Highlights from Day 3 of the Nobel Biocare Global Symposium in New York City.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (June 24, 2016) – Dentsply Sirona, the Dental Solutions Company™, announced today that due to overwhelming demand, VIP tickets to SIROWORLD: The Ultimate Dental Meeting from Aug. 11-13 at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort in Orlando, Florida, will no longer be available after July 15, 2016.

Registration types for SIROWORLD vary, from doctor to dental technician to staff/spouse/guest to government and military, and more (visit www.siroworld.com for a full list of registration options). Regardless of attendees’ registration type, all registrants can upgrade to a VIP experience for an additional $500*.

VIP tickets to SIROWORLD include:

·       Exclusive VIP registration and lounge area.

·       Special seating during general sessions and entertainment events, including Jerry Seinfeld and OneRepublic.

·       VIP reception area during the SIROWORLD welcome reception, including special access to a reserved bar and special lounge seating.

·       Exclusive VIP area at the SIROWORLD closing party on Saturday evening, Aug. 13, and upgraded food and beverage options.

To register as a VIP to the ultimate dental meeting, visit www.siroworld.com, choose the applicable registration type and choose “VIP Upgrade” during the registration process. But hurry! Anyone who wishes to attend SIROWORLD as a VIP must register before July 15.

Many in the industry anticipate SIROWORLD to be the mecca of all dental events with thousands of dentists and dental professionals expected to attend. With up to 18 CE credits available to attendees, the education offered is invaluable. Eleven specialized tracks offer more than 100 educational breakout sessions from 95+ elite speakers within all fields of dentistry as well as marketing professionals and business leaders. 

To learn more about registering for SIROWORLD, visit www.siroworld.com. Please contact our SIROWORLD help desk by emailing SIROWORLD@sirona.com or calling 1-844-GO2-SIRO (1-844-462-7476) for additional questions.

*Please visit www.siroworld.comto view details on VIP upgrade options. 

Great Lakes Orthodontics. Ltd., was recently named a 2016 Silver ESOP Award winner by The ESOP Association. The Silver ESOP Awards recognizes companies for their work in sustaining their ESOP (employee stock ownership plans) and Association memberships for 25 years or more.  Great Lakes was one of 26 corporate members of the Association to be honored with this award. The ESOP Association is the national trade association for companies with employee stock ownership plans and the leading voice in America for employee ownership.    

Great Lakes President James R. Kunkemoeller stated, “I am proud for all of our employee owners to be named a Silver ESOP Award recipient. Our commitment and dedication to the company and each other is a testament to the significant benefits of unified employee ownership.”

ESOP Association President J. Michael Keating stated, ”I consider it an honor and a statement of significance, to recognize Great Lakes. They are evidence that with proper management and planning, a company can remain employee owned, benefitting all employees for years to come.”     

Based in the Buffalo, New York, suburb of Tonawanda, Great Lakes Orthodontics is an employee-owned company specializing in products, laboratory services, and both in-house and online appliance fabrication training to members of the orthodontic, prosthodontic, restorative, and general dental professions worldwide. To learn more, visit greatlakesortho.com.

June 24, 2016 (ATLANTA, GA) — The Organization for Safety, Asepsis and Prevention (OSAP), a community of clinicians, educators, researchers and industry representatives who advocate for safe and infection-free delivery of oral healthcare, has announced the members of the 2016-2017 OSAP Board of Directors and the 2016-2017 OSAP Foundation Board of Directors.

The new OSAP Association Board is chaired by Mike Smurr, Director of Marketing, Merchandise, for Patterson Dental. Vice Chair is Kathy Eklund, Director of Infection Control and Occupational Health, and Research Subject and Patient Safety Advocate at Forsyth Institute in Boston. Dr. John O'Keefe, a general dentist who is Director of Knowledge Networks and Editor-in-Chief with the Canadian Dental Association, is the Immediate Past Chair. Marguerite Walsh, Vice President, Product Merchandising for Henry Schein Dental, will serve as Treasurer, and Karen Gregory, Director of Compliance and Education for Total Medical Compliance, will serve as Secretary.

