School sports season emphasizes mouthguards’ importance

The department of pediatric dentistry at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Dentistry is reminding parents and healthcare providers to help children prevent oral injuries by emphasizing the use of mouthguards. In an article on the school’s website, Stephen Mitchell, DMD, an associate professor in the department of pediatric dentistry, noted that sports don’t necessarily have to be considered contact sports for mouth injuries to occur. For example,

Henry Schein hosts back-to-school program

Henry Schein is helping more than 2,400 children in 21 U.S. and Canadian cities return to the classroom as part of it’s 15th annual Back to School program. The program, which started in 1998 by helping 150 children from Long Island, has now sponsored more than 18,000 children, providing the children with new school outfits and backpacks filled with school supplies and hygiene products, according to the company. The largest

HIV/AIDS patients offer unique oral health challenges

With the large number of existing and new cases of HIV infection worldwide, there is a parallel need for dental practitioners and other healthcare practitioners to carefully treat oral and periodontal conditions unique to HIV/AIDS, according to an article in Periodontology 2000 (October 2012, Vol. 60:1, pp. 78-97). The oral and periodontal conditions most closely associated with HIV infection include oral candidiasis, oral hairy leukoplakia, Kaposi’s sarcoma, salivary gland diseases,

Texas broadens Medicaid dental fraud probe

The Texas Office of Inspector General (OIG) is investigating the company that processes authorization forms submitted by dentists for dental Medicaid procedures, including orthodontic treatment. In the latest development in the state’s ongoing Medicaid scandal, Affiliated Computer Services, which is owned by Xerox, is being audited for the way it handled Medicaid approval requests that are submitted by dentists and orthodontists, according to an email sent by the Texas Health

Ask Marty: What all-ceramic cement do you prefer?

Q: What are you using to cement your zirconia and e.max crowns? A: That is a great question, as the number of all-ceramic crowns is surpassing the number of porcelain fused to metal crowns being delivered in the U.S. The most important part of cementation is not the cementation at all; it is tooth preparation. If you have prepared the tooth properly for the crown, no matter what cement you

NY dentist reopens shuttered Small Smiles clinic

A Small Smiles dental clinic in Syracuse, NY, that was shut down when the chain filed bankruptcy earlier this year has been reopened by a local dentist, Michael Wilson, DDS, owner of Wilson Dental, the Post-Standard reported. The Small Smiles chain, owned by Church Street Health Management, has had a history of legal problems — many involving Medicaid fraud — that forced it to file for bankruptcy and prompted additional

Tom’s of Maine launches naturally whitening toothpaste

Tom’s of Maine has introduced Botanically Bright toothpaste designed to naturally whiten teeth. The toothpaste helps remove plaque with regular brushing while naturally sourced silicas whiten teeth without using bleaching ingredients, according to Tom’s of Maine. Botanically Bright ingredients are a blend of botanicals, such as chamomile flower, certified organic aloe, bee propolis, and xylitol, as well as stevia extracts for sweetness and peppermint and spearmint mint oils, the company

Visa app calculates gifts from the tooth fairy

The tooth fairy is leaving an average of $3 per tooth this year, an increase of 15% from $2.60 left in 2011, according to a survey released by Visa. The survey results are based on 2,000 telephone interviews conducted in the U.S. from July 13 to July 17, 2012, in cooperation with GfK Roper’s Omnibus Service “OmniTel.” The margin of error is ± 4 percentage points. To help parents answer

Study: Coconut oil effective against S. mutans

Digested coconut oil is able to attack Streptococcus mutans, the bacteria that cause caries, according to researchers from the Athlone Institute of Technology in Ireland. They will present their data this week at the Society for General Microbiology’s Autumn Conference at the University of Warwick. The team tested the antibacterial action of coconut oil in its natural state and coconut oil that had been treated with enzymes in a process

Researchers explain link between alcohol, cancer risk

Almost 30 years after discovery of a link between alcohol consumption and certain forms of cancer, scientists are reporting the first evidence from research on people explaining how the popular beverage may be carcinogenic. The findings were reported August 22 during the American Chemical Society annual meeting in Philadelphia. The human body metabolizes the alcohol in beer, wine, and hard liquor into several substances, including acetaldehyde, a substance with a

NYUCD names new chair of orthodontics department

Cristina Teixeira, DMD, PhD, an associate professor of orthodontics and of basic science and craniofacial biology, has been appointed chair of the department of orthodontics at New York University College of Dentistry (NYUCD), effective immediately. Dr. Teixeira had been serving as the interim chair of the department since September 2011, according to the university. Dr. Teixeira joined NYUCD in 2001 and has won National Institutes of Health funding and other

JADA to retract study over concerns about data

A study published in the May issue of the Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA) is being retracted in the September issue after the editors learned that certain critical information about the study was not disclosed prior to publication. The study (May 2012, Vol. 143:5, pp. 472-477), conducted by Charles John Palenik, PhD, measured the long-term effect of six spray disinfectants on nine common types of dental office surfaces.