New Milford, CT – March 2018 – Designed specifically to refine and polish, even making minor adjustments on all indirect ceramic restorations including zirconia, lithium disilicate and porcelain, CLINICIAN’S CHOICE® Dental Products Inc. announces the addition of ASAP INDIRECT+ to its line of innovative, clinically proven products.

Ceramics, though a valuable evolution in restorative dentistry, are significantly harder than composite and can make it difficult to restore a lab-like polish after any additional refinements or adjustments are made in the dental office. ASAP INDIRECT+ are manufactured with a stronger, more wear-resistant silicone binder that allow the diamond particles to adhere to the polishing surface better, while improving the surface contact during polishing. 

Fast and simple, the versatile ASAP INDIRECT+ system is ideal for all tooth surfaces: occlusal, lingual, interproximal or facial and will allow for faster polishing and better results on virtually all indirect restorative surfaces. 

The system itself includes three multi-shaped, diamond impregnated “adjusters” (disc, point, cylinder) that allow for minor adjustments or to remove scratches caused by diamond bur adjustments; as well as two ASAP INDIRECT+ diamond impregnated spiral wheel polishers (pre-polisher and final polisher) that deliver a fast, super high gloss polish – A.S.A.P.!

ASAP INDIRECT+ is distributed exclusively through Henry Schein Dental. 

Zest Dental Solutions, the leader in innovative dental solutions for a continuum of patient care announced today the launch of a new company website.

Zest Dental Solutions is widely known for its innovative, functional products for overdenture treatment. Throughout the past two years Zest Dental Solutions has expanded the breadth of its product portfolio with acquisitions in restorative consumables and equipment products further strengthening its solutions-based product offerings. This expansion led to a new name and now a new website. The new Zest Dental Solutions Website at www.zestdent.com encompasses all of Zest’s Product Portfolios (Zest Anchors, Danville Materials, Perioscopy) and was designed with the customer in mind featuring the following new attributes:

 Mobile responsiveness for viewing across multiple mobile devices

 Quick selection of a Zest Product Portfolio (Zest Anchors, Danville Materials, Perioscopy) with simplified content.

 Elevated and modern esthetics that re-inforce the Zest Dental Solutions Brand and present a unified web presence.

 Improved functionality with clear navigation and streamlined menus

 Increased visibility for Zest Customer Service Information, Continuing Education Courses, Tradeshow Attendance, and Industry Product Awards

Please visit www.zestdent.com for an elevated web experience with Zest Dental Solutions Products.

Dr. Peter Dawson, founder of leading dental continuing education provider The Dawson Academy, has become Founder Emeritus. Clinical Director Dr. John Cranham will lead the Academy’s faculty and clinical direction.

Dr. Dawson founded The Dawson Academy in 1979 as a way to educate dental professionals on the entire masticatory system using a method that he was successfully practicing in his office in St. Petersburg, Florida. His first book Evaluation, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Occlusal Problems, published in 1974, outlined methods for dental professionals to provide treatments that predictably solve patients’ problems. These methods formed the foundation for The Dawson Academy’s courses.

Dr. Dawson began teaching in 1961 when 35 dentists attended his first course. Through the years, it has evolved from Dr. Dawson’s one-man lecture series to a curriculum of both lectures and hands-on courses instructed by a dedicated faculty of practicing dentists.

“With the strong leadership in place at The Dawson Academy, and the exceptional faculty following a proven curriculum, I have total confidence in the Academy’s future,” said Dr. Dawson. “I am excited to continue to be involved in an emeritus relationship.”

Dr. Cranham joined The Dawson Academy faculty in 2003, after accepting an invitation from Dr. Dawson. He has served as acting clinical director for the last 10 years. Dr. Cranham is a practicing dentist in Chesapeake, Virginia and an internationally recognized speaker and dental educator. Drs. Dawson and Cranham co-authored a newly published book titled The Complete Dentist Manual.

“The Dawson Academy’s faculty carry forward Dr. Dawson’s legacy, which has positively impacted more than 40,000 dentists and their patients,” said Dr. Cranham. “My top priority is to make sure the courses stay true to Dr. Dawson’s principles while evolving to meet the new challenges for dental practitioners.”

Today, The Dawson Academy’s faculty includes 29 dentists who practice fulltime in addition to teaching continuing education courses to dentists and lab technicians across the United States and in numerous countries. The Dawson Academy has more than 70 courses scheduled in 2018 in locations across the world. 