Directors for the Association Board include Dr. Hudson Garrett, Global Chief Clinical Officer for Pentax Medical; Dr. Leslie Grant, Compliance Officer with the Maryland State Board of Dental Examiners; Dr. Theresa Mayfield, Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs at the University of Louisville School of Dentistry; Leanne Keefer, General Manager and Director of Education for Crosstex International; Dr. Doug Risk, Director of the USAF Dental Evaluation and Consultation Service; and Jessica Wilson, international speaker, trainer and educator for Hu-Friedy. Therese Long continues to serve on the board ex-officio. OSAP is a 501(c)(6) membership association. The purpose of the Association is to be the voice for leadership and compliance with science-based dental infection prevention and safety practices through quality education and information dissemination.

The OSAP Foundation Board will be chaired by Dr. Donald Marianos, a consultant in dental public health. Directors include Dr. Don Cohen, chief clinical officer, HealthFirst; Margaret (Peggy) Cottrell, President of ProEdge Dental (retired); Jennifer Naylor, General Manager, IMS and Infection Control Strategic Business Unit for Hu-Friedy Manufacturing; and Andrew (Andy) Whitehead, Vice President of Crosstex International. Therese Long continues to serve on the board ex-officio. The OSAP Foundation is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt educational Foundation. The purpose of the Foundation is to augment and expand upon the Association’s ability to provide information and education by raising funds from the healthcare industry, private sector businesses, foundations and the government. The Foundation is dedicated to education, research, service, and policy development to promote safety and the control of infectious diseases in dental healthcare settings worldwide.

June 22, 2016- For years the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been warning about the rise in antibiotic resistant bacteria and the challenges those bacteria pose to our health. In a recent publication on the website Perio-Implant Advisory, Dr. Duane Keller explains how bacteria become resistant to antibiotics and points a way to a non-antibiotic therapy for gum disease that follows the guidelines for chronic wound care and relies on oxidative and oxygenating agents.

Bacterial communities (biofilms) that cause infections leading to gum disease lie deep in periodontal pockets, the spaces between the teeth and gums which are hard to reach with toothbrush, rinse, or floss. The pocket is a unique space for chemotherapeutic modalities of care because it can be topically accessed, but keeping medicaments deep in the pocket for a significant amount of time was the most significant challenge for dentists until the invention of the Perio Tray® (Perio Protect, St. Louis, MO). 

While it looks a lot like a mouth guard, the Perio Tray® is specially fabricated with internal peripheral seals and extensions to place and hold medication deep in periodontal pockets.Research shows that the Perio Tray® can deliver medication into pockets as deep as 9mm (1-3mm is healthy). 

Hydrogen peroxide, even at a low concentration of 1.7%, has proven to be a highly effective antimicrobial when delivered and held deep in the pockets with the Perio Tray®. Peroxide can break down the protein chains in bacterial cell walls, lysing the cell wall and killing the bacterium. More importantly, the oxygen that the peroxide releases under the pressure of the Perio Tray® changes the micro-environment of the periodontal pocket. The oxygen is toxic to anaerobes, helps promote a healthy oral flora, and fosters growth of new blood vessels.

All of this is good news for the millions of patients (47% of American adults) with chronic gum disease. In combination with professional dental cleanings, the Perio Tray® with 1.7% hydrogen peroxide is only needed for minutes each day. When it is used at home between professional dental cleanings, the Perio Tray® delivery of peroxide puts biofilm communities on the defensive, limiting their ability to reproduce and trigger inflammation and leading to better long-term results. 

For more information on the Perio Tray® by Perio Protect, visit PerioProtect.com

Day 2 of the Nobel Biocare Global Symposium

Tony Angelini, president of AEGIS Communications, shares highlights from the first day of the Nobel Biocare Global Symposium.

