Henry Schein, Inc., has announced that Stanley M. Bergman, the Company’s Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, was honored at the President’s Luncheon during this week’s 2019 Greater New York Dental Meeting (GNYDM) for his leadership in advancing diversity and inclusion in dentistry. Mr. Bergman was presented with a Presidential Citation by Dr. Chad Gehani, President of the American Dental Association (ADA), and a special recognition award by Dr. Lauro Medrano, GNYDM’s General Chairman.

“I am honored to accept these awards on behalf of Team Schein and the countless colleagues in the dental industry who have been strong allies in fostering an environment in which diversity and inclusion are woven into the fabric of the dental profession and our industry,” Mr. Bergman said. “As a result, we have seen the profession expand to more fully reflect the ever-growing diversity of our country, to strengthen the practitioner-patient relationship, and to improve public health. I speak for all of Team Schein when I say thank you to the ADA and the Greater New York Dental Meeting for this honor.”

To demonstrate its commitment to diversity and inclusion, Henry Schein’s Women’s Leadership Network joined several industry partners to host the Women Dentists Leadership Conference during the GNYDM. Featuring women leaders from dentistry and other key stakeholders, the program aimed to empower and mentor current and future women dentists to utilize their talents and reach their full potential.

“It is fitting to present Stanley Bergman with this award at the Greater New York Dental Meeting, in a city where diversity is valued and cultural differences are celebrated,” said Dr. Medrano. “Congratulations to Stan and all of Henry Schein. With your leadership we have spent years opening doors and expanding opportunities to ensure that our industry reflects the populations and communities we serve.”

Henry Schein has helped drive this conversation for more than two decades. For example, the Company was one of four founding corporate sponsors of the ADA’s Diversity in Leadership Institute, which was created to foster leadership training and a corporate mentoring network within the dental industry in order to improve the business management skills of dentists from racial, ethnic, or gender backgrounds that have been underrepresented in such roles. Henry Schein also provides financial and logistical support to many outreach missions within the US and abroad.

“Stanley Bergman and Henry Schein have been a driving force in expanding opportunities in dentistry for years, and our industry is stronger for it,” said Dr. Gehani. “Stan has long been an invaluable partner in our work to make diversity and inclusion a cornerstone of the American Dental Association, and we congratulate him and Team Schein on this much-deserved award.”

The American Dental Education Association will honor longtime Brooklyn dentist and NYU Langone faculty member Neal A. Demby, DMD, MPH, with its 2020 William J. Gies Award for Vision at the foundation’s annual awards ceremony on March 16, 2020, during the ADEA Annual Session and Exhibition in National Harbor, MD.

"Dr. William Gies is an inspiration to all dental educators, and I am truly humbled by this extraordinary recognition by the ADEA Gies Foundation,” said Dr. Demby, past senior vice president for dental medicine and current senior advisor of the dental program at the Family Health Centers at NYU Langone. “We have built one of the largest dental residency programs in the world, with a level of care and commitment to a high educational standard that would make Dr. Gies proud.”

A pioneer in dental residency education, Dr. Demby has devoted his 50-year career at the Family Health Centers at NYU Langone to improving the oral health of vulnerable populations. After five years as a dental practitioner at the Sunset Park, Brooklyn, health center, the fledgling dental program took on its first general dentistry resident in 1974. NYU Langone Dental Medicine’s postdoctoral residency program is now the largest of its kind in the United States, with about 400 dental residents serving an estimated 1 million people at sites in 26 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Trinidad and Tobago.

“Dr. Demby’s visionary leadership has always focused on how to use dental education as a way to grow tomorrow’s workforce while increasing access to high-quality care to people who need it the most,” said Larry K. McReynolds, executive director, Family Health Centers at NYU Langone. “I cannot think of someone more deserving of this exceptional and prestigious honor.”

Dr. Demby is a renowned leader in dental education, receiving numerous grants and awards for his work in promoting residency training, faculty development, video and remote learning, school health dentistry, HIV/AIDS services, quality assurance, early detection of oral cancer, and integrative health practices. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology and art history from Rutgers University, a Doctor of Medicine in Dentistry degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, and a Master of Public Health degree from Columbia University. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Special Care Dentistry.

"A decade of digital innovation" is the motto for exocad's global event, Insights 2020, on March 12-13, 2020, at the darmstadtium in Darmstadt. For the second time, the world-renowned dental software company exocad opens its doors in the city of science near Frankfurt am Main—and with good reason: "Here in Darmstadt, where our history began in 2010, we want to celebrate our company’s tenth anniversary with the international exocad community in the context of a high-class CAD/CAM education event,” said Tillmann Steinbrecher, CEO and co-founder of exocad, looking forward to the event. 

