A year after the city of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, decided to stop fluoridating its drinking water, the city council still hasn’t decide what to do with the $750,000 in annual savings. The money had been earmarked to help low-income children whose oral health might be negatively impacted by the lack of fluoridated water, according to a CBC News story. The city council is still waiting for recommendations from its community
3M Unitek has launched Unitek Treatment Management Portal (TMP), an orthodontic software platform that combines digital model imaging with interactive technology to enable customized treatment planning for orthodontic patients. The software is also designed for use with 3M Unitek’s Incognito Appliance System, the company said. Unitek TMP includes: 3D digital models for effective and efficient treatment planning Digital storage and instant access to patient records, eliminating the need for physical
Researchers at the University of Maryland are testing a composite filling that does much more than fill the volume of space in a carious tooth; it also takes a two-fold approach to preventing caries from developing around it once it is placed. “The first is to make the primer and the adhesive antibacterial — we wanted the material to be bioactive,” explained Huakun Xu, PhD, director of the division of
Smile Train is partnering with Mars Retail Group (MRG), a division of Mars, to support cleft surgeries for impoverished children in the U.S., U.K., Ghana, Ivory Coast, China, India, and Brazil. The initial goal of MRG is to support a surgery for each one of the company’s 725 associates. The countries where surgeries will be funded include locations where Mars has a large presence and/or where cocoa is grown, such
Researchers believe they may have found a way to avoid damaging salivary glands during radiotherapy treatment for head and neck cancer — a discovery that could improve the quality of life of 500,000 patients a year worldwide with the disease. Presenting their findings May 10 at the 31st conference of the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology, the researchers said they had discovered that the stem cells essential for regenerating
Tennessee now allows licensed dental hygienists to practice under the supervision of a registered dentist in authorized public health programs, according to a new law signed April 30 by Gov. Bill Haslam. SB 3269 authorizes licensed dental hygienists to engage in the provision of preventive dental care in nursing homes, skilled care facilities, nonprofit clinics, and public health programs if all of the following requirements are met: The dental hygienist
Oral Health America’s National Spit Tobacco Education Program (NSTEP) is teaming with Little League International again this year for its annual antitobacco slogan contest. To enter, Little Leaguers ages 8-14 should create and submit a 10-word phrase that describes why spit tobacco is dangerous and deadly. The participant with the most creative slogan will win an all-expenses paid trip to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA, plus a
New findings from a large Danish database of cancer patients suggest that, although human papillomavirus (HPV) can trigger oropharyngeal cancer, patients who are HPV-positive and are light smokers or don’t smoke at all respond well to treatment using radiotherapy without chemotherapy. In a presentation May 10 at the 31st conference of the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology in Barcelona, Pernille Lassen, MD, PhD, a resident in medical and radiation
Botox injections can provide relief to patients who suffer from nocturnal bruxism, or teeth grinding, according to two studies presented last month at the American Academy of Neurology’s (AAN) annual meeting. Bruxism is probably the most common sleep disorder, occurring in up to 15% of the population, noted researchers from the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston (UTHSC) who examined the effects of injecting onabotulinumtoxin A (Botox) into
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today issued a draft guidance to encourage manufacturers of x-ray imaging devices to consider the safety of children in the design of new equipment. The draft guidance recommends manufacturers design new x-ray imaging devices with protocols and instructions that specifically address their use on pediatric patients. It also proposes that manufacturers who do not adequately demonstrate that their new x-ray imaging devices are
Sesame Communications and Ortho2 have formed a data-sharing partnership. Sesame Communications will obtain patient data from Ortho2’s Edge system to bring Sesame services to Ortho2 cloud-based customers. Sesame’s patient-connection platform features a patient portal that includes automated reminders, surveys, online payment options, interactive treatment imagery, and health history forms. Through this new partnership, orthodontists can access their Sesame dashboards to view the performance of their digital marketing efforts and real-time
Kerr has launched an Advocate Program to support the adoption of its SonicFill bulk cure composite system and is inviting dentists to submit their case images or video testimonials with a chance to win a free handpiece. The dentist who best demonstrates how SonicFill has simplified posterior procedures and advanced his or her practice will receive a SonicFill handpiece and composite. Winners will be chosen between April and December. To