Dentsply Sirona announced today that popular Orlando cover band Hot Property is scheduled to perform live at the SIROWORLD closing party on Saturday evening, Aug. 13, at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort.

Those who attended the Superheroes of Dentistry party during the 2016 Chicago Midwinter Meeting and experienced the band Maggie Speaks will love Hot Property, as they are cut from the same cloth!

The exceptional musicians who comprise Hot Property have entertained throughout Florida, across the country and internationally for more than 15 years. Performing at various conventions, corporate functions, nightclubs, weddings and other social events, this band has an incredible ability to enamor any crowd and have attendees of all ages gravitating towards the dance floor.

With a song list of hits from the 60s through the decades to the Top 40 hits of today, Hot Property will bring the heat to the ultimate closing party!

“Our event attendees expect the best from Dentsply Sirona, including preeminent education as well as transcendent entertainment; therefore, we are thrilled to welcome the remarkably talented band Hot Property to help us celebrate the end of the very first SIROWORLD meeting,” said Group Senior Vice President of the U.S. Commercial Organization Michael Augins. 

On the eve of the 3^rd International Expert Symposium hosted by Ivoclar Vivadent in Madrid, the winners of the IPS e.max Smile Awards 2016 were announced and the awards were presented. This prize recognizes exceptional achievements and work done with IPS e.max.

Three finalist teams from three different regions of the world attended the awards ceremony, which marked the end of the contest. The excitement was palpable until the very end, since the invited teams only found out whether they had won bronze, silver, or gold in their category at the prize-giving event.

The winners are:

Region Asia – Pacific:

·       1^st place: Dr Tetsuya Uchiyama and Michiro Manaka (Japan)

·       2^nd place: Dr Jineel Ham and Ha Seong Yoo (Korea)

·       3^rd place: Dr Baijun Sun and Benhui Du (China)

Region Europe – Middle East – Africa:

·       1^st place: Prof. Dr Petra Gierthmühlen and Udo Plaster, MDT (Germany)

·       2^nd place: Dr Ferran Llansana and Juan Sampol Reus (Spain)

·       3^rd place: Dr Anna Giorgadze and Ilias Psarris (Greece)

Region North and South America:

·       1^st place: Dr Luis R. Sanchez Ramirez and Alen Alić  (USA)

·       2^nd place: Dr Gabriela M. Pappaterra Torbay and Libardo García Tolosa (Colombia)

·       3^rdplace: C.D. Lucio A. Quevedo Hernández and Ramón A. Sánchez Hernández (Mexico)

A passion for dentistry

The judging panel was impressed by the high quality of the winning entries. All the projects showed exceptional creative flair. The dentists and dental technicians provided their patients with outstanding service. Panel member Dr Sidney Kina was particularly pleased with the commitment and motivation shown by the teams: “Each team gave its best to strike a perfect balance between form and function. I can feel a passion for dentistry in all the photos.” His colleague Oliver Brix added that all the teams had earned utmost respect and the highest acclaim for their work.

IPS e.max Smile Award

The IPS e.max Smile Award is a contest held worldwide to find the most esthetic dental cases solved with the IPS e.max all-ceramic system. An independent panel of experts evaluates all the entries in terms of esthetics, complexity and harmony and selects the winners. They will gain international recognition and their work will receive exposure at congresses and in professional journals.

In the midst of an epidemic of prescription painkiller addiction and overdose deaths, a new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health survey suggests that more than half of patients prescribed opioids have leftover pills – and many save them to use later.

The researchers, reporting June 13 in JAMA Internal Medicine, also found that nearly half of those surveyed reported receiving no information on how to safely store their medications, either to keep them from young children who could accidentally ingest them or from adolescents or other adults looking to get high. Nor were they given information on how to safely dispose of their medications. Fewer than 7% of people with extra pills reported taking advantage of “take back” programs that enable patients to turn in unused pain medication either to pharmacies, police departments or the Drug Enforcement Administration for disposal.

“These painkillers are much riskier than has been understood and the volume of prescribing and use has contributed to an opioid epidemic in this country,” says study leader Alene Kennedy-Hendricks, PhD, an assistant scientist in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Bloomberg School. “It’s not clear why so many of our survey respondents reported having leftover medication, but it could be that they were prescribed more medication than they needed.”

Says the study’s senior author Colleen L. Barry, PhD, MPP, a professor who directs Bloomberg’s Center for Mental Health and Addiction Policy Research: “The fact that people are sharing their leftover prescription painkillers at such high rates is a big concern. It’s fine to give a friend a Tylenol if they’re having pain but it’s not fine to give your OxyContin to someone without a prescription.”

