Penn Dental Medicine faculty explore some of the latest advances in the field of dental medicine in a new course that has launched on Coursera, the global online learning platform. The course, Frontiers in Dentistry, focuses on five distinct areas that have gone through significant transformation recently and the therapeutic and scientific innovations in each moving oral health care delivery forward.

The course, which takes approximately four hours to complete, includes a course introduction followed by five modules. The topics include:

• The Center for Innovation & Precision Dentistry (CiPD), a collaboration with Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, to develop cutting-edge yet affordable approaches to address unmet oral health needs, with Dr. Michel Koo, co-Director of the CiPD.

• Treatment of Patients with Disabilities with Dr. Miriam Robbins, Director of Penn Dental Medicine’s Care Center for Persons with Disabilities

• Innovations in Biomaterials and Artificial Intelligence with Dr. Markus Blatz, Chair, Department of Preventive & Restorative Sciences

•. Digital Dentistry with Dr. Julian Conejo, Director of Chairside Digital Dentistry

•. Computer Assisted Orthodontics with Dr. Sam Kadan, Clinical Associate in Orthodontics

 Each module includes an interview-style video with supporting visuals and accompanying quiz material, as well as any suggested supplementary reading or documents provided by the speaker. The course can be taken at any time on the schedule of participants. Participants can choose to receive a certificate on completion or audit the course free of charge.

“We are thrilled to be adding to our Coursera course offerings,” says Dr. Uri Hangorsky, the course director, who conducted the interviews with the featured faculty in each of the course modules. The other Penn Dental Medicine Coursera courses include The Oral Cavity: Portal to Health and Disease and Introduction to Dental Medicine.

In a bipartisan effort supported by the American Association of Endodontists (AAE), U.S. Representatives Tony Cárdenas (CA-29), Gus Bilirakis (FL-12) and Senators Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Susan Collins (R-ME) reintroduced legislation on Tuesday, February 14 to address oral health.

The measure, H.R. 994, titled the Oral Health Literacy and Awareness Act of 2023 instructs the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to develop an oral health literacy strategy for underserved communities and aims to stop the rise of oral disease and related illnesses through a five-year oral health literacy campaign.

"Dental health is about more than just appearances; it's a critical aspect of overall well-being," said Dr. Stefan I. Zweig, President of the American Association of Endodontists. "Neglecting oral health can have serious negative effects on our physical and mental health. As endodontists, we are committed to safeguarding our patients' oral health and promoting the preservation of their natural teeth. We're thrilled that Congress is taking up this important issue, and we proudly support this proposal alongside organized dentistry."

The Oral Health Literacy and Awareness Act is also endorsed by:

Academy of General Dentistry

American College of Prosthodontists

American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research

American Student Dental Association

American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons

American Association of Orthodontists

American Dental Association

American Society of Dental Anesthesiologists

American Academy of Periodontology

American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry

Delta Dental Plans Association

Despite bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress, the measure still needs to go through the legislative process. The AAE will work with its stakeholders in organized dentistry to monitor this important proposal and may direct grass roots action. For more information about the Association's advocacy efforts, please visit aae.org/advocacy or email: advocacy@aae.org. 

· Sunstar partners up again with the International Federation of Dental Hygienists (IFDH) to re-launch the World Dental Hygienist Awards

· A new European Award of Distinction has been announced together with the European Dental Hygienist Federation (EDHF), in parallel with the North American Award of Distinction. Both act as a qualifying round for the World Dental Hygienist Awards

· The European and North American regional awards are now open for entries

Sunstar, the international oral healthcare company, has announced the return of the World Dental Hygienist Awards (WDHA), after a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. First established in 2007, the WDHA recognises and honours the work and accomplishments of dental hygienists who have made significant contributions to the dental hygiene field.

“IFDH is proud to continue its involvement with Sunstar since the very beginning of this valuable program in 2007,” said Wanda Fedora, President of the International Federation of Dental Hygienists. “The only global meeting place for Dental Hygienists – the International Symposium of Dental Hygiene (ISDH) – has provided a unique and appropriate setting for the excitement when these distinguished awards are announced.”

Ahead of the WDHA, which will take place in 2024, a new regional Award of Distinction has been created in partnership with the European Dental Hygienist Federation (EDHF) and supported by the Sunstar Foundation to celebrate the achievements of European dental hygienists. The European Award of Distinction is now open for nominations with Sunstar and the EDHF calling for entries from qualified dental hygienists. Hygienists can either nominate themselves or a colleague, as long as they, or the person they are nominating, are officially registered dental hygienists. A similar award program has run in North America, in partnership with RDH Magazine since 2002.

“EDHF is proud to be a partner of SUNSTAR in setting up the European Award of Distinction as a qualifying award for the World Dental Hygienists Award in 2024,” said Dr Gitana Rederiene, President of the European Dental Hygienists Federation. “This award recognizes and honours the work and accomplishments of dental hygienists who have made significant contributions to the dental hygiene field and the impact on promoting oral health to society.”

Both the European and North America Award of Distinction programs act as a ‘qualification round’ to the WDHA program. Professionals outside of the European or the North American region are still eligible to compete for the WDHA and can apply directly on the Sunstar Foundation website, without a proceeding competition. Both the Regional Awards of Distinction and the WDHA are split into six categories in which the nominee can choose from either: Public Health, Full Time Clinician, Academia, Entrepreneur, New RDH and Research.

