A study published in the Journal of Dental Research suggests a new system for classifying periodontal disease that may allow for earlier detection and personalized treatment before the disease becomes severe, according to Medical News Today.

The Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers propose a new classification system—the first of its kind—based on the genetic expression of gum disease instead of the current method based on clinical signs and symptoms. They say such a system would enable earlier detection of gum disease, and allow individualized treatment, before teeth and bone loss sets in.

To read the full MNT article, click here.

CHICAGO, March 21, 2014 — The ADA Practice Institute has announced that Pamela M. Porembski, DDS has accepted the position of Director, Council on Dental Practice in the Practice Institute. In her new role, Dr. Porembski oversees activities of the Council and its affiliated interagency efforts. 

Dr. Porembski previously served the Council as a senior manager and focused on special projects related to the evolving dental workforce, dental group practice, caries risk assessment, the dental economy, regulatory activities and dental forensics. She also provided expert content review of ADA agencies’ products, resources and publications, as well as coordinated a comprehensive policy review process on behalf of the Council. Most recently, Dr. Porembski played a key role helping to lead the staff team assembled to create and launch the ADA Center for Professional Success, and its first app, the ADA Oral Pathologist. 

Dr. Porembski completed her undergraduate degree at Loyola University and received both a Bachelor of Science in Dentistry degree in 1980 and Bachelor of Doctor of Dental Surgery degree in 1982 from the University of Illinois, College of Dentistry. She practiced general dentistry for more than 20 years in Chicago before joining the ADA staff in 2003 as a staff member of the Council on Dental Benefit Programs. 

A native Chicagoan, Dr. Porembski resides in Prospect Heights, IL.

CHICAGO, March 21, 2014  —Dentists interested in complementing their clinical training and experience with enhanced management skills can register for the 2014 session of the prestigious American Dental Association (ADA) and Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management’s “ADA/Kellogg Executive Management Program.” Applications are due July 1.

Now in its tenth year, the executive-level program consists of a specially designed curriculum for dentists to learn more about business management from one of the nation’s top-ranked management schools. 

Registration fees are $16,000 for ADA members and $17,000 for nonmembers. Fee includes tuition, course materials and most meals. Tuition does not include travel and lodging. ADA members receive discounts on select Chicago hotels.

Based on the core curriculum of matriculating Kellogg MBA students, the program addresses business strategy, organizational leadership, marketing, finance, accounting, economics, quantitative methods and information systems.

Held at Northwestern University’s Chicago campus, just down the street from ADA headquarters, the 13-day executive management program consists of three sessions. The 2014 sessions are set for Sept. 19-22, Oct. 24-27, and Nov. 14-18. Kellogg professors teach all courses.

In addition to learning from world-renowned Kellogg faculty, participants have the opportunity to build a network of lifelong relationships with colleagues from the dental community. 

Application materials and program details are available for viewing and downloading at https://www.ada.org/goto/kellogg or by contacting Connie Paslaski, 312-440-3541, paslaskic@ada.org.  Registrations accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.

Peter M. Loomer, DDS, PhD, an internationally recognized authority in the fields of periodontology and implant dentistry, has been appointed chairman of the Ashman Department of Periodontology and Implant Dentistry at the NYU College of Dentistry, effective February 1, 2014. Dr. Loomer will continue to serve as director of Global Health for oral health sciences at the NYU Global Institute of Public Health.

“Dr. Loomer’s passion and dedication to global oral health has led him to promote oral health research, education, and patient care initiatives at the national and international levels,” said Charles N. Bertolami, DDS, DMedSc, Herman Robert Fox Dean and Professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at NYU. “As chairman, he will be responsible for shaping the future of periodontal and implant education at both the pre- and postdoctoral levels.” Please join me in congratulating Dr. Loomer and wishing him every success in his new position.”

Since June 2013, Dr. Loomer has served as director and clinical professor of periodontology as well as director of global health for oral health sciences at the NYU Global Institute of Public Health. Prior to joining NYUCD, he was professor of clinical affairs at the UCSF School of Dentistry, where he served with distinction as director of Predoctoral Periodontology, vice-chair of the Division of Periodontology, chairman of the Education Committee and, previously, of the Faculty Council, and director of Clinical Affairs in the Division of Periodontology. Dr. Loomer holds a DDS degree, a certificate in periodontics, and a PhD in cell and tissue biology, all from the University of Toronto. His research interests include the oral microbiome, bone cell biology, and periodontal regeneration.