Over the past decade, there has been a sharp increase in the rates of prescription painkiller addiction and overdose deaths. Drug overdose – the majority of which involve opioid pain relievers – was the leading cause of injury death in 2014 among people between the ages of 25 and 64, and drug overdose has surpassed car crashes as the leading cause of injury death among this group.

In March, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged doctors to avoid prescribing powerful opioid painkillers for patients with chronic pain, saying the risks from such drugs outweigh the benefits for most people. Prolonged use of these medications can lead to addiction, putting people at much higher risk for overdose and raising the risk of heroin use since it is cheaper, worsening the heroin epidemic.

For the study, a collaboration between the Johns Hopkins Center for Mental Health and Addiction Policy Research and the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy, the researchers used GfK’s KnowledgePanel to construct a national sample of 1,032 U.S. adults who had used prescription painkillers in the previous year. The survey was fielded in February and March 2015. Among those who were no longer using prescription pain relievers at the time of survey (592 respondents), 60.6% reported having leftover pills and 61.3% of those with leftover pills said they had kept them for future use rather than disposing of them.

Among all respondents, one in five reported they’d shared their medication with another person, with a large number saying they gave them to someone who needed them for pain. Nearly 14% said they were likely to share their prescription painkillers with a family member in the future and nearly 8% said they would share with a close friend.

Fewer than 10% said they kept their opioid pain medication in a locked location. Nearly half said they weren’t given information on safe storage or proper disposal of leftover medication. More than 69% of those who got instructions said they had received information about turning over the remaining medication to a pharmacist or a “take back” program, but few actually did. Fewer than 10% reported throwing leftover medication out in the trash after mixing it with something inedible like used coffee grounds, a safe method for disposing of medication.

Kennedy-Hendricks says that physicians should, when prescribing these medications, discuss the inappropriateness of sharing and how to safely store and dispose of them.

“We don’t make it easy for people to get rid of these medications,” she says. “We need to do a better job so that we can reduce the risks not only to patients but to their family members.”

Says Barry: “We’re at a watershed moment. Until recently, we have treated these medications like they’re not dangerous. But the public, the medical community and policymakers are now beginning to understand that these are dangerous medications and need to be treated as such. If we don’t change our approach, we are going to continue to see the epidemic grow.”

“Medication sharing, storage, and disposal practice among U.S. adults with recent opioid medication use” was written by Alene Kennedy-Hendricks, PhD; Andrea Gielen, ScD; Eileen McDonald, MS; Emma E. McGinty, PhD, MS; Wendy Shields, MPH; and Colleen L. Barry, PhD, MPP. This study was supported by an unrestricted research grant from AIG.

Boston, MA – Human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated cancers occur more frequently, and sometimes with more deadly consequences, among Hispanics, blacks, and American Indian and Alaska Natives than among whites. A recent study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health finds that HPV vaccination is expected to reduce the cancer burden across all racial/ethnic groups. However, some disparities in cancer burden may persist and widen in the years to come if their causes—such as lack of access to diagnoses and treatment—aren’t addressed.

The study appeared online April 28, 2016 in the journal Cancer.

“As expected, we found HPV vaccination would reduce the overall disease burden for all racial and ethnic groups. However, we also found that some racial and ethnic disparities may continue to exist,” said Emily Burger, postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard Chan School’s Center for Health Decision Science.

Nearly 80 million people in the United States—about one in four—are infected with HPV. Roughly 14 million more become infected each year. HPV infections that don’t go away can lead to various forms of cancer. HPV vaccines, licensed since 2006 and recommended for boys and girls, are expected to lead to declines in six HPV-associated cancers, including cervical, anal, and oropharyngeal cancers. A recently licensed 9-valent HPV vaccine is expected to protect against additional HPV types that cause cancer. HPV vaccination has the potential to prevent up to three of four HPV-associated cancers.

But, so far, uptake of the vaccines has been slow. Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that less than half of girls—and even fewer boys—aged 13-17 years have received all three recommended doses of the HPV vaccine series. The number of young people who complete the series also differs by racial and ethnic group. By comparison, the vaccination rate for the adolescent Tdap vaccine (for protection against tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough) is about 85% or higher for all racial and ethnic groups.

Partnering with experts from the CDC, the Harvard Chan researchers used mathematical modeling to simulate the impact of alternative HPV vaccine coverage scenarios on six HPV-associated cancers for different racial/ethnic groups. They took into account current cancer incidence rates, and survival probabilities; the proportion of cancers due to HPV; and current HPV vaccination rates by age, sex, race, and ethnicity.