For users of digital technologies in dental laboratories and dental practices, exocad has put together a varied program, with interesting lectures by internationally renowned speakers and numerous software sessions with exocad's team of experts. More than 40 international partner companies provide information about the latest trends in the CAD/CAM industry, and on Thursday evening, exocad’s birthday will be celebrated with dinner and live music along with the international exocad community. Up to 850 dental technicians and dentists from Europe, North and South America, Asia, Africa, and Australia are expected to attend Insights 2020. 

"Together with dental technicians and dentists from all over the world, we want to experience the future of digital dentistry and make the unparalleled versatility of our software solutions accessible to everyone," explained CCO Novica Savic about the concept of Insights 2020. Michael Kohnen, Head of Global Support at exocad, added: "Participants can expect a first-class program with numerous incentives as well as diverse insights and highlights of the latest software release. “ 

Insights 2020 focuses on the almost limitless possibilities of exocad's open software platform, on which intraoral and model scanners, milling machines, 3D printers, and DVT devices from different manufacturers can be combined to form a consistent digital workflow. The digital workflow will be also reflected in the lectures on Thursday: From esthetic planning with Smile Creator to workflow-driven implantology with exoplan to the live implantation. Several renowned experts, among them Dr. Paulo Maló from Portugal, Uli Hauschild from Italy, and Waldo Zarco Nosti from Spain, will demonstrate to the audience how the software can be used successfully in an interdisciplinary way and how digital workflows on exocad's open software platform can be designed more time-effectively, and ultimately more economically. 

On Friday, the newest digital trends and compatible solutions will be presented in the sessions of the partner companies. In addition, the exocad software experts will present numerous patient cases on DentalCAD, exoplan, and ChairsideCAD. Users will be immersed in the depths of unsurpassed flexibility and design freedom à la exocad. Digital dentistry in the practice will be the subject of the clinical session intended specifically for dentists. 

The conference language for Insights 2020 is English with simultaneous translation into German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, and Chinese. 

During the program breaks, visitors will be able to check out the latest digital solutions from key exocad partners: Align, Amann Girrbach, Degree of Freedom, Medit, Shining 3D, Faro, GC, imes-icore, NextDent, Schütz Dental, smart optics, Aidite, Asiga, Bego, Bionnovation, CAD4D, CADstar, Carestream, CIM System, Conexão, Denseo, Dental Direkt, DESS, DGSHAPE, Dynamic Abutment, Elos Medtech, envisionTEC, ic med, Infinident Solutions, Planmeca, Runyes, Ruthinium, Sinergia (Nobil Metal & New Ancorvis), NT Trading, Up3d, vhf, Vita, Voco, XtCera, and others. 

Further information and registration at exocad.com/insights. 

Obesity and gum (periodontal) disease are among the most common non-communicable diseases in the United States—and studies show these chronic conditions may be related. This new study explores the effect of obesity on non-surgical periodontal care and evaluates potential pathways that may illustrate the connection between the two conditions.

The connection between obesity and gum disease isn’t as simple as cause-and-effect, said Andres Pinto, professor of oral and maxillofacial medicine and diagnostic sciences at the Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine and co-author of the study published in the British Dental Journal.

Instead, the relationship centers on what both diseases have in common: inflammation.

Examining a plethora of existing studies, researchers found that data showing increased body mass index, waist circumference and percentage of body fat to be associated with an increased risk to develop gum disease, also known as periodontitis. Most studies analyzed data from population subsets at one point in time, as opposed to studying the same population over a longer period.

They concluded that changes in body chemistry affect metabolism, which, in turn causes inflammation—something present in both maladies.

“Periodontal disease occurs in patients more susceptible to inflammation—who are also more susceptible to obesity,” Pinto said.

This information can inform how health-care professionals plan treatments for patients suffering from obesity and/or gum disease, Pinto said.

“Oral health-care professionals need to be aware of the complexity of obesity to counsel their patients about the importance of an appropriate body weight and maintaining good oral hygiene,” he said.

Pinto said further research on the relationship between gum disease and obesity is needed, noting there is, at this point, limited evidence to recommend changes in treatment planning.

“There is a thought, from the clinical perspective, that if you treat one of the issues, it may impact the other,” he said. “This is the big question. For example, if we treat obesity successfully, will this impact periodontal disease to the point of being of clinical relevance compared to control population. The jury is still out given the paucity of controlled, well designed, clinical trials on this issue.”

Joining Pinto in the research were: Silie Arboleda, Miguel Vargas and Sergio Losada, all of El Bosque University in Bogotá, Colombia. 

