“Posts For My Patients” website offers five free ready-to-use videos that any dentist or dental office team member can post on their own social media platforms

The Dental Trade Alliance (DTA) in collaboration with Lanmark360 have developed a lively and compelling social media-based campaign that dentists and their staff can use to stay in contact with patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. The campaign features five 20-second animated videos, available at www.PostsForMyPatients.com which convey timely oral health and wellness messages for patients who have not been able to see their dentist due to the quarantine.

Dentists and their staff who visit the “Posts For My Patients” website can easily post any or all of the free videos to their own social media channels with just a few clicks. Each video covers a different topic including brushing, flossing, social distancing, checking in, and eating well. “The PostsForMyPatients.com website provides a unique and easy-to-use platform for dentists to stay in touch with their patients,” says Gregory Chavez, CEO of the Dental Trade Alliance. The videos are great reminders about the importance of practicing good oral health during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“We created this campaign in collaboration with the Dental Trade Alliance to give their member companies a proactive patient engagement tool to share with their dental partners,” says Howard Klein, President of Lanmark360. “After the COVID-19 pandemic, the dental industry is poised to return stronger than ever. In the meantime, these videos can help dental professionals and their staff remind patients they are always there for them and to continue to practice good oral health during the COVID-19-related quarantine.”

Dentists and their staff can view each video at www.PostsForMyPatients.com and post them directly to their Facebook page, Twitter feed, and other social media platforms with a few easy clicks. The site also includes suggested captions for each video, or dentists can choose to write their own.

About the Dental Trade Alliance

The Dental Trade Alliance is an association of companies that provide dental equipment, supplies, materials, and services to dentists and other oral care professionals. Our member companies are distributors, dental laboratories, and manufacturers located in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. By providing the best equipment, materials, and services to dentists and oral care professionals, we are partners in improving the oral health of everyone. For more information, visit www.dentaltradealliance.org.

About Lanmark360

Lanmark360 is the leading full-service dental and healthcare marketing and advertising agency in the United States since 1977. Our specialty is helping dental manufacturers develop strategic, efficient and effective marketing solutions that generate awareness, create demand, increase conversion rates and ultimately connect brands to dental professionals and patients. We think deep, uncover insights, discover new opportunities and execute. For more information, visit www.lanmark360.com.

Elevate Oral Care (877-866-9113, elevateoralcare.com) adds a second flavor option to another industry first.  Just Right 5000 is the first metered dose, prescription-based toothpaste developed exclusively for moderate to high risk pediatric patients.  The new child-friendly candy apple flavor and unique pump provide a pea-sized dose (.25 mL) with each pump.  Dispensed twice daily, each Just Right 5000 offers a full six months of protection, perfect for recall frequency.  The mess-free design provides dispensing safety and less mess, which parents will appreciate.  For more information, contact Elevate Oral Care, a direct supplier of a full line of prevention-based products, including Advantage Arrest® Silver Diamine Fluoride 38%, FluoriMax™ 2.5% Fluoride Varnish System and FluoriMax 5000™ Adult Prescription Strength Toothpastes.

Young Innovations, a leading global supplier of dental products, today announced the availability of a free comprehensive e-book to support dental offices as they start to reopen following the Covid-19 pandemic. The guide, which is available for free at yng.ink/playbook, contains a range of helpful information for the dental practice including small business guidance, infection control guidelines and practice marketing support.

“We know clinicians are actively seeking information on a range of topics from infection control to loan information to rebooking patients,” said Steve Wright, VP of Marketing for Young Innovations. “We felt the need to give back to an industry that has supported us for over 120 years and that’s why we created this easy-to-digest, comprehensive guide for dental offices as they tackle the unchartered territory associated with returning to work post Covid-19 restrictions.”

About Young Innovations, Inc.

Young Innovations (www.younginnovations.com) is a leading global provider of supplies and equipment used by dentists, hygienists, dental assistants and consumers. Our portfolio of brands includes leading products in the preventive, restorative, orthodontic and endodontic segments. With its mission of Creating Smiles, Creating Possibilities, Young focuses on delivering innovative, high-quality products and solutions to clinicians and their patients. We seek out opportunities to enhance our portfolio of brands and products through organic growth and acquisitions.

Study published in the Journal of Dental Research demonstrates that community water fluoridation is not associated with increased risk of osteosarcoma

The Journal of Dental Research published today the results of a study that demonstrated that community water fluoridation is not associated with increased risk of osteosarcoma.

More than sixty percent of the U.S. population have access to community water fluoridation, considered to be one of the most important public health policies of the twentieth century due to its reduction of tooth decay at the population level. Fluoride ingestion has been suggested as a possible risk factor for osteosarcoma based on a 1990 animal study. Six of the seven subsequent case-control studies in humans reported that fluoride in drinking water was not associated with osteosarcoma.