The study used both absolute and relative measures to examine the impact of HPV vaccination on racial/ethnic disparities. They found that while the absolute burden of cancer and disparities are expected to decrease with current or improved HPV vaccination coverage, relative disparities may persist and in some cases, increase. For instance, with high uptake of the 9-valent HPV vaccine, the risk of dying from an HPV-associated cancer was expected to decrease by 60% among all men. The estimated decrease in cancer burden was greater among some racial/ethnic groups, which led to an increase in the relative disparity among men. This is partly because HPV causes a smaller proportion of oropharyngeal cancers in black males than in white males, so vaccination would not have as much of an impact of the overall cancer burden for that group.

“Our findings show that vaccination can lead to a dramatic decrease in HPV-associated cancer in all racial and ethnic groups, but HPV vaccination alone will not eliminate existing HPV-associated cancer disparities. Efforts to improve HPV vaccination uptake in the U.S. must also be accompanied by efforts to minimize differences in access to screening for cervical cancer and access to timely diagnoses and treatment for all HPV-associated cancers,” said senior author Jane Kim, associate professor of health decision science in the Department of Health Policy and Management.

Other authors included Kyueun Lee, former research assistant at the Center for Health Decision Science at Harvard Chan School. CDC authors included Mona Saraiya, Trevor Thompson, Harrell Chesson, and Lauri Markowitz.

Funding for the study came from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (R01CA160744; Principal Investigator: Kim).

Newswise — Pittsburgh (June 9, 2016) – Registered dental hygienists and oral health professionals from throughout the United States are gathering in Pittsburgh, Pa., for the American Dental Hygienists’ Association’s (ADHA’s) 2016 ADHA Center for Lifelong Learning at the 93rd Annual Session (CLL/AS). This year’s meeting, held June 8-14, 2016, features a broad array of programs, educational sessions and networking events, as well as two days of exhibits showcasing the latest dental technologies, products and equipment.

More than 30 continuing education (CE) offerings, divided into six tracks — clinical practice, education, research, students, professional development and public health — are offered by more than 50 speakers at this year’s annual session. Attendees can take courses in specific tracks or select individualized courses, depending on their focus and educational requirements.

“The atmosphere surrounding the ADHA’s Center for Lifelong Learning in Pittsburgh is electric,” said ADHA President Jill Rethman, RDH, BA. “With a multitude of education programs, opportunities to connect with fellow leaders of the field, and a front row ticket to a wide array of the latest, state-of-the-art dental products and services, there is no wonder why this is the premier national convention for the dental hygiene profession.” CLL 2016 kicked-offed on June 8 with Community Service Day. The ADHA and the ADHA’s Institute for Oral Health (IOH), with support from VOCO – The Dentalists and the Wrigley Company Foundation, also in partnership with Pittsburgh Mercy, hosted “Healthy Teeth, Healthy Bodies!”, a free community health and wellness event featuring more than 50 dental hygienists who provided free oral health screenings, cleanings, education, and wellness activities to the Pittsburgh community. In addition to the educational sessions and nationally known presenters including Erik Wahl and Alison Levine, the event features EXHIBITS 2016, which showcases the top dental products and services. More than 100 companies will take part in the two-day event, filling the exhibition floor with the most cutting edge dental office needs on the market.

This year, the Institute for Oral Health added a new event to the annual session experience with the inaugural In Motion: 5K Run-Walk-Fun. Designed to raise funds in support of the many programs and initiatives provided by IOH, the run/walk will begin at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 9 and will take participants on a 3.1-mile journey through downtown Pittsburgh. Proceeds from the event help fund scholarships for dental hygiene students, provide research opportunities for those expanding the field of dental hygiene, and support the dental hygienists who donate their services to improve access to oral health care and education in their communities.

The ADHA 93rd Annual Session House of Delegates officially takes place Sunday, June 12 – Tuesday, June 14, and is focused on the business-related activities of the organization representing more than 185,000 dental hygienists in the United States. This includes forums, workshops and committee sessions, as well as the Annual Report given by ADHA Chief Executive Officer Ann Battrell, MSDH, to the House of Delegates; a farewell address by Jill Rethman; and the Installation Luncheon, where President-Elect Betty Kabel, RDH, BS, will be installed as the ADHA’s 2016-17 president.