A Board-certified periodontist and prolific author, Dr. Loomer has served in many roles in organized dentistry, including chair and councilor of the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) Section on Periodontics, President of the American Association for Dental Research (AADR) San Francisco Division, the American Academy of Periodontology Patient Benefits & Advocacy and Education Committees, the Joint Commission on National Dental Board Examinations Test Construction Committee, and on the Commission on Dental Accreditation. His research has been funded by the NIH and the Gates Foundation.

Alexandria, Va., USA – Timothy DeRouen was installed as the 43rd president of the American Association for Dental Research (AADR) on March 22, 2014, at the conclusion of the Association’s 43rd Annual Meeting & Exhibition. This meeting is being held in conjunction with the 38th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Dental Research.

DeRouen earned a BS in statistics from McNeese State University, Lake Charles, Louisiana; and an MS and PhD in statistics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, Blacksburg, Virginia. He is professor emeritus of biostatistics, oral health sciences and global health at the University of Washington, Seattle. There, he also serves as the director of the Center for Global Oral Health and the Summer Institute, which is a research training program for dental school faculty and other oral health professionals interested in clinical research in dentistry. The Summer Institute is designed to offer training in research methods that dentists and other oral health professionals may not have been adequately exposed to during clinical training.

DeRouen has more than 40 years of experience consulting and teaching in biomedical applications of statistics, especially in clinical medicine and dentistry. He has particular interests in the design and analysis of studies of periodontal disease.

He has served on numerous IADR and AADR committees, and has been an IADR/AADR member since 1988.

“Dr. DeRouen has been an active IADR/AADR member since 1988, and is widely recognized for his scientific contributions and mentoring,” said AADR Executive Director Christopher Fox. “I look forward to working with him to strengthen AADR’s mission of advancing research and increasing knowledge for the improvement of oral health.”

CDEWorld will present “Bonding Agents: How Do I Choose?,” a free CE webinar aimed at helping clinicians understand the role of primers and adhesives in bonding agents.

Presenters Greg Gillespie, DDS, Alan Wickenhauser, DMD, and Ryan Schwendiman, DMD, will discuss tips for choosing bonding agents, including the use of new “universal” adhesives. The webinar will also address the debate involving self-etch versus total-etch and the advantages/disadvantages of each.

Supported by Kerr Dental, the CDEWorld live event will be April 2, at 7 pm EST. Registration is now open: https://forms.coronapro.com/DohdOeif

Journal of Oral Implantology – Two surgeries are frequently required for tooth replacement with dental implants; however, clinicians must allow for adequate healing time between the procedures. Most patients want to minimize the overall recovery time and thus desire the surgeries be done close together. A study in the Journal of Oral Implantology looks specifically at healing times between the two dental procedures involving tooth replacement.

With tooth loss, the jawbone can shrink, making it impossible to replace the missing teeth with dental implants without risk of nerve or sinus damage. An additional surgery may be required to assure that adequate jawbone height and width are available for implant placement. 

The study looks at 14 patients who underwent two procedures involving tooth replacement. In the first procedure, patients received a bone substitute, composed from nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite, which was grafted into the patient’s jaw. This synthetic material provided scaffolding for new bone growth, expanding into patients’ upper jawbone. Half of the patients then waited 3 months while the other half waited 6 months before undergoing the second procedure, placement of the dental implant(s).

The study found similar results among patients 3 years after the dental implants, whether patients waited 3 or 6 months between procedures. The 14 patients collectively received 24 implants in the upper jaw, and only 1 patient lost an implant. No implants were loose, and only a few showed signs of plaque or changes to soft tissue.

The authors conclude that synthetic bone seems to need only 3 months to become secure enough for dental implants to be placed successfully in the jaw. The additional 3 months between surgical procedures had no significant long-term effect among the studied patients.

Full text of the article “Nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite-based material contributes to implant stability after three months: A clinical and radiological 3-year follow-up investigation,”Journal of Oral Implantology, Vol. 40, No. 1, 2014, is now available online.

INTELIHEALTH - Most people know that brushing children's teeth helps to keep their mouths healthy. So why don't all parents and caregivers make sure it's done?

A small, in-depth study from the Cardiff School of Dentistry, Wales, tried to get some answers to this question. The study included 15 parents of young children. They were interviewed by phone. All parents lived in low-income areas. Their children were between 3 and 6 years old. They went to day-care centers or schools taking part in a tooth-brushing education program called Designed to Smile.