CHICAGO, January 29, 2018 — Oral Health America (OHA) and Colgate have partnered to bring OHA’s Tooth Wisdom®: Get Smart About Your Mouth oral health education curriculum to an online platform utilizing Colgate’s Oral Health Network for Professional Education and Development. This partnership allows the opportunity for oral health professionals to receive online training on how to appropriately and effectively communicate with older adults in preparation for teaching the workshop to older adult consumers.

As a part of OHA’s older adult program, the Wisdom Tooth Project®, Tooth Wisdom: Get Smart About Your Mouth is a unique oral health curriculum designed to provide older adults with a sense of self-efficacy to care for their oral health, delivered in community settings where they naturally congregate.

Often overlooked during their education, dental professionals increasingly need to consider the importance of oral health care education for older adults, and Tooth Wisdom: Get Smart About Your Mouth aspires to be the first evidence-based course of its kind. This partnership brings online training on communicating with and facilitating groups of older adults to dental hygienists and other oral health practitioners throughout the country using OHA’s proprietary curriculum.

“Colgate has been with OHA every step of the way since 2008. Bringing the Tooth Wisdom: Get Smart About Your Mouth curriculum online together speaks of the longevity of our relationship and the success of these older adult educational workshops,” said Beth Truett, President & CEO of Oral Health America. “Having piloted the curriculum in five states over three years, we are ready to take these ‘train the trainer’ materials online to a national audience.”

Launching today, the Tooth Wisdom: Get Smart About Your Mouth online modules stress the importance of prevention at any age. The online training program is broken into three modules: “Overview of Older Adults and Baby Boomers and Cultural Competency”; “Communication with Older Adults, Social, Behavioral Theories/Constructs, and Group Facilitation Skills”; “Practicum: Tooth Wisdom: Get Smart About Your Mouth”. Trainees must complete all modules and, upon payment, receive six (6) CEs and become a certified trainer, fully equipped with the materials needed to successfully present Tooth Wisdom: Get Smart About Your Mouth in their communities. A discounted launch price of $19.99 is available through August 2018.

“The partnership with Oral Health America helps illustrate Colgate's commitment to increasing access to quality oral health care, building healthy habits to change the lives of older adults vulnerable to oral diseases, and also contributes to professional education and development of dental professionals in the United States,” said Dr. Barbara Shearer, Scientific Affairs Director North America, Colgate Oral Pharmaceuticals.

Hosted by Dental Tribune, Colgate’s Oral Health Network provides online training for dental practitioners. To learn more about the program, visit www.ColgateOralHealthNetwork.com or www.toothwisdomgetsmart.com.

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Jan. 30, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Oral Cancer Foundation (OCF) has launched a new nationwide campaign aimed at the early discovery of oral cancers. Their "Check Your Mouth™" (www.checkyourmouth.org) initiative is built around an interactive website designed to help individuals learn to self-discover suspicious tissue changes in their own mouths. "Early discovery of oral cancers has profound implications," says Dr. Ross Kerr, an oral medicine specialist at NYU. "Individuals whose disease is found at early stages of development through opportunistic screenings have less invasive treatments, reducing treatment related morbidity, and there is also the opportunity for better long-term outcomes."

The new website www.checkyourmouth.org launched by OCF provides the knowledge, and identifies the tools needed to recognize and find early symptoms of disease through a very simple visual and tactile process. This would prompt a person who finds suspect areas in their mouths that are persisting for over two weeks, to then seek further evaluation from a dental professional. With a step-by-step video, access to a very effective and inexpensive intra-oral light from Throat Scope, one of the foundations' partners, and examples of abnormalities to look for, this interactive campaign's objective is to reduce difficult to treat, late stage oral cancer discoveries that have poor outcomes.

Oral cancer is incredibly deadly, killing one person in America every hour of every day, 24-7-365. In 2018 the foundation predicts there will be approximately 51,550 individuals diagnosed with an oral or oropharyngeal cancer. Of those newly diagnosed today, only about 60% will be alive in 5 years. The high fatality rate is largely due to late discovery of the disease. To compound the problem, a national screening policy is not in place, and many individuals are not even aware that oral cancer is a significant and increasing common issue in the U.S.

"Reaching the general public with a message can be an expensive idea for a small nonprofit like OCF", says Brian Hill, the foundation's executive director who is also a survivor of a late stage oral cancer. To help meet that challenge, the Oral Cancer Foundation has engaged two key strategic partners, the American Dental Hygienists' Association (ADHA) and the Canadian Dental Hygienists Association (CDHA), whose combined membership exceeds 200,000 dental hygienists in the U.S. and Canada. "Our partner organizations and the members they represent have been long-time leaders of performing oral cancer screenings as a part of the services they provide to patients. These organizations have been champions of routine visual and tactile screenings, and through ongoing advocacy efforts have made them part of the routine screenings dental hygienists perform," said Brian Hill.

