Solvay Dental 360™ debuted the Ultaire™ AKP, a high-performance polymer for removable partial denture (RPD) frames, to dentists at the 2017 American Dental Association Annual Meeting. Ultaire™ AKP was specifically designed to fill the gap between metal RPDs, which can be too rigid and stiff, and other polymer frame materials that can be too flexible. At the show, Solvay Dental 360™ offered a series of presentations and demonstrations for dentists on Ultaire™ AKP.

“Dentists and patients alike are demanding better materials for RPDs, and Ultaire™ AKP delivers in a way that metal and other polymer options simply cannot,” says Shawn Shorrock, global director, Solvay Dental 360™. “We saw an unmet need to replace metal in dental materials, similar to other markets we serve such as orthopedic and cardiovascular, and we worked closely with dentists to ensure Ultaire™ AKP best serves their needs and those of their patients.”

As patients become more aware of the effects of metal – the potential allergies, toxicity and taste – they are also becoming more proactive, asking for partial dentures that feel natural, comfortable and are aesthetically appealing. Ultaire™ AKP is an innovative aryl ketone polymer that provides a biocompatible, lightweight, metal-free, non-irritating and more aesthetically pleasing alternative to traditional metal RPD frames.

“We see a lot of patients with different kinds of allergies,” says Dr. Vladamir Pastouk, DDS, of Cleveland Center of Integrative Dentistry. “We test patients for metal toxicity, and quite a few patients are coming to us knowing that we work with this kind of problem. I am turning towards Ultaire™ AKP. It’s lighter, strong enough, and more cosmetically pleasing to patients. And they are accepting that much easier than any other metal restorations.”

Ultaire™ AKP is is a rigid material – not flexible – suitable as a metal replacement and different than the other non-metal materials currently on the market. It is both strong enough and tough enough to be tooth-supported and help reduce bone loss, yet it is flexible enough to engage undercuts more deeply.

“The other metal-free options that I’ve used are flimsy," says Dr. Lee Gause, DDS, owner of Smile Design Manhattan. “Because Ultaire is so rigid, and because it needs such little adjusting, it's actually allowing me to provide a better product in a more efficient way, which is huge for a dentist.”

Making multiple adjustments to a milled RPD can be time-consuming and frustrating for patients and dentists alike. Furthermore, months or even years of adjustments tend to wear down once-healthy teeth. Not only does Ultaire™ AKP provide an aesthetically pleasing, biocompatible alternative to metal, once an RPD made out of Ultaire™ AKP is designed and fitted, adjustments should not be necessary – saving the dentist and patient valuable time.

“Ultaire AKP is a paradigm-shifting polymer – it really hits the sweet spot between metal and the flexible systems on the market today,” says Ryan Murphy, Ph.D., technology manager and polymer scientist at Solvay Dental 360™.

“It is a unique proprietary chemistry developed specifically for RPDs. There is no direct one-to-one comparison to any of the metal or polymer systems that are currently on the market for RPDs.”

Solvay Dental 360™ is a new dental business and medical device line of Belgian multi-specialty chemical group Solvay, a global leader in high-performance polymers used in the healthcare industry for medical and dental devices, equipment and instrumentation, including implantable applications. With over 35 brands available in more than 1,500 formulations, Solvay has the broadest portfolio of high-performance healthcare polymers in the world.

The new Solvay Dental 360™ business line was developed by Solvay’s Specialty Polymers Global Business Unit. Through products like Ultaire™ AKP, and other innovations to be commercialized in the future, Solvay Dental 360™ is committed to developing new and innovative materials that improve patient outcomes and advance the dental industry. Solvay Dental 360™ also provides unparalleled expertise in operations, technical support and education. The revolutionary products from Solvay Dental 360™ will help improve operational efficiency and patient satisfaction, offering profitable growth for both dental labs and dentists alike.

Dentists can find a list of labs HERE who have successfully completed the Solvay University qualification program, where they received training on the design and milling of RPDs made from this innovative, high-performance polymer. New labs are constantly being added to this list, many operating nationwide.

The Dentivera™ milling disc made from Ultaire™ AKP is available in North America, U.K. and Germany and has 510k clearance as well as CMDCAS and EU regulatory approvals. It is made in the U.S. under FDA and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) guidelines.

For more information about Ultaire™ AKP, Dentivera™ milling discs or Solvay Dental 360™, visit SolvayDental360.com.

Ever since Smile Line and Style Italiano introduced the Smile Lite MDP in February of 2017, dentists all over the world have been inspired by this amazing product with the ability to take high quality photos and videos using the MDP and just their Smart Phone. Smile Line is pleased to accept the prestigious Cellerant "Best of Class" Award in the emerging products category.

