Geneva, 23 January 2014 – The world is gearing up to celebrate World Oral Health Day 2014, which this year focuses specifically on the importance of healthy mouths and teeth in our everyday activities. 

World Oral Health Day is an international day to celebrate the benefits of a healthy mouth and to promote worldwide awareness of the issues around oral health and the importance to everyone, old and young, of practising good oral hygiene.

Raising awareness around the globe is vital as 90% of the world’s population will suffer from oral diseases in their lifetime. FDI helps its member states lobby their governments in order to support prevention, detection and treatment programmes. 

The good news is that global interest in World Oral Health Day is growing rapidly, with more than 50 countries to date planning to organize activities – a number that is increasing on a daily basis. 

As National Dental Associations, Student Dental Associations and World Oral Health Day Partners ramp up their preparations, their challenge will be to match or outdo last year’s vast array of activities.

Among the highlights from 2013 were a “Free Oral Health Camp” in Pakistan, which provided a free dental check-up to over 2,600 patients; citizens in Nigeria achieving a new World Record with 300,000 children simultaneously brushing their teeth; and the opening of the NASDAQ[1] by FDI representatives and members of the American Dental Association (ADA). 

This year, the list of planned activities includes: in Asia, a new World Record attempt for the number of people brushing their teeth at the same time; in the Baltic region, a competition for children to interpret the campaign slogan ‘celebrating healthy smiles’ in an art competition and have their work displayed in galleries across the region; in India, a planned national educational tour visiting schools across the country; and, in Ukraine, the building of a giant photo montage of healthy smiles. 

WOHD 2014 campaign posters are now available to all National Dental Associations and other specialized groups for use in their local communities. And slots in radio shows are being booked and newspaper articles are being written to promote the upcoming activities and spread awareness. 

But it’s not just National Dental Associations who are heavily supporting World Oral Health Day - dental students around the world have an important role to play too. Organized under the umbrella of the International Association of Dental Students, the various student associations will go out onto the streets, into schools, and around their communities to inform and help improve oral health. Students around the globe have shown such a keen interest in promoting healthy smiles that the number of Dental Student Associations participating in 2014 has almost doubled from 2013. 

“Reaching local communities on World Oral Health Day 2014 is a priority for FDI.  It can only be achieved thanks to the major effort by the National Dental Associations as well as dental students who prepare novel and exciting activities worldwide” stated FDI President Dr. Tin Chun Wong. “When I see the number of organizations that have already signed up to celebrate WOHD in 2014, I realize that this year’s activities will help us spread the word on optimal oral health even wider.” 

As 20^th March approaches, more and more people around the world will be preparing activities to celebrate healthy smiles. To find out if there is an activity near you or to get involved yourself, check out the new World Oral Health Day website at www.worldoralhealthday.org. This site will provide the latest news and a range of downloadable material, as well as hosting a world map pinpointing all the activities that will take place this coming 20^th March to celebrate World Oral Health Day 2014.

NEWBERG, Ore., Jan. 21, 2014 – A-dec is proud to announce its 50th year as a dental equipment manufacturer. Founded in 1964, A-dec celebrates a half-century of “quality through caring” with gratitude for customers and dealers, suppliers, and the community at-large.

A-dec was founded by husband and wife team Ken and Joan Austin. In their honor, the anniversary will conclude in February 2015, which commemorates when the young Austin couple drafted their first paychecks as employees.

Today, A-dec’s 50-acre Newberg headquarters is home to more than 1,000 employees who manufacture and market equipment to dental professionals worldwide. A-dec also has facilities in the United Kingdom, Australia, and China, which support an extensive network of authorized dealers in more than 100 countries worldwide.

“Although the world has changed over the last five decades, our values have never wavered,” says A-dec President & CEO Scott Parrish. “Quality through caring impacts how we think as a company and also serves as a cornerstone in our pursuit to make the best better.”

Parrish also explains that the company views the anniversary as an opportunity for employees to inspire one another, and to ensure its reputation for quality continues to flourish.