Now the foundation looks to these long-term partners in screening to introduce their patient populations to the idea of self-exams at home between professional appointments, and expose them to the "Check Your Mouth™" concept and website.

Self-examination has become a major part of the general cancer conversation. Other cancer organizations have created campaigns to encourage people to discover abnormalities early; notable examples are a program to discover deadly melanoma skin cancers early, and self-exams through breast palpation for breast cancers. With the measurable impact of early discovery in other forms of cancer, the Oral Cancer Foundation has moved forward with a similar objective. Like melanoma, oral cancers and their premalignant tissue changes are often easily visible with the naked eye. The model is not so different, with a learning curve that is short and simple to become effective, and an examination process that can be accomplished in about 5 minutes.  

While OCF educates and encourages the public to learn the common risk factors mostly found in lifestyle choices such as smoking for oral cancer and avoid them, they cannot stop oral cancer from happening. Clearly finding it early is the next best idea. "Check Your Mouth™" when combined with regular professional screening, is a campaign with the objective of producing better long-term outcomes, which is a very tangible opportunity we can capitalize on today.

CHICAGO, IL (Jan. 30, 2018) – The American Dental Hygienist’s Association (ADHA) is happy to announce a new addition to its national headquarters, Vicki Pizanis, RDH, MS, EdD, as their Dental Hygiene Education and Practice Specialist. Effective immediately, Pizanis will assume responsibility as the technical expert and in-house dental hygienist for the dental hygiene community, be the liaison for dental hygiene education programs, and manage special projects to support resources for dental hygiene education programs.

As the dental hygiene profession evolves, ADHA has created this specialist role to strategically guide the organization’s educational and professional advocacy and to enhance and expand its current resources. Pizanis’ professional background as an educator and practitioner is ideally suited to fulfill the needs of this multifaceted position.

Pizanis joins ADHA with extensive experience as a dental hygiene educator, clinician, and advocate since graduating from dental hygiene school at the University of New Mexico (UNM) in 2005. Throughout her career, she has been an active member of ADHA at the state and local levels. She served as the UNM ADHA Student Advisor for five years and has also held officer positions within the New Mexico Dental Hygienists’ Association and the local High Desert Dental Hygienists’ Association.

“I am thrilled to be joining the ADHA team! Serving the dental hygiene profession on the national level is extremely exciting to me,” states Pizanis as she describes her next career venture. “In this new position, I aim to serve as a liaison between ADHA and dental hygiene educational programs by assisting as a direct contact to improve resources and support for faculty and students. I look forward to collaborating with the educational community in our continued journey in the advancement of our profession.”

On the advocacy front, Pizanis has been involved with changes in the scope of the dental hygiene profession, working to create additional opportunities for dental hygienists in New Mexico. In January 2015, she authored and was awarded a $2.5 million grant for dental curriculum development and clinical oral health care service to address the needs of patients with developmental disabilities in New Mexico.

Other notable accomplishments include implementing and managing the first international service learning program at UNM Division of Dental Hygiene, taking their students as well as dentists, physicians, nurses and occupational and physical therapists to Nicaragua in 2011 and 2013, where they treated over 540 patients. Pizanis’ passion for international service education began in 2009 when she was a part of the Dental Hygiene Delegation to South Africa coordinated by the People to People Citizen Ambassador Program and ADHA to learn about the clinical scope and educational structure of dental hygienists in South Africa.

After receiving her BS and MS in dental hygiene, Pizanis was hired as a faculty member at the UNM Dental Hygiene Program, teaching a variety of courses including ethics and law and dental radiology, as well as serving as a clinic coordinator for 10 years. During that time, she pursued a doctorate of educational leadership to gain more knowledge in teaching and evidence-based practice within education. She is currently an adjunct faculty member within the UNM Dental Hygiene Program. Pizanis has authored eight published articles in books and scholarly journals on the topics of clinical education and international service learning as well as local anesthesia.

Panthera Dental is sponsoring its annual Master Cup competition, designed to discover and honor talented technicians within the dental community. Participants will need to complete a case for a chance to win over $20,000 in prizes and a free trip to Quebec City, Canada.

The deadline for registration is February 28, 2018, and the 10 participants will be selected on March 5th. Their challenge this year will be to create a fixed case with a Montreal bar for the maxilla and a milled bar with Novaloc attachments for the mandible. Participants will receive instructions and two implant bars with denture teeth from Ivoclar Vivadent. The completed case must be shipped by May 31st, 2018.

An independent jury of prosthetic experts and practitioners will evaluate the submissions. Panthera Dental will announce the winners in September and award first, second, and third place prizes.

