New Developments

Much has changed over the past 35 years since Compendium first began publishing dental education materials. Innovative products and new developments continue to emerge as science, technology, and techniques progress. Part of our publication’s mission is to present these advances to the dental community.

For example, in this issue we discuss new developments in a tried and true diagnostic tool—fiber-optic transillumination. Used for a variety of adjunctive diagnostic purposes, FOTI has seen a recent innovation that involves a thin, flexible fiber-optic tip used for evaluating interproximal posterior caries. This method is capable of showing caries with higher definition, and the authors note the value of such an instrument to achieve an accurate diagnosis of oral conditions.

Our first continuing education (CE) article also highlights an emerging development in tooth extraction site preservation. Allografts have typically utilized either mineralized or demineralized bone, but not a mixture of the two. The author presents a case series that suggests excellent results can be obtained when using a blended mineralized-demineralized cortical bone allograft product to preserve alveolar ridge dimensions after tooth extraction.

Another evolving area of dentistry involves treatment of patients with chronic headache pain and other dental force–related conditions. In our Practical Applications article, the author discusses a contemporary system for assessing, treating, and monitoring patients experiencing symptoms of dentomandibular sensorimotor dysfunction.

In our Special Report on CAD/CAM dentistry, we discuss how a new generation of chairside systems is enabling this advancing technology to become more mainstream. The author reports that after years of refinement, new digital scanning technology now offers meaningful advantages compared with poured models.

Indeed, new developments are constant, and keeping abreast of them can be challenging to most clinicians. I hope you find Compendium, as well as www.compendiumlive.com, to be a valuable resource as you strive to keep up.

Sincerely,

Louis F. Rose, DDS, MD
Editor-In-Chief
lrose@aegiscomm.com