Seoul, Republic of Korea – This week at the 94th General Session & Exhibition of the International Association for Dental Research, researcher Michael Reddy, University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA, presented a study titled “Gingivitis During the First/Second Trimesters of Pregnancy.” The IADR General Session is being held in conjunction with the 3rd Meeting of the IADR Asia Pacific Region and the 35th Annual Meeting of the IADR Korean Division.

This investigation evaluated the effects of gestational age, study site, and demographic factors on first and second trimester pregnancy gingivitis using baseline data from a large multicenter study. Screening was conducted to identify pregnant women between 8-24 weeks of gestational age with at least 30 gingivitis bleeding sites. Trained examiners measured whole mouth gingivitis scores at up to 168 sites using a standard 4-point clinical index (Loe-Silness GI), and bleeding site counts were determined by subject. Using baseline values, regression analysis was used to analyze the natural history of gingival inflammation during the late first trimester through the second trimester of pregnancy.

For this study, 817 women were screened. Baseline gingivitis measures were collected on 746 women, and 666 evaluable women with 30+ bleeding sites were included in this baseline analysis. Mean gestational age at gingivitis examination was 17.1 weeks, while maternal age averaged 27.8 years, ranging from 18 to 46. The gingival inflammation mean was 51.2 sites, ranging from 30 to 144. From the regression analysis, study site and maternal age were significant factors in gingival bleeding. Centers differed by 4.0 gingival inflammation and younger women presented with higher measured gingival inflammation. Gestational age and ethnicity were not significant factors in gingival bleeding during the first and second trimesters of pregnancy.

Clinical examination of 600+ pregnant women showed moderate-to-severe gingivitis to be common, well established, and relatively stable in the late first and second trimester, and regular dental care prior to and during pregnancy may be critical to maintaining oral health.

This study was funded by a grant from the Procter and Gamble Company (#2011001).

Seoul, Republic of Korea – Today at the 94th General Session & Exhibition of the International Association for Dental Research, researcher Edward Lo, University of Hong Kong, SAR, China, will present a study titled “Effectiveness of SDF in Arresting Root Caries in Different Fluoridated Areas.” The IADR General Session is being held in conjunction with the 3rd Meeting of the IADR Asia Pacific Region and the 35th Annual Meeting of the IADR Korean Division.

The objective of this research study was to compare the effectiveness of annual application of silver diamine fluoride (SDF) solution on arresting root caries in community-dwelling elders living in water fluoridated and non-fluoridated areas. This study was conducted in a water fluoridated area (Hong Kong) and also in a non-fluoridated area (Guangzhou). Healthy community-dwelling elders who had at least 5 teeth with exposed root surfaces and not indicated for extraction were recruited and randomly allocated into one of two groups: Gp1 (placebo control) – annually application of soda water; Gp2 (test) – annual application of a 38% SDF solution. Individual oral hygiene instruction and fluoridated toothpaste was provided to all subjects. The status of dental root surfaces were clinically examined by calibrated examiners at baseline and every 6 months.

A total of 533 elders with 138 root surfaces with active caries lesion were recruited at baseline, 260 elders with 84 active root caries lesions in HK and 273 elders with 54 active root caries lesions in GZ, respectively. After 18 months, 75 (54%) of these lesions were reviewed, 51 and 24 in HK and GZ, respectively. The proportions of active lesions that had become arrested were 32% and 75% in Gp1 and Gp2 in HK (X2 test, P < .05), and 11% and 87% in Gp1 and Gp2 in GZ (X2 test, P < .05), respectively. The difference in caries arrest rates in the SDF groups in HK and in GZ were not statistically significant (X2 test, P > .05).

Based on the 18-month result, the researchers concluded that the annual application of 38% SDF solution can arrest root caries in community-dwelling elders. Furthermore, background water fluoride level does not have a statistically significant influence on the effectiveness of SDF. This clinical trial is still ongoing and longer-term results will be reported later.

The research is supported by the IADR/Colgate Community-based Research Award for Caries Prevention.

June 23, 2016 - Tony Angelini, president of AEGIS Communications, reports from the first day of the Nobel Biocare Global Symposium.