Newswise — The Foundation for Endodontics is proud to announce the 2017 Edge Endo Educator Fellowship award recipient, Varvara Chrepa, D.D.S., M.S., assistant professor in the department of endodontics at the University of Washington.

Dr. Chrepa impressed the selection committee with her passion for education and research.

“Academic dentistry is undeniably stimulating; the opportunity to interact with students, help them learn and instill within them the passion for endodontics is truly singular,” said Dr. Chrepa. “These interactions fuel me and make me look forward to going to work every day. My current position allows me to interact with students at the predoctoral and graduate level as well as providing me with protected time to conduct clinical and translational research; it’s great.”

The basis of successfully strengthening the specialty of endodontics lies with our educators. Making sure that specialists are teaching endodontics at dental institutions across the U.S. and Canada is a top priority for the Foundation for Endodontics. The Endodontic Educator Fellowship is one way the Foundation is directly addressing this priority. The award provides funding to individuals who commit a minimum of five years to a full-time academic career in endodontics at a dental school that is accredited by or has a reciprocal agreement with the Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Association. Recipients receive $50,000 a year, for five years; up to $250,000 is available per recipient. 

Foundation corporate donor Edge Endo is supportive of endodontic education and strengthening the pool of valuable endodontic educators. Edge’s founder and owner, Dr. Charles (Chuck) J. Goodis, increased the company’s pledge to the Foundation during the 2016–2017 campaign to support the Endodontic Educator Fellowship, which the company also supported in 2016. Edge Endo’s commitment to strengthening endodontic education helps shape the future of the specialty. 

“At EdgeEndo we are excited and proud that Dr. Chrepa was chosen as the 2017 recipient of the Foundation for Endodontics Educator Fellowship Award. We congratulate and support her teaching and research efforts and look forward to a long relationship with the Foundation for Endodontic Educator Fellowship Awards,” said Dr. Goodis.

Since its creation in 2001, the Foundation for Endodontics' Endodontic Educator Fellowship Award has recognized endodontic educators and the critical role they play in strengthening the specialty. A list of past recipients is available at https://www.aae.org/aae-foundation/funding/fellowship-award-recipients.aspx.

Henry Schein Dental, the U.S. dental business of Henry Schein, Inc., announced the launch of its newly redesigned Integrated Design Studio (IDS) website, a one-stop solution for oral health professionals looking to design a new practice, remodel, or expand. The site, www.henryscheinintegrateddesignstudio.com, which features online planning tools, 3D visualization samples, and a project planning functionality to determine the projected timing of office designs from vision to creation-also provides enhanced access to the IDS team, which is made up of designers focused on creating dental office designs that are functional, creative, and innovative.

With a refreshed look and feel and featuring new design tools, the website enables visitors to log in to the portal to review each designer's profile and access an image gallery featuring the team's most current projects. Together, these tools help oral health professionals determine designs that best meet their individual practice needs and select team members with the most relevant and unique design experience. Customers who work with the IDS team can also get direct access and real-time updates on the progress of their practices' design, construction, and layout.

"The Henry Schein Integrated Design team is dedicated to simplifying the process of office design, so our customers can focus on their patients," said Jen Rhode, IDS Manager, Henry Schein Dental. "New enhancements to the IDS website will improve online engagement and access with our team."

In addition to enhancing the customer experience, the new website also serves as a resource tool for Henry Schein Dental representatives. The site provides access to all design documents and forms, including planning guides, an equipment specification checklist, a square footage calculator, and a submission form to submit their project to Sidekick, the company's online magazine featuring a collection of the latest equipment technology and useful industry articles.

CHICAGO, October 4, 2017 — Oral Health America (OHA) is pleased to kick-off a new project funded by Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC), focused on the oral health needs of children 0 to 6 years in the U.S. In the first year of this three-year contingent grant, OHA is working with historic Smiles Across America® network partners, the University of Nevada-Las Vegas School of Dental Medicine (UNLV SDM), Kids Smiles, Inc. (Philadelphia, PA), Children’s Dental Services (Minneapolis, MN) and University Hospital Health Systems, Inc. dba Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, Ronald McDonald Care Mobile (Cleveland, OH) to the Smiles Across America® (SAA) network.

Through this three-year initiative, RMHC, OHA and partners have established a mutual goal of impacting the oral and overall health of children aged birth to six years old through the Early Childhood Caries Prevention Project. This Project is working to reduce the incidence of childhood tooth decay by providing parent engagement and education and bi-annual oral health screenings and fluoride varnish applications as well as working with families to establish a dental home and providing case management for those children identified as high risk.