This study assessed whether living in a fluoridated community was a risk factor for osteosarcoma by performing a secondary data analysis using data collected from two separate, but linked studies. Patients for both Phase 1 and Phase 2 were selected from U.S. hospitals using a hospital-based matched case-control study design. For both phases, cases were patients diagnosed with osteosarcoma and controls were patients diagnosed with other bone tumors or non-neoplastic conditions.

In Phase 1, cases (N=209) and controls (N=440) were patients of record in the participating orthopedic departments from 1989-1993. In Phase 2, cases (N=108) and controls (N=296) were incident patients who were identified and treated by orthopedic physicians from 1994-2000. This analysis included all patients who met eligibility criteria on whom we had complete data on covariates, exposures, and outcome. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association of community water fluoridation with osteosarcoma.

The adjusted OR, for osteosarcoma and ever-having lived in a fluoridated area for non-bottled water drinkers was 0.51(0.31 - 0.84), p=0.008. The same comparison adjusted OR for bottled water drinkers was 1.86 (0.54 - 6.41), p=0.326.

"These results indicate that residence in a fluoridated community is not related to an increase in risk for osteosarcoma after adjusting for race, ethnicity, income, distance from the hospital, urban/rural living status, and drinking bottled water. This should not be surprising given that ingestion of fluoridated water is a common exposure and osteosarcoma remains a rare disease," said Chester Douglass; Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Department of Oral Health Policy and Epidemiology.

View the complete paper at https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0022034520919385 or contact IADR at media@iadr.org.

About the Journal of Dental Research

The IADR/AADR Journal of Dental Research (JDR) is a multidisciplinary journal dedicated to the dissemination of new knowledge in all sciences relevant to dentistry and the oral cavity and associated structures in health and disease. The JDR continues to rank #1 of 90 journals in Eigenfactor with a score of 0.021290, ranks #2 in 2-year Impact Factor of 90 journals in the "Dentistry, Oral Surgery & Medicine" category at 5.125 and ranks #2 of 90 in Article Influence with a score of 1.643.The JDR's 5-year Impact Factor has remained above 5 for the fourth year at 5.722, ranking #2 of 91 journals. With over 20,000 citations, the JDR also boasts the most citations in the "Dentistry, Oral Surgery & Medicine" category -- 4,500 citations above the second ranked journal in the field.

International Association for Dental Research

The International Association for Dental Research (IADR) is a nonprofit organization with over 10,000 individual members worldwide, with a Mission to drive dental, oral and craniofacial research to advance health and well-being worldwide. To learn more, visit https://www.iadr.org. The American Association for Dental Research (AADR) is the largest Division of IADR with 3,100 members in the United States. To learn more, visit https://www.iadr.org/aadr.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued an alert listing safety tips employers can follow to help protect dental industry workers from exposure to the coronavirus.

Measures that can help protect dental practitioners include:

   • Encourage workers to stay home if sick;

   • Maximize use of telemedicine for non-emergency consultations, and prioritize urgent and emergency procedures;

   • Install physical barriers or partitions between patient treatment areas;

   • Provide adequate ventilation and airflow in patient treatment areas so that air moves away from staff work areas;

   • Frequently clean and disinfect surfaces and equipment with hospital-grade, Environmental Protection Agency-approved cleaning chemicals from List N or that have label claims against the coronavirus;

   • Minimize the number of staff present when aerosol-generating procedures are performed and ensure staff who are present are appropriately protected;

   • Provide appropriate personal protective equipment, such as eye goggles, face shields and N95 respirators, as necessary to protect dental practitioners and support personnel; and

   • Encourage workers to report any safety and health concerns.

The new alert is available for download in English and Spanish. Visit this link for more detailed guidance for dental industry workers.

Visit OSHA’s Publications webpage for other useful workplace safety information.

The alert is the latest effort by OSHA to educate and protect America’s workers and employers during the coronavirus pandemic. OSHA has also published Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19, a document aimed at helping workers and employers learn about ways to protect themselves and their workplaces during the ongoing pandemic.

Visit OSHA’s coronavirus webpage frequently for updates. For further information about the coronavirus, please visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to help ensure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit www.osha.gov.

The mission of the Department of Labor is to foster, promote and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers and retirees of the United States; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights.

Invisalign® Virtual Appointment and Invisalign® Virtual Care represent the next level in practice and care transformation, enabling doctors to manage a range of practice services even when they are not in the same physical location as their patients.