The company pioneered many of the innovations used in dental treatment rooms today, which include the evolution of patient chairs, delivery systems, and dental lights.  For clinical handpieces, A-dec partners with global leaders such as Austria-based W&H.

Ken and the late Joan Austin were responsible for producing and patenting dentistry’s first vacuum saliva ejector, which served an important role in the advent of sit-down dentistry. The 1964 innovation would replace the era’s cumbersome belt-drive devices.

A-dec also introduced the first compact delivery system, revolutionizing how doctors are able to treat patients more efficiently and ergonomically.

“A-dec began with a simple idea,” says co-founder Ken Austin, who continues to be involved with portable equipment designed for mobilizing treatment to under-served populations. “Our approach then and today is to create a better solution that’s simple and easy to use, and to treat every customer as if he or she were our last.”

The company’s successful rise has been steady. Although A-dec started from inside the Austins’ Broomfield, Colo., home in 1964, the family soon returned to its hometown Newberg a year later. By 1971, A-dec employed 53 people.

“If there’s a piece of dental equipment that has transformed the treatment room experience, there’s a very good chance it started with A-dec,” says Parrish. “We’re competitive because we put the dental team first. It’s a legacy rooted in integrity, which is a cornerstone in moving us forward.”

By 1977, A-dec was offering a full line of instrument delivery systems and soon added chairs, stools and dental lights. A-dec introduced its modular treatment room cabinetry—Preference Collection—in 1983.

The creation of a self-contained water system was also an A-dec innovation. The concept improved infection control in the way it contained and controlled the water flowing to handpieces and syringes.

In 2004, A-dec introduced the A-dec 500 with its chair-mounted delivery arm, which established a new treatment-room paradigm for integrated technologies. Five years later, the company introduced the A-dec 300 with its slim profile and lower price point. In 2010, A-dec introduced A-dec 200 in response to overseas markets, which wanted a simple streamlined offering.

The award-winning A-dec LED dental light was introduced in 2012 and A-dec 400 was introduced last year.

A-dec has enjoyed success in other ways, too. Aside from delivering market-ready products, A-dec and the Austin family are widely recognized for their generosity and philanthropy toward youth, education, arts, and the dental industry. Contributions by the company reflect a principled commitment to take care of people.

“Quality through caring” has helped guide efforts which include an equipment donation program, employer-sanctioned support to benefit American Red Cross and United Way, and the TotaChair partnership with Rota-Dent—a not-for-profit endeavor that helps get specially designed portable equipment to underserved populations around the world.

ADA News -  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends that dentists and other health care providers stop prescribing and dispensing combination drugs that contain more than 325 milligrams of acetaminophen.

Read full story here. 

Peoria, AZ:  January 16, 2013:  The Anaheim Group, publishers of DentalFax^®, has released the 2013 Dental Industry Review^©, a 367-page comprehensive report of the key events in the worldwide dental industry for 2013. The Dental Industry Review is a well-known resource that contains dozens of color charts and graphs. The complete report costs just $175 and is transmitted immediately by The Anaheim Group’s Direct Download service.

The new 13^th edition of the Dental Industry Review includes sections on acquisitions and sales multiples; bankruptcies and corporate restructurings; dental implant market shares and growth; management changes; litigation; and market growth estimates for equipment, consumables, over-the-counter oral care products, and implants. Distribution agreements, developments, and implant market shares are also covered. The acquisitions and sales multiples section enables the market value of a company to be calculated based upon the type of company. The Dental Industry Review is indispensable for anyone working or investing in the dental marketplace.

The 2013 Review also has a comprehensive Innovation Index that offers a complete list of dental FDA Product Marketing Clearances, United States Dental Patents, and European Patent Office (EPO) and World International Patent Office (WIPO) Dental Patents issued in 2013.

For more information, call 623-334-0091 or email dentalfax@dentalfax.com.

CHICAGO, January 15, 2014 — With the start of the new year, Oral Health America (OHA) is kicking off a year-long celebration of its Smiles Across America® (SAA) program, which has been bringing healthy mouths to life for children across the country for 10 years.