Curve Dental, a leading provider of cloud-based dental solutions, today announced a partnership with The Dentists Supply Company (TDSC), an online dental supply company dedicated to providing members of organized dentistry with savings on dental supplies and small equipment. The partnership provides discounted pricing for TDSC shoppers and Curve customers which could save up to 24% as compared to MSRP.

“Both Curve Dental and TDSC are focused on utilizing a more modern technological approach to change older, less efficient industry business models,” said Gary Long, Chief Revenue Officer of Curve Dental. “Technology is changing the playing field, enabling dental practices to remain independent if they so choose, no longer having to buy practice management software from their local supplies vendor. The savings in time, responsibilities, and investment are significant and aim to make independent practices stronger and more profitable.”

Curve Dental’s practice management software combined with TDSC’s dental supply savings enables independent practices to compete with DSOs by lowering overhead costs while at the same time utilizing better technology, enhancing the patient experience, maximizing data security and improving profitability through cloud technology.

“Curve’s dedication to helping dental practices retain their independence is in lockstep with our mission to share collective buying power that allows our shoppers to reduce overhead and gain control,” said Jim Wiggett, CEO at TDSC. “The combination of Curve and TDSC gives independent dentists buying power and cloud technology at a very affordable cost. This helps them remain competitive with larger practices while delivering an outstanding patient experience.”

About Curve Dental

Founded in 2004, Curve Dental provides web-based dental software and related services to dental practices within the United States and Canada. The company is privately held, with offices in Provo, Utah, and Calgary, Alberta. The company strives to make dental software less about computers and more about user experience. Their creative thinking can be seen in the design of their software, that’s easy to use and built only for the web. Visit www.curvedental.com for more information.

About The Dentists Supply Company

The Dentists Supply Company (TDSC) leverages collective purchasing power to attain better supply pricing for practices of every size. Founded in 2015 as a subsidiary of the California Dental Association, TDSC provides significant savings on dental supplies from authorized sources plus free shipping on every order, with no minimums as a benefit included in dental association membership. For more information, visit www.tdsc.com.

Brushing teeth frequently is linked with lower risks of atrial fibrillation and heart failure, according to a study published today in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).¹

Previous research suggests that poor oral hygiene leads to bacteria in the blood, causing inflammation in the body. Inflammation increases the risks of atrial fibrillation (irregular heartbeat) and heart failure (the heart’s ability to pump blood or relax and fill with blood is impaired). This study examined the connection between oral hygiene and occurrence of these two conditions.

The retrospective cohort study enrolled 161,286 participants of the Korean National Health Insurance System aged 40 to 79 with no history of atrial fibrillation or heart failure. Participants underwent a routine medical examination between 2003 and 2004. Information was collected on height, weight, laboratory tests, illnesses, lifestyle, oral health, and oral hygiene behaviours.

During a median follow-up of 10.5 years, 4,911 (3.0%) participants developed atrial fibrillation and 7,971 (4.9%) developed heart failure.

Tooth brushing three or more times a day was associated with a 10% lower risk of atrial fibrillation and a 12% lower risk of heart failure during 10.5-year follow up. The findings were independent of a number of factors including age, sex, socioeconomic status, regular exercise, alcohol consumption, body mass index, and comorbidities such as hypertension.

While the study did not investigate mechanisms, one possibility is that frequent tooth brushing reduces bacteria in the subgingival biofilm (bacteria living in the pocket between the teeth and gums), thereby preventing translocation to the bloodstream.

Senior author Dr. Tae-Jin Song of Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea noted that the analysis was limited to one country and as an observational study does not prove causation. But he added: “We studied a large group over a long period, which adds strength to our findings.”

An accompanying editorial states: “It is certainly too early to recommend tooth brushing for the prevention of atrial fibrillation and congestive heart failure”. It adds: “While the role of inflammation in the occurrence of cardiovascular disease is becoming more and more evident, intervention studies are needed to define strategies of public health importance.”²

References

¹Chang Y, Woo HG, Park J, et al. Improved oral hygiene care is associated with decreased risk of occurrence for atrial fibrillation and heart failure: A nationwide population-based cohort study. Eur J Prev Cardiol. 2019. doi:10.1177/2047487319886018.

²Meyre P, Conen D. Does tooth brushing protect from atrial fibrillation and heart failure? Eur J Prev Cardiol. 2019. doi:10.1177/2047487319886413.

About the European Society of Cardiology

The European Society of Cardiology brings together health care professionals from more than 150 countries, working to advance cardiovascular medicine and help people lead longer, healthier lives.

About the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology

The European Journal of Preventive Cardiology is the world's leading preventive cardiology journal, playing a pivotal role in reducing the global burden of cardiovascular disease.