Interviews started with three open-ended questions:

- Tell me about your experience with brushing your child's teeth at home.

- What things make brushing your child's teeth easier for you?

- What things make brushing your child's teeth harder for you?

Follow-up questions and statements encouraged parents to share more information.

These were the study's main findings:

- Households with more stable morning and evening routines were more likely to treat brushing as a given, rather than a choice.

- Parents were motivated to brush their child's teeth by short-term, cosmetic benefits (fresh breath, clean-looking teeth).

- Parents' perceptions of how other parents handled tooth-brushing were important.

Routines

The researchers found that tooth brushing often occurred as part of a morning or evening routine. For these 15 families, evenings were often less predictable than mornings, due to work schedules and other activities. Many children were with other family members or friends after school. They ate dinner at different times and places throughout the week.

Parents who reported a lack of evening routine said that it was a struggle to get their child's teeth brushed at night. Brushing was often not done in the evenings, although parents knew it was important.

Parents who reported more consistency in their morning or at night routines were more likely to view brushing as a habit. They did not see it as optional. It was something that was done every day, like getting dressed.

Motivation

Researchers also asked about why people brushed. Many parents said that brushing in the morning was done to make teeth clean, and breath fresh, for the day ahead. They said this was like ensuring that the children's clothes were clean and faces were washed before they went to school.

Parents did not have such concrete motivations for brushing at night. A couple of parents said they did not see the point of brushing at night if brushing would be done the next morning.

Perceptions

Nearly every parent referred to the "twice a day" rule for tooth brushing at some point during the phone interview. However, parents tended to believe that rule was important only if they thought most other parents followed it. Parents who did not make sure their children brushed twice a day believed that most other parents didn't, either.

When asked how satisfied they were with how often their children brushed, parents compared themselves to other parents. Most did not talk about their child's oral health.

Dental professionals tend to encourage regular brushing due to its long-term benefits: the prevention of tooth decay, gum disease and other oral problems. But parents in this study were motivated by short-term, cosmetic benefits: fresh breath and having teeth that looked clean.

The study authors suggest further studies to understand parents' attitudes, beliefs and motivation. The new knowledge could help to develop more effective educational campaigns or other ways to encourage brushing.

The study appears in the March issue of the International Journal of Paediatric Dentistry.

Soure: InteliHealth News Service

Periodontitis can cause teeth to come loose. Mandibular cancer can disfigure a face. With the aid of artificial, foam-rubber-shaped scaffolding, the body can be helped to repair the damage by itself. A new invention made at the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Oslo, Norway, helps the body generate new bone that is as strong as the original.

To begin with, the invention can save those who suffer from loose teeth and damaged mandibles. Periodontitis is a troublesome infection of the gums. When the infection causes the bone adjacent to teeth to break down, the teeth come loose. Mandibular bone can also be damaged by cancer, infections and accidents.

Using this new method, dentists can insert artificial scaffolding that will determine where the new bone tissue will grow.

To understand this method, we need to understand how bone can repair itself. After a fracture, the bone fragments can knit together only if they are in very close contact. Even if they have the ability to do this, there are major limitations. When a bone fractures, a lot of blood collects at the site of fracture. Blood contains organic molecules that coalesce into long strands. This coagulum is then populated with cells and turn into connective tissue that later calcify. The connective tissue functions as a porous growth platform for bone cells and blood vessels. The bone cells remodel the calcified structure and forms functional bone. New blood vessels help bring nutrients and oxygen.

The outer part of the bone is compact, while the inner part is porous. The porous part contains marrow cells, which are essential for maintaining the skeleton. Its porosity varies according to the type of bone.

Artificial help for bones

If there is too wide a gap between the two bone fragments, or if parts of the bone have been damaged, the body does not always succeed in repairing the damage by itself, as can happen when some of the bone has been removed during cancer surgery or when the bone has been damaged by radiotherapy.

"This is where our invention comes in," says Ståle Petter Lyngstadaas, Research Dean at the Institute of Biomaterials, Faculty of Dentistry. Along with Professor Jan Eirik Ellingsen, Associate Professor Håvard Jostein Haugen and others, Lyngstadaas has developed and patented an artificial scaffolding that help the body to repair such "critical" damage.