"We are honored to celebrate a decade of bringing needed oral health care and education to children in school-based and school-linked settings through SAA," said OHA President and CEO Beth Truett. "Working with phenomenal partners in cities across the US, OHA is changing the game for at-risk kids who suffer from the #1 disease of childhood – tooth decay. Dedicated donors have supported us in impacting the lives of 400,000 children annually – helping them to learn without pain, improve their self-esteem and spread their healthy smiles across America.”

SAA supports oral health programs in school-based settings nationwide that provide preventive and restorative dental care and educate children about the importance of oral health. The program began in 2004 by supporting the Chicago Department of Health's dental program, which continues to provide dental care to over 100,000 students in Chicago Public Schools. Additional organizations were added to SAA every year after that, focusing on programs across the country that provide dental care for children in a sustainable way and have the desire to grow capacity. Today SAA supports partners through grant funding, technical assistance, and product donations. To date SAA has helped partners save over $1 million through donated dental product and has sealed over 750,000 teeth since committing in 2010 to sealing two million teeth by 2020.

To recognize the program's first decade, OHA will co-host events across the country and highlight the founding SAA partners throughout the year--Chicago Department of Public Health, Children's Dental Services of Minneapolis, New York University College of Dentistry--Pediatric Dentistry, Santa Barbara-Ventura Counties Dental Care Foundation, and West Virginia University. The anniversary festivities will culminate with a celebration held in Chicago, which is home to both the first SAA partner and OHA's national headquarters.

To find out how you can participate in this landmark anniversary or to learn more about SAA, please visit www.oralhealthamerica.org.

Chicago, Jan. 15, 2014 – Dental care spending remained flat through 2012 over the prior year, in part because working age adults are visiting dentists less frequently, with fewer people covered by employer-sponsored dental benefits, according to a new analysis released by the American Dental Association (ADA).

The research, conducted by the ADA Health Policy Resources Center (HPRC), shows that additional factors in the spending patterns include improvements in oral health, the erosion of benefits provided by state Medicaid programs and fee reductions among many private insurers.

National dental care expenditure reached $111 billion in 2012, roughly the same as the previous year when adjusted for inflation. When population growth is taken into account, dental spending has been flat since 2008. The analysis covers three years of post-Great Recession recovery and it is clear that dental spending is not rebounding.

Overall U.S. health spending during the past four years has grown at the slowest rates ever recorded in the 53-year history of the National Health Expenditure Accounts, reflecting the lagged effects of the recent economic recession. Dental spending, however, began to slow in the early 2000s before the onset of the recession.

The elderly continue to be the age group with the highest level of dental spending, driven primarily by gains in private dental benefits and higher demand for care.

Read the full research brief https://www.ada.org/sections/professionalResources/pdfs/HPRCBrief_0114_1.pdf

NEW YORK, Jan. 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The Ad Council and the Partnership for Healthy Mouths, Healthy Lives announced today the release of the new mobile gaming app, Toothsavers, available online and for Android and iOS devices. Created on behalf of the Kids' Healthy Mouths campaign, the free mobile game is the first developed in-house by the Ad Council -- the nation's largest producer of public service advertising. The app inspires kids to brush their teeth for two minutes, twice a day by enlisting them in rescuing friendly fairy tale characters from an evil, cavity-creating sorceress who cast a wicked teeth-rotting spell on the kingdom.

Featuring a fun and colorful design, Toothsavers includes three key features to help parents and their kids learn about the importance of oral health:

• The game calls on kids to be heroes. In a timed, finger-swipe brushing game, they can save 10 characters in a fairy tale kingdom from an evil, cavity-creating sorceress.

• The two-player version of the game allows for kids to "brush" the teeth of their friends and parents when the mobile device is held up to their mouths.

• The app also offers a real-life toothbrushing companion for kids and parents to keep track of their brushing progress, as well as morning and nighttime reminders.

"Toothsavers is a terrific way to get kids thinking about their teeth from an early age," said Gary Price, Secretary and CEO of the Dental Trade Alliance Foundation. "I look forward to seeing families embrace the app as both a teaching tool and a way to monitor their daily toothbrushing routines."