Align Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALGN) today announced the availability of virtual solutions that help doctors connect with existing Invisalign patients to ensure continuity of care. Invisalign^® Virtual Appointment and Invisalign^® Virtual Care represent the next level in practice and care transformation, which enable doctors to manage a range of practice services even when they are not in the same physical location as their patients. Until recently, both solutions were in pilot phases but their launch was accelerated to support doctors in managing their practices and patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We recognize the enormous hardship that COVID-19 has caused Invisalign patients around the world and we are working in every region to support doctors’ efforts to strengthen their patients’ experiences with Invisalign treatment and to minimize disruptions to their businesses,” said Joe Hogan, Align Technology CEO. “We also identified opportunities to collaborate with Invisalign practices to manage ongoing cases and explore new ways for doctors to conduct consultations. Early on, many doctors began using video calls, texts, and patient-submitted photos through a variety of platforms to help monitor patient progress, reduce in-office appointments, and ensure continuity of patient care during treatment. It quickly became clear that doctors needed a better way to connect with and monitor patients, so we accelerated the launch of new tools that were still in pilot mode.”

     • The Invisalign Virtual Appointment tool enables doctors to easily schedule and host HIPAA-compliant video appointments with patients. Doctors and their practice staff can schedule a video consultation and discussion Invisalign treatment.

     • Invisalign Virtual Care is built into the My Invisalign app, and can be used for remote consultations, assessment of treatment progress, and to communicate adjustments or concerns during treatment. Patients use the intuitive My Invisalign App to stay engaged in their treatment and convey progress photos to their doctor, who reviews these photos on their Invisalign Doctor Site and communicates any needed instructions to patients, ensuring their Invisalign treatment journey is on track.

Continued Hogan, “These tools represent the next level in practice transformation and work as part of the end to end digital platform for Invisalign treatment. While both tools are still in the early stages of rollout, our goal is to provide doctors with a way to maintain care until patients are again able to visit their doctors’ offices. Feedback to date has been really positive and we believe that doctors will continue using these tools to improve patient experience and increase office efficiencies well after COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted.”

Invisalign Virtual Appointment and Invisalign Virtual Care were launched in the United States and Canada in March and are being expanded in all of our major country markets over the next few weeks.

About Align Technology, Inc.

Align Technology designs and manufactures the Invisalign® system, the most advanced clear aligner system in the world, iTero® intraoral scanners and services, and CAD/CAM software. Align has helped treat over 8 million patients with the Invisalign system and is driving the evolution in digital dentistry with the iTero intraoral scanner and exocad CAD/CAM software − modernizing today’s practices by enabling enhanced digital orthodontic and restorative workflows to improve patient outcomes and practice efficiencies. Visit www.aligntech.com for more information.

For additional information about the Invisalign system or to find an Invisalign doctor in your area, please visit www.invisalign.com. For additional information about the iTero digital scanning system, please visit www.itero.com. For additional information about exocad dental CAD/CAM offerings and a list of exocad reseller partners, please visit www.exocad.com.

Pandemic underscores important role of endodontists and the need to protect them

The American Association of Endodontists – the 8,000-plus-member association representing dental specialists known as endodontists – announced the results of a recent member survey on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The goal of this survey was to gain insights into the impact of COVID-19 on members’ practices, and identify how the AAE, Foundation and industry can support members and their practices,” said AAE President Dr. Alan H. Gluskin.

Findings included that the vast majority of endodontic practices (85 percent) were open for emergencies, and that 39 percent of respondents possessed N95 masks and other exact PPE they need. Another 12 percent did not have N95 masks, but had equivalent filtering facepiece respirators and other PPE. Still another 38 percent were using surgical masks and other PPE to do their best, and nearly 11 percent did not have PPE to provide endodontic care.

Over 56 percent of respondents were taking the temperatures of patients arriving in their offices, in addition to screening them by telephone. With regards to patient volume, most respondents (67 percent) reported less than 25 percent of normal patient volume compared with a typical week in practice.

The survey was distributed via email to 4,332 AAE members in the U.S., in practice and educators. The survey did not include residents or international members. The survey was open from April 14-27 and yielded 468 respondents.

When it came to what respondents would like to see covered in resources from the Association, equipment and supplies -- including masks and other PPE -- ranked highest, followed by treatment recommendations and guidance, as well as the latest scientific information on COVID-19.

This pandemic has underscored the important role of endodontists and the need to protect them as they treat patients in pain and keep them away from emergency rooms.

“The two major themes to glean from these survey results are PPE and financial relief,” Dr. Gluskin said. “This is where we intend to focus much of our attention over the next several months in terms of providing our members with resources and support, and advocating on their behalf for proper PPE.”

Association members and other dental professionals can find a wealth of information and resources at aae.org/covid. The AAE will continue to update the page and communicate pertinent information to its membership and dentistry at large.

