there or after the swelling from it has subsided (to avoid complications like an abscessed tooth). Also, even if there’s no initial pain when applying the filling, any dental operation on the tooth could lead to

When Is Root Planing Needed?

Don’t be upset when your dentist says that a dental cleaning is not enough to take care of your dental issues. No, your dentist isn’t trying to fleece money off of you by doing root planing when a perfectly good prophylaxis treatment would’ve sufficed. Few dentists ever recommended planing over cleaning anyway. It’s understandable why you’d have reservations in regards to doing root planing since few people know what it is and

Should procedures requiring sedation be combined for kids?

Should children who need both dental and medical procedures that require general anesthesia have the procedures completed under one anesthesia session? Researchers wondered if limiting exposure to both anesthesia and surgery may be beneficial for the patients, and their families, and they conducted a 55-patient retrospective review. They presented their findings at the recent American Society of Anesthesiologists’ 2016 Anesthesiology annual meeting in Chicago. “While surgery and anesthesia are safer

Teeth Scaling and Polishing

Aren’t you impressed by how smooth marble sculptures or porcelain vases are? Wouldn’t you like the same cleanness and shininess from your teeth that isn’t covered by regular brushing or comprehensive brushing and cleanup from the dentist’s chair via prophylaxis or teeth cleaning procedure? Then it’s about time you learned more about teeth scaling and polishing. Dental Cleaning versus Teeth Polishing There are key differences between dental cleanings and teeth scaling. Dental

ADA vote allows specialists to practice outside specialty

Specialists now will be able to practice outside their announced specialty, according to a resolution approved by the ADA House of Delegates during the 2016 annual meeting in Denver. The change was expected after a U.S. judge ruled in January 2016 that a Texas regulation barring dentists from advertising themselves as “specialists” was unconstitutional. Resolution 65 passed with a large majority, according to multiple delegates who attended the meeting. The

AACD award program seeks nominations

The American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (AACD) is seeking nominations for its 2017 Celebration of Excellence Awards. The awards recognize dental professionals who make a significant contribution to cosmetic dentistry, the academy, and their communities. There are seven separate categories in which nominations can be cast. The nominating period closes on January 13, 2017, at 5 p.m. CT. To nominate a colleague, fill out the nomination form on the AACD

Can CBCT help reduce root canal surprises?

Surprises in root canal therapy, such as additional canals on an incisor, can disrupt the best-laid treatment plans. But can cone-beam CT (CBCT) help? As it turns out, more than 40% of root canal treatments end up needing retreatment because of missed roots or canals. So researchers from France wanted to determine if the presence of an additional canal on one tooth means an additional canal is likely on another

Are periodontitis patients at risk for atrial fibrillation?

Are patients with periodontitis more likely to be at risk for atrial fibrillation (AF) or atrial flutter (AFL)? In the first population-based study to look at a possible link between periodontitis and atrial fibrillation, researchers from Taiwan report results that may have implications for your patients. They reviewed the records of almost 800,000 patients in an effort to understand the link between periodontal disease (PD) and the risk from atrial

6 steps to take care of newborns and new moms

Healthy teeth and gums start before a baby is born, according to a session on oral health and pregnancy at the 2016 ADA annual meeting in Denver. The session focused on several ways dental practices can help both moms-to-be and newborns get and stay healthy. General dentist Jeanette Courtad, DDS, and public health educator Alice Horowitz, PhD, teamed up to share their tips for educating pregnant women about their oral

Study: Dental visits cut pneumonia risk

Patients with regularly scheduled dental visits are less likely to come down with pneumonia, according to a new study. Researchers studied data from more than 26,000 patients to reach this conclusion, and they presented their findings in a poster presentation at the Infectious Diseases Society of America annual meeting (IDWeek 2016), held this week in New Orleans. “There is a well-documented connection between oral health and pneumonia, and dental visits

Keystone launches clear thermoplastic resin

Keystone Industries has introduced a clear thermoplastic resin. Clearmet is designed for clear partial dentures and is made of monomer-free, nonallergic material that is stain-resistant and odor-free, the company said. It can it be adjusted, relined, and repaired. Small and medium-sized tubes come in packages of five and cost $55.75 and $68.05, respectively.