“This grant continues Oral Health America’s partnership with RMHC, and strategically positions OHA to impact the health of very young children through coalition building, partnership development, campaign/communications strategies and advocacy across the country,” said Beth Truett, President and CEO of Oral Health America. “We are excited to begin this initiative with our esteemed researchers and partners, with a goal to impact the lives of low-income children and their families.”

On Tuesday, October 10, 2017 at Acelero Learning – Spring Valley Learning Center, the partners came together to celebrate with a short program, a tour of Acelero Learning and oral health screenings and education.

Oral Health America supports oral health programs across the country through grant funding, technical assistance in the areas of communications and coalition building, product donations and demonstration projects to engage communities in the design of oral health programs. Each year, SAA reaches more than 500,000 children and distributes more than 500,000 units of donated dental product.

For more information about Oral Health America and its Smiles Across America® program, please visit oralhealthamerica.org.

The peak business organization representing dental product manufacturers and suppliers, the Australian Dental Industry Association (ADIA), has congratulated Laureate Professor Eric Reynolds AO for winning the Prime Minister’s Prize for Innovation.

Professor Renyolds won the award based upon his research, which discovered a protein in dairy milk that repairs and strengthens teeth. Today, that protein, sold as Recaldent, is used by millions of people every day as they chew gum and visit the dentist. For inventing and commercializing Recaldent, Professor Eric Reynolds received the $250,000 Prime Minister’s Prize for Innovation.

“ADIA is an active champion for those Australians who undertake research, development and commercialization of dental and oral health products, it’s a major focus of our work. Eric's prize showcases what Australian’s can achieve,” said Troy Williams, ADIA Chief Executive Officer.

A priority for ADIA is to support those businesses that empower healthcare professionals to advance the oral health of all Australians as a result of developing pioneering diagnostic and treatment options. Professor Renyolds' research has shown exactly how that can be achieved and he is also tackling another oral health challenge – gum disease or periodontitis.

“Most of us will get a bit of mild gum disease or periodontitis from time to time when ‘bad’ bacteria in our mouths get out of balance with ‘good’ bacteria. Bacteria get between our gums and our teeth and an inflammation kicks off. If we’re unlucky then the periodontitis bacterium moves in, leading to bone loss and ultimately our teeth fall out. Periodontitis is also implicated in other issues from rheumatoid arthritis to oral cancer,” Prof. Reynolds said.

Businesses involved in dental product research, development and commercialization are encouraged to be part of the ADIA-MIG Manufacturers Interest Group, a forum that brings together businesses to develop collaborative networks to further their manufacturing and export goals.

Huntington Beach, CA – October 12, 2017 –Futar® bite registration materials introduces FutarCut and Trim. This new bite registration replaces Futar Scan and has several improvements.

Keeping the opinions and suggestions of the clinicians in mind, Kettenbach has developed a new Futar to meet many of your bite registration needs. Futar Cut and Trim is “scannable” and has working time of 15 seconds with an intraoral setting time of 45 seconds for a total setting time of 1 minute. Non-slumping, this Futar brand will not flow off the occlusal surface. The new blue shade will be helpful for the clinicians with improved readability. The final hardness of this product is D-35 which means it sets rigid to eliminate any risk of vertical distortion when articulated. Finally, it trims cleanly with a sharp blade, often an issue with many other brands. 

The Futar family – Futar, FutarFast, FutarD, FutarD Fast, FutarD Slow, and FutarCut and Trim – is sold by Kettenbach LP. Futar is sold direct to offices with very attractive promotional pricing when compared to all other nationally known bite registration materials. 

With 6 choices of, Futar bite registration materials allow the clinicians to choose the appropriate material to fit their particular needs. Whether a practitioner is looking for high final hardness, comfortable working times or a “scannable” material, the Futar line has it all. 

Futar Cut & Trim will be available direct starting the end of the 2017 year by calling the local Kettenbach representative or by calling company offices at 877-532-2123. 

Today at the Utah Global Forum Meeting, held at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah, Ultradent Products, Inc., accepted the award for 2017 International Company of the Year, presented by KeyBank and the World Trade Association. Each year business and political leaders from around the state gather at the Utah Global Forum meeting to present and learn about developing international business and export strategy, as well as tap into new markets. The International Company of the Year Award honors one company and one individual each year for excellence in these areas, as well as global citizenship and humanitarianism. Nominations for International Company of the Year are submitted only by parties not employed or affiliated with the nominee.