About the American Association of Endodontists: The AAE is headquartered in Chicago and represents more than 8,000 members worldwide. Endodontics is one of 12 dental specialties formally recognized by the American Dental Association. The AAE, founded in 1943, is dedicated to excellence in the art and science of endodontics and to the highest standard of patient care. The Association inspires its members to pursue professional advancement and personal fulfillment through education, research, advocacy, leadership, communication and service. For more information about the AAE, visit the Association’s website at aae.org. For more patient focused information, visit aae.org/patients.

The Geier Family from left to right: Jay, Diane, Annabelle, Flint, Jack and Charlotte

In response to private practices across the country being forced to temporarily close their doors, the Geier Family Foundation is pledging $200,000 in grants to provide relief. Jay Geier, founder and CEO of the Scheduling Institute started the Geier Family Foundation with his family to serve individuals and organizations in need. When the Geier Family Foundation learned that the office closures resulted in thousands of front desk team members having an urgent need for financial assistance as they struggle to pay for housing and food without their normal income, they immediately wanted to do something to help. The grants will benefit 400 5-Star Certified team members who work in practices that are Scheduling Institute members during these tough economic times.

“I’d like to announce an extremely exciting initiative we have going on during this time of uncertainty with COVID-19,” Said Flint Geier, Jay Geier’s eldest son. “We’re privileged and honored to announce $200,000 in grants for Scheduling Institute 5-Star Certified Team Members. We wanted to create relief in this time of need for a group of people that we are very grateful for. The 5-Star Certified Team Members have been an integral part of not only the Scheduling Institute’s business, but also my life. For as long as I can remember I knew that my dad (Jay Geier) did one thing … help doctors get more new patients, and these team members are on the front line of that. Being 5-Star Certified not only means that you have successfully completed Scheduling Institute’s core training on the telephones, but that you are committed to on-going accountability for bringing new patients into your practice. We wanted to do something to show our continued support for these dedicated team members.”

The Geier Family Foundation is a non-profit organization that was created to serve individuals and organizations in need. Funds are disbursed annually to a variety of causes. Generosity and gratitude are the motivating forces behind their mission; faith is what determines their path.

Scheduling Institute is the only private practice consultancy that grows independent practices into thriving businesses that can either be sold for maximum value or kept for a lifetime of revenue.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, Darby Dental Supply has continued its commitment to providing value and supporting dental professionals through this time of great uncertainty. With customer success always top of mind, Darby is providing free resources such as webinars, online CE courses, marketing assets and trusted information to help dentists navigate this crisis and safely resume patient care.

“As this situation continues to evolve and dentists need more support than ever before, we remain singularly focused on our commitment to provide not only supplies, but the solutions our customers need,” said Michael Caputo, President of Darby Dental Supply. “Dentists can count on Darby to provide the resources required to resume care, communicate with patients and manage their businesses.”

In addition to remaining fully operational to ensure customers have access to the supplies they need, Darby has teamed up with industry leaders such as OSAP, CareStack and CliftonLarsonAllen to offer an ongoing series of free webinars on timely topics such as infection control, accessing stimulus funds and guidelines to reopen.

Darby is also offering free continuing education (CE) courses to help dentists “Learn, Place and Plant Implants Like a Pro” in conjunction with Alfa Gate implants and esteemed implant educator Dr. Aeklavya Panjali.

As practices across the country look to reopen, Darby has created a suite of downloadable marketing assets for dentists to customize and use to reengage patients. Available for anyone to download on darby.com, this package includes postcards, social media graphics, printable signs and email templates at no cost.

Visit the company’s COVID-19 Resource Center and 2020 COVID-19 Practice Recovery Roadmap for the latest resources, guidelines and information on how Darby is addressing this ever-changing situation. 

About Darby Dental Supply, LLC

Darby Dental Supply, LLC, is one of the largest dental distributors in the United States, shipping over one million orders each year. Headquartered in Jericho, NY, the company was founded in 1947 and has expanded into seven sales offices and three fully-automated distribution centers strategically positioned across the country. As a low impact solutions provider, Darby gives general practitioners and specialty dental practices convenient access to over 50,000 products without interrupting daily workflow. By focusing on world-class service, dedicated customer care and a progressive spirit, Darby helps dental practices across the country operate more efficiently. In addition to physical products, Darby provides innovative and forward-thinking solutions such as a technology services division, capital equipment division, surgical division, equipment repair services and a full line of private label products. For more information, please visit darby.com. 

EndoSequence BC Liner is a next generation bioactive hybrid resin optimized for use with BC Sealer and BC RRM. This versatile, durable (241 MPa) and moisture friendly material is dual cure and chemically bonds to dentin without the need for a bonding agent. The new Blue color version is optimal for orifice barriers and allows the clinician to easily visualize the material upon re-entry into the pulp chamber. Furthermore, the cost per application is less than half of market leader for colored orifice barriers.

For more information or to order call 800-841-4522 or visit Shop.BrasselerUSA.com