"With our new method, it's sufficient to insert a small piece of synthetic, bone stimulating material into the bone. The artificial scaffolding is as strong as real bone and yet porous enough for bone tissue and blood vessels to grow into it and work as a reinforcement for the new bone."

Spicing it up with stem cells

If the defect is major, the bone cells will take a long time to grow into the scaffolding.

"To speed things up, we can take bone progenitor cells or bone marrow that contain committed stem cells from the patients and insert them into the scaffolding. This will cause the process to accelerate."

"When bone needs to be built into defects where the distance between the bone fragments exceeds one centimetre or so, stem cells should be added to obtain a good result, but stem cells are normally not required to solve problems with loose teeth and periodontitis," Haugen underscores to the research magazine Apollon.

The bone cells are dependent on nutrients and good growth conditions and a specific signal to differentiate into bone forming cells.

"One must therefore ensure that the surrounding bone tissue is healthy, and that there is ample blood supply to the site of surgery."

Made from food additives

Manufacturing the material is a simple matter. A mixture of water and ceramic powder is poured through ultrapure foam rubber designed to look like trabecular bone. The ceramic powder consists of medical grade titanium dioxide monodisperse nano-particles. Titanium dioxide has already gone through numerous toxicity tests and is a very common additive to pharmaceuticals. The substance is also referred to as E‑171 and is widely used for colour in sweets, toothpaste, biscuits, baked goods, ice cream and cheese. When the mixture has solidified, it is heated to a temperature that causes the foam rubber to dissolve into water vapour and carbon dioxide and the nano-particles to ligate into one solid structure. The result is a mirror image of the foam rubber structure.

"The structure is similar to that of the porous part of the bone."

The material can be manufactured like cinder blocks and cut to shapes that fit into the bone defect.

The artificial bone scaffolding has an open porosity of ninety per cent containing mostly empty space that can be filled with new bone.

"A lot of empty space is important. The cavities are sufficiently large to make space not only for bone cells, but also for blood vessels that can bring in nutrients and oxygen and remove waste products. One of the big problems with current materials is that they do not provide space for both bone tissue and blood vessels."

Different methods

Today, damaged bone is repaired by removing tissue from healthy bones, e.g. from the lower jaw, shin, thigh or hip and implanting it in the damaged location. The surgery is uncomfortable and often leads to complications. When the patient's own bone tissue cannot be used, ground bone from other people can be used instead. In the USA, ground bone from deceased people is often used. Unfortunately, this solution is neither sufficiently strong, nor particularly porous. It also has the disadvantage of risk for disease transfer.

The EU and most of the world prefer a more careful solution. To avoid the risk of human disease transfer, here ground and heat-treated bone from animals are used. To avoid disease, only animals from closed and controlled herds are used. Any what source for natural bone, after removal of organics and heat treatment the porosity never amount to more than 40 percent, far below the optimum, and the material is too brittle and weak to add support to the regenerated bone.

"One of the advantages of the current methods is that the added bone is gradually devoured by the cells of the body. Our material, on the other hand, will never disappear, but always remain as an integral part of the repaired bone, working as reinforcement. This calls for higher safety requirements," Lyngstadaas explains.

Ready for clinical studies

The Norwegian dentists have tested the new method successfully on rabbits, pigs and dogs. In 2014, they wish to undertake clinical studies on patients with periodontitis and damage to the mandibular bone. To establish what method works best, it is advantageous to perform tests on patients with periodontitis in particular.

"The patients often suffer from bilateral periodontitis. This permits us to compare results by testing the material on one side and have the control on the other within in the same patient."

The dentists also hope that orthopaedists will take an interest in their new method.

"We hope to have the product on the market within a few years from now. It's a fairly large market. Many millions of kroner are spent annually on implanting new bone tissue in mandibles in Norway. Worldwide, we are talking about several million patients. We are now looking for a large industrial partner who can scale up production and bring the product to the market," says Lyngstadaas, who has co-developed the new material in cooperation with thr company Corticalis, of which he presently is the acting CEO.

Story Source: Science Daily

The above story is based on materials provided by University of Oslo. The original article was written by Yngve Vogt.

NSK Dental had the rare opportunity to participate in a TV program that aired on the Fox Business Network and CNBC. Check out the video, which is chock full of information regarding NSK and the advantages of their handpieces.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTv_S7L8j6o&list=PLDc297kQue0iZA2fWhnUlyMeYKSBLf59i&index=4