June 6, 2016 Lompoc, CA – Den-Mat Holdings, LLC, a leading manufacturer of innovative esthetic dentistry and advanced oral health solutions, is proud to introduce the latest generation of the Rotadent® toothbrush: Rotadent ProCare™. For over 25 years, Rotadent has been recognized as a proven at-home solution for premium oral health. Designed to serve as an at-home extension of the prophy handpiece that is used to fight plaque and control disease during hygiene appointments, Rotadent ProCare provides the same superior clinical efficacy of previous Rotadent models. Additionally, it features a state-of-the-art, proprietary inductive charger with convenient brush head storage, a more powerful yet quieter motor that powers a newly-patented drive shaft and an improved, more robust, brush head design, compatible with the Rotadent Contour® model. Rotadent ProCare also maintains many of the same key features as previous models, including a QuadTimer with 30-second interval indicator, two brushing modes and three brush head designs, optimized to meet a variety of patient needs with proprietary MicroFilament™ technology.

“February 20, 2014 was a milestone in DenMat’s 40+ year history,” explained Robert Cartagena, Chief Operating Officer. “Not only did DenMat acquire the assets of Zila, Inc., which included the Rotadent brand, but on that very same day, our company kicked off the engineering effort to introduce an improved, next-generation Rotadent toothbrush to our customers. From day one, our primary objectives were to ensure complete patient satisfaction and to introduce a Rotadent that meets our customers’ high standards for quality, efficacy, and reliability. We worked tirelessly to identify & address improvement opportunities in the Rotadent toothbrush, and many of the ideas came directly from our customers. After two years of R&D efforts, it feels great to bring this product to market. The result is – quite simply – the best Rotadent toothbrush ever.”

Independent, clinical research on the Rotadent dates back to 1986. Numerous studies have since been published that demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of Rotadent technology in terms of plaque removal, patient compliance & interproximal cleaning. In one of the earliest studies (published in 1989), Rotadent was concluded to be “as effective for plaque removal and control of gingival inflammation as a combination of conventional toothbrushing, flossing and toothpicks for patients in periodontal maintenance.”¹ As a ‘one-step’ solution, Rotadent simplifies and streamlines homecare for patients, and is the only power toothbrush clinically proven to be as effective as brushing and flossing combined.¹

“Flossing is considered to be one of the basic cornerstones of sound oral health,” explained Mary Hughes, RDH, “yet only an estimated 40% of Americans floss daily and 20% never floss.² In clinical practice, I make it a point to ask my patients ‘what if I could provide you with a brushing solution that also delivered the benefits of flossing?’ The response is remarkable. I have yet to come across a homecare tool that could replace flossing, but I take pride in the fact that I’m providing my patients with the very best homecare tool possible, for those that simply will not floss.”

Consistent with Rotadent’s historical distribution strategy, Rotadent ProCare is available to patients exclusively through dental professionals. Cartagena continued: “Dental professionals who prescribe and dispense the Rotadent to their patients have an unparalleled advantage, in that they don’t face competition from traditional retail channels. In fact, Rotadent ProCare is only available through dental offices; not anywhere else in the U.S. and Canada. By offering both the Rotadent toothbrush and complementary at-home oral meds such as fluoride gels and rinses, offices are able to set themselves apart as providers of unique professional solutions. That’s a compelling value proposition for those seeking to keep existing patients coming back, drive new patients, or both.”

Rotadent ProCare has taken its place at the core of DenMat’s Soft Tissue Management® system & Continuing Education platform, playing a key role in helping patients continue to maintain their oral health & protect their smiles at home.

References:

1. Boyd RL, Murray P, Robertson PB. Effect on periodontal status of rotary electric toothbrushes vs. manual toothbrushes during periodontal maintenance. I. Clinical results. J Periodontal. 1989;60(7):390-395.

2. American Dental Association, Survey finds shortcomings in oral health habits, https://www.ada.org/en/publications/ada-news/2014-archive/october/survey-finds-shortcomings-in-oral-health-habits (last updated Oct. 20, 2014).

Roland DGA Corporation has completely redesigned its corporate website (www.rolanddga.com), incorporating extensive changes that optimize the visitor’s overall experience. The revamped site, which launched officially on June 1, 2016, is more visual, content-rich, and mobile-friendly.

Navigation of the site has been streamlined, enabling visitors to explore and find what they’re looking for more quickly and easily. Among the new navigational features is a “Help Me Choose” option in the “Products” dropdown that allows visitors to find product information based on what they want to do in their business. The home page offers a comprehensive overview of all things Roland DGA, including news, events and social media, while detailed product information and specifications can be accessed through the Products section in an easily digestible format.