Dental decay is the nation's most common chronic childhood disease, affecting 16.5 million children. In the U.S., oral disease causes kids to miss 51 million school hours and their parents to lose 25 million work hours annually.

"Mobile technology plays a major role in influencing young people's behavior and is a great fit for this campaign," said Peggy Conlon, president and CEO of the Ad Council. "We're thrilled to release our first mobile game, which represents our ongoing efforts to use technology to promote health, education and well-being. We look forward to using this app to help kids maintain healthy oral health habits, and have fun while doing it!"

Currently, 91 percent of American adults own a cellphone[i]. According to Ad Age, "U.S. adults spend an average of two hours and 21 minutes per day using their mobile devices for activities other than phone calls."[ii] Common Sense Media reports that one in five kids under the age of 8 uses a mobile device every day.[iii]

Launched August 2012, the Kids' Healthy Mouths campaign has received more than $46 million in free ad time and space and nearly 1.6 million visitors to the campaign website, 2min2x.org, which offers a collection of free, two-minute videos -- featuring notable characters from children's shows and networks. In addition, after its first year, the Kids' Healthy Mouths campaign has reported progress in the effort to improve children's oral health habits. A survey released in August 2013 indicated that more children in the United States now regularly brush their teeth.

Toothsavers is now available for free in the App Store and Google Play (both smartphones and tablet version). It is also on the web at 2min2x.org/PlayToothsavers. The game is geared toward children ages 3 to 6. For more information, visit 2min2x.org/toothsavers.

Learn about the effect oral health has on the Nation and ways to effectively address the need for access to oral health care among underserved populations in your community.

Register Now  | January 23, 2014 | 12:00 to 12:45 p.m. ET

Oral health is essential to overall health. Oral diseases cause pain and disability for millions of Americans each year and may be prevented by increasing access to regular dental care.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tooth decay (dental caries) affects children in the United States more than any other chronic infectious disease. Untreated tooth decay causes pain and infections that may lead to problems such as difficulty eating, speaking, playing, and learning. Ensuring that underserved populations, including low-income families, have regular access to dental care is critical to preventing these issues.

Join us on Thursday, January 23, at 12 p.m. ET, to learn about how the Iowa Department of Public Health is working to improve the health of underserved populations by providing access to quality oral health care. This 45-minute Webinar will be led by the Assistant Surgeon General, Chief Dental Officer, USPHS, Dr. William Bailey, who will be joined by Katherine Weno, DDS, JD, Director, and Gina Thornton-Evans, DDS, MPH, Dental Officer, both from the Division of Oral Health, within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. The Webinar will include a roundtable discussion on the importance of oral health, as well as strategies and resources to effectively address oral health objectives.

11 January 2014 - Fifty years ago today, Dr. Luther Terry released the landmark Surgeon General’s Report – the first of its kind on smoking and health – concluding that smoking causes lung cancer. In the five decades since, we’ve learned: that smoking damages nearly every organ in the body; it is responsible for an enormous burden of disease, death and economic cost in the United States; and, exposure to secondhand smoke can have devastating health consequences. Yet, since this first report was released, we’ve also shifted the perception of smoking from an accepted national pastime to a discouraged threat to health – and more than halved smoking rates in this country.

Later this month, we will release a new Surgeon General’s Report that will highlight 50 years of progress in tobacco control and prevention, present new data on the health consequences of tobacco use, and detail initiatives that can end the tobacco epidemic in the United States.

While significant progress has been made over the last 50 years, the battle is not yet won. I am extremely proud of the Obama Administration’s tobacco control record – from expanding access to cessation services without cost-sharing through the Affordable Care Act, to giving the Food and Drug Administration comprehensive authority to regulate tobacco products through the Tobacco Control Act. But ending the devastation of tobacco-related illness and death is not in the jurisdiction of any one entity. To end the tobacco epidemic, we must enlist all sectors of society to share in this responsibility. Together we can make the next generation tobacco-free.

To read Acting Surgeon General Dr. Boris D. Lushniak’s statement visit:https://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2014pres/01/20140110c.html

To read CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden’s statement visit: https://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2014pres/01/20140110d.html