Study shows technology and user-experience are critical for Millennials when seeking or staying with a dentist, but may often be missing in today’s dental-care landscape

Lincoln Financial Group (NYSE: LNC) today released a new set of results from its 2017 Dental Research Series – a new body of research focused on dental insurance and dental care. The first installment of the series, released in June, looked at a variety of dental-related topics from a consumer perspective, while these subsequent results uncover dentists’ and employers’ points of view. The latest findings reveal several gaps – differences in perspectives among these groups – highlighting some key opportunities for dental offices to gain and retain patients, and providing guidance for employers to better meet their employees’ expectations.

“Comparing consumers’ dental needs and wants to the reality of what they’re getting today provides an interesting look at the opportunity dentists and employers have to differentiate themselves in the market,” said Christopher Stevens, head of Dental Product Management at Lincoln Financial Group. “Dentists can shape their practices to deliver a customer experience that will attract new patients and keep them coming back. Employers can boost employee retention and satisfaction by offering the right dental benefits, and by proactively communicating about those benefits. And consumers benefit in the end – they’ll get the right information they need to leverage dental insurance benefits and be proactive about their oral health.”

Patient Expectations vs. Dentist Perceptions

Lincoln Financial’s consumer study found that patients’ criteria for choosing and staying with a dentist goes beyond the basics. While quality of care, office environment and being in-network for insurance are all important, the study found that technology and user experience are becoming increasingly critical, particularly among Millennials. The problem is, many dentists aren’t necessarily providing the experience younger consumers say they want.

Websites are key for this audience. Forty percent of Millennials say a dentist’s website is “very” important, compared to 14 percent of Baby Boomers. Most dentists today do have websites (84 percent) – but, they aren’t always providing the information patients are looking for, such as:

•A list of accepted insurance carriers: 74 percent of Millennials want to see this on a dentist’s website, but just 43 percent of dental offices feature this information online.

•The ability to make/change appointments: 71 percent of Millennials want to do this online. Only 47 percent of dental offices currently offer this feature.

•Average costs of procedures: 65 percent of Millennials want this information, but a mere 18 percent of dental offices offer it on their websites today.

In addition to a robust web experience, the study found that consumers would greatly appreciate guidance from their dentists on understanding and using dental insurance. A whopping 96 percent of consumers and 99 percent of Millennials say they would find it valuable if their dental office provided guidance or help understanding dental insurance plans. However, just 34 percent of dental offices strongly agree that they currently help guide patients on treatments with their insurance coverage in mind.

Click here for an infographic overview of these findings.

Employee Needs vs. Employer Views

Employers also play a major role in consumers’ dental experiences. Seventy-five percent of employees say they expect their employer to provide education about their dental coverage, but only half say their employer is a good resource in helping them understand their benefits.

To educate employees on dental benefits, about half of employers provide opportunities to meet with human resources (50 percent), 45 percent send emails and 32 percent host health/wellness fairs.

Primarily, employees are looking for general information about what’s covered under their plans (65 percent) and they would also appreciate a list of in-network dentists with contact information (54 percent).

“It’s clear that consumers are looking for information and help – in understanding their dental coverage and how it works when actually visiting the dentist. In today’s environment, they want a lot of that information available at their fingertips,” said Stevens. “Employers and dentists can help facilitate this understanding by providing the information consumers want, where they want it. By taking this approach, employers and dentists may help their employees and patients, respectively, get the dental care they need.”  

Futar® bite registration materials introduces Futar® Cut and Trim. This new bite registration replaces Futar Scan and has several improvements. If you loved Futar® Scan you will love Futar Cut and Trim.

Keeping the opinions and suggestions of the clinicians in mind, Kettenbach has developed a new Futar to meet many of your bite registration needs. Futar Cut and Trim is “scannable” and has working time of 15 seconds with an intraoral setting time of 45 seconds for a total setting time of 1 minute. Non-slumping, this Futar brand will not flow off the occlusal surface. The new blue shade will be helpful for the clinicians with improved readability. The final hardness of this product is D-35 which means it sets rigid to eliminate any risk of vertical distortion when articulated. Finally, it trims cleanly with a sharp blade, often an issue with many other brands.

The Futar® family – Futar®, Futar® Fast, Futar® D, Futar® D Fast, Futar® D Slow, and Futar® Cut and Trim – is sold by Kettenbach LP.

Futar is sold direct to offices with very attractive promotional pricing when compared to all other nationally known bite registration materials.

With 6 choices of, Futar® bite registration materials allow the clinicians to choose the appropriate material to fit their particular needs. Whether a practitioner is looking for high final hardness, comfortable working times or a “scannable” material, the Futar® line has it all.

Futar® Cut & Trim will be available direct starting the end of the 2017 year by calling the local Kettenbach representative or by calling company offices at 877-532-2123.