Additional improvements to the Roland DGA website include a new “Industries” section, which delivers educational content related to the various industries that Roland products are used in, and a “Showcase” section highlighting customer success stories and applications in an easy-to-explore interface. The site also boasts the “Roland TV” video library, offering a wealth of inspirational and educational videos.

Like the previous Roland DGA website, this new site contains a comprehensive “Support” section including a knowledgebase, workshops, webinars, warranty information, software updates, and more. The site also provides instant access to the Roland Blog, Roland DGA Online Store, “About” information and partner websites around the world.

Plans for further enhancement in the near-term include functionality that will allow site visitors to see content automatically served according to their areas of interest. Roland DGA will also be sharing this new site platform in the coming months with other Roland DG business units worldwide, enabling each division to deliver localized content with consistent branding, experience and functionality.

Cigarette smoking among high school students dropped to the lowest levels since the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) began in 1991, but the use of electronic vapor products, including e-cigarettes, among students poses new challenges according to the 2015 survey results released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Although current cigarette use decreased significantly from 28% in 1991 to 11% in 2015, new data from the 2015 survey found that 24% of high school students reported using e-cigarettes during the past 30 days.

“Current cigarette smoking is at an all-time low, which is great news. However, it’s troubling to see that students are engaging in new risk behaviors, such as using e-cigarettes,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden, MD, MPH. “We must continue to invest in programs that help reduce all forms of tobacco use, including e-cigarettes, among youth.”

In May 2016, the US Food and Drug Administration finalized an important rule extending its authority to all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes. The rule includes, for the first time, a restriction on the sale of these products to minors nationwide.

A wealth of data on teen health-related behaviors

The YRBS provides important data related to student behaviors, such as behaviors that contribute to unintentional injuries and violence. The survey also included questions on prescription drug use.

Prescription drug use among youth decreased from 20% in 2009 to 17% in 2015. Nationwide, 17% of students had taken prescription drugs (e.g., Oxycontin, Percocet, Vicodin, codeine, Adderall, Ritalin, or Xanax) without a doctor’s prescription one or more times during their life.

Another focus of the study included sweetened beverages. There was a significant decrease in drinking soda one or more times a day from 27% in 2013 to 20% in 2015.

 “Health risk behaviors among youth vary over time and across the nation, making the YRBS an important tool to better understand youth. The YRBS helps us identify newly emerging behaviors and monitor long-standing youth risk behaviors over time,” said Laura Kann, PhD, chief of CDC’s School-Based Surveillance Branch. “While overall trends for the 2015 report are positive, the results highlight the continued need for improvements in reducing risks among teens.”

Because of fast-growing demand, Panthera Dental has decided to create a distinct division for its line of sleep products, with dedicated teams of R&D and Marketing. From now on, customers have access to a new web portal at www.pantherasleep.com to learn more about Panthera’s products. Moreover, a new section for patients is now available on the website to inform the public of the benefits of the D-SAD, Panthera Dental’s patented CAD/CAM sleep appliance. At the same time, Panthera Dental is proud to integrate the compatibility of the D-SAD with 3Shape’s Trios and Align Technology’s iTero scanners. Customers can now use these two intra-oral scanning technologies to order their appliances. This method increases accuracy and creates a more interesting customer experience for the end-user. Using intra-oral scanning technology also reduces the turnaround time required for the production of the intra-oral appliance. To add new features to its well-adapted products, Panthera Dental has formed a partnership with Braebon to introduce the Dentitrac, a sensor chip that measures patient compliance and wearing times for each night. Thanks to this technology, unions and other members of the transportation industry can use the D-SAD and know that their staff is treated for sleep apnea. “We are so thrilled by this new division and its new logo. We will be able to strengthen our position in the sleep industry, and Panthera Sleep also gives us a better platform to launch future projects. We have many ideas on which we will be working for the coming year that will change, again, the way we do dental sleep medicine,” said Bernard Robichaud, co-founder of Panthera Dental.

Sterngold Dental, LLC and Swiss NF Dental announced a distribution agreement for the MOR^™mini dental Implant in Canada.  Users of the 3M^™ESPE^™MDI, (formerly known as the IMTEC^® MDI,) have been informed that the MDI implant will no longer be available as of September 1, 2016, while supplies last.  Many users are now seeking and alternative to the MDI line.  The Sterngold MOR^™implant is equivalent to the MDI, and MDI drills and instruments may be used for the MOR^™. This allows the user to begin placing the Sterngold MOR^™implant without additional instrumentation investment.  The MOR^™from Sterngold is available in both the 2.1mm and 2.4mm diameter in the lengths of 10, 13, and 15mm.  The MOR^™has FDA approval for both denture connection and crown and bridge fixation.