For more details, visit www.pantheradental.com/mastercup or email mastercup@pantheradental.com.

3M and 3Shape announced their intention to work together to advance the field of orthodontics through digital workflows supporting indirect bonding, clear aligners, and other emerging digital orthodontic workflows.

“Our partnership with 3Shape puts our customers first and is designed with practitioners, their patients, and their businesses in mind. Our goal is to make it easier for orthodontists to engage patients, provide effective treatments, and run a profitable practice. The workflow will include our indirect bonding solutions, our customized lingual offering, and future new offerings in the digital orthodontic space,” said Jim Ingebrand, President and General Manager, 3M Oral Care Division.

For 3M and 3Shape’s joint customers, the cooperation will enable use of the 3Shape TRIOS scanner and 3Shape indirect bonding software with 3M’s Incognito™ lingual appliance system, the Clarity™ ADVANCED brackets with APC™ Flash Free technology for indirect bonding procedures, and future orthodontic product offerings. These combined solutions will enable better outcomes while improving the productivity of the practice.

“3Shape believes that an open market with freedom of choice is in the best interest of doctors and patients. Partnering with 3M will help orthodontists provide better treatment for their patients using 3Shape’s award winning TRIOS scanner and digital workflow software with 3M’s treatment solutions in integrated workflows,” said Allan Hyldal, 3Shape Vice President, Orthodontics & Implantology.

Emerging technology is enabling new efficiencies and greater predictability in the practice of orthodontics. While technology is changing how orthodontics is practiced, the end goal remains the same —a beautiful smile and healthy teeth that will last a lifetime. No two smiles are alike. To develop customized treatment plans for each patient’s unique clinical diagnosis, orthodontists need flexible, choice-based solutions that deliver the best outcomes for their patients.

Laboratory Distribution Network (LDN) announced that it has been granted exclusive US distribution rights to the Thommen Medical TST line of dental implants and related components, effective January 2018. Thommen Medical is based out of Gretchen, Switzerland, and Cleveland, Ohio.

"Thommen Medical represents all that LDN was looking for in a partner, as an industry leader, supporting our laboratory distribution partner base," says David Sklarski, President/CEO of LDN. "We are very pleased to have this strong association with Thommen Medical, a leader in Swiss manufacturing, innovation, and customer-based solutions for the dental professional."

LDN is a Rhode Island-based company specializing in high-quality and technical dental products. These products are supported through the LDN participating network of dental laboratories located throughout North America. For more information, call 877-860-2220 or go to laboratorydistributionnetwork.com.

Robert Ganley, CEO of Ivoclar Vivadent, Inc., recently announced promotions and changes in the roles and responsibilities of several members of the organization.

"Our mission is to align resources to enable us to continually exceed customer expectations today and into the future," said Ganley. "We want to thank our team members for their outstanding commitment and dedication to Ivoclar Vivadent, and we wish them continued success within our organization.”

Kim Evans, Vice President of Human Resources

Kim Evans has been promoted to Vice President of Human Resources. Since joining Ivoclar Vivadent in 1989, she has successfully worked with managers, guided personnel activities and decisions, and been a key contributor to the company’s global human resource initiatives. Her leadership, extensive knowledge of the processes and principles of contemporary human resource management, and commitment to employee relations have helped create a positive work environment at Ivoclar Vivadent. In her new role, she will be responsible for leading the Human Resources teams in both the US and Canada.

Amanda Magiera, Associate Manager Human Resources

Amanda Magiera has been promoted to Associate Manager of Human Resources. A Human Resources Assistant since joining Ivoclar Vivadent in 2015, she more recently undertook the role of Human Resources Specialist. In her new role, she will continue to manage recruiting, hiring, and onboarding activities, as well as supporting personnel related activities at all Ivoclar Vivadent locations.

Gary Osborn, Associate Manager of Technical Services

Gary Osborn has been promoted to Associate Manager of Technical Services. After joining Ivoclar Vivadent in 2004 as a Technical Consultant, he has provided after-sales support and education to the company’s laboratory customers and CAD/CAM dentists. In his new role, he will continue providing high-level technical support while maintaining responsibility for daily supervision and mentoring of the Technical Services and Education Support teams.

Bill Barton, Associate Manager of Digital Services

Bill Barton has been promoted to Associate Manager of Digital Services. Since joining Ivoclar Vivadent in 2009 as a Technical Consultant, Bill has provided after-sales support and education to laboratory customers and CAD/CAM dentists. In his new role, he will continue providing high-level technical support while also demonstrating responsibility for the daily supervision and mentoring of the Digital Services team.