Mayumi Kaneda, Director of the Sunstar Foundation, said: “We are delighted to announce that the World Dental Hygienist Awards will be returning in 2024 as the sixth edition of the awards, along with the introduction of the new European region category. To acknowledge and recognise the significant efforts of worldwide registered dental hygienists is incredibly motivating and inspiring to not only the current industry, but to the past and future professionals too, and we look forward to welcoming all entries.”

The deadline for both the European and North American Award of Distinction programs is March 31, 2023. All nominations across the six categories will be judged by independent selection committees; details on the prizes can be found on the website. Each winner will automatically qualify for the International Symposium on Dental Hygiene (ISDH) in Seoul, South Korea, in 2024 where the World Dental Hygienist Award ceremony will be held.

Dental hygienists can find more information on the European Award of Distinction, the North American Award of Distinction, and the World Dental Hygienist Awards by visiting

https://www.sunstar-foundation.org/en/awards/world-hygienist

Passion for the profession inspires affordable and flexible training opportunities for dental technicians.

Current dental technicians around the country confess their lab training was less than formal and yet they are expected to produce at full speed in a very short time. The current method of training typically consists of learning on the job, looking over someone’s shoulder as the new technician is programmed to perform a task, never understanding why. Should a trainee ever question a process, they are commonly replied with “that’s just how we do it” or “don’t ask why, just do it”.

Dental laboratories are rapidly growing in business, especially as production transitions from analog to digital. No one has time to explain oral physiology in the lab, especially when there are due dates, quick turn-around times, and sales goals to meet. Some dental technicians feel it unnecessary to understand anatomy and physiology if the work is produced according to the instructions given to the technician on their first week after on-boarding… two years ago. Sound familiar?

Without an organized training curriculum, we indirectly promote technicians to abandon explicit work instructions because they discover their own ways to work faster or make their job easier, never understanding how their modifications can alter a scientific process. So, how can technicians be provided with formal training without sacrificing valuable production time, or risking the return on the training investment? Training programs need to be embraced as a benefit to the dental lab profession. The profession needs to empower dental technicians with knowledge to contribute to a dental restorative team. Precise training curriculums inspire technicians to want to learn more and advance their careers alongside the people who supported their endeavors.

DLT Training & Education was developed to help the profession as a whole. The courses are designed with the working dental professional in mind. The one that is passionate about their career but seeks training at a price and schedule that is convenient for them. DLT Training & Education is for any dental professional eager to learn dental fundamentals on which they continue to build their career. The educational service is recommended for clinical assistants or laboratory techs; analog or digital; novice or experienced; current CDTs or CDT candidates; one-on-one or group. DLT Training & Education can assist laboratories needing a trainer without on-boarding full time. There are several courses from which to select that are affordable and offered on a flexible schedule.

Lancaster, NH-based Business Aims to Grow Consumer and Professional Business Lines with Support of Award-Winning Maine Agency

Dental Herb Company, based in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, has selected Rinck Advertising of Lewiston, Maine, as its new Agency of Record. The full-service agency will provide strategic support, creative concepting, media planning and buying, content creation, community management, public relations, and influencer marketing services as the oral care brand aims to reach new audiences in both the consumer and dental professionals markets.

Since 1996, Dental Herb Company has strived to be a leader in natural oral health by innovating effective solutions and inspiring every person to understand why a healthy mouth is vital to their well-being. The company’s products, ranging from mouthwash, toothpaste, oral gel, and breath spray, are available via the company’s website, as well as via major retailers such as Amazon and Walmart.

Rinck will be charged with building new audiences and conveying the benefits of Dental Herb products, grounded in their “Truly Natural” ingredients, that provide effective, therapeutic, and professional strength oral care.

“We are very excited to get to work with the Rinck team,” said Tyler Rancourt, Dental Herb VP and General Manager. “We were really impressed by the agency’s track record of building brands and helping expand e-commerce presence with proven methods.”

Rinck, which was founded in 2001, serves clients in a variety of categories including government, higher education, restaurant service, transportation, banking, healthcare, non-profits, tourism, and consumer packaged goods, with clients in the latter category including major brands such as Dove, Vaseline, Colman’s Mustard, and VetriScience and Pet Naturals pet supplements. The agency has demonstrated results, helping to grow sales and create new audiences using ever-evolving tactics and creative strategies.

“We’re excited to put our passion behind building Dental Herb Company,” said Amanda Frost, Vice President Account Service. “The benefit of being a full-service agency with decades of experience growing businesses is that we can look at a brand like Dental Herb and know with confidence that we have the tools to help them reach their potential.”  

Financial donation targets dental outreach to children in need in Cambodia

exocad, an Align Technology, Inc. company and a leading dental CAD/CAM software provider, donated 10,000 euros to the Germany-based nonprofit Mini Molars Cambodia e.V. A portion of the donation included proceeds collected during a charitable T-shirt sales campaign held at the exocad event “Insights 2022” and donations from exocad employees worldwide.

Mini Molars representatives said the donation will be used to support the organization’s work providing dental care to children in Cambodia without regular access to dental care. “We see many children who have been in chronic pain and unable to attend school because of dental problems,” said Mini Molars founder and dentist Dr. Ulf Zuschlag. “This donation will help more than 600 children onto a healthier and happier path.” Mini Molars began in 2015 with the goal to help develop a sustainable oral health program in Cambodia, targeting underprivileged children who live in Phnom Penh and surrounding communities with the greatest need.

exocad is proud to contribute to this worthy endeavor. “Young people are among the most vulnerable populations suffering from oral health disease,” said Novica Savic, CCO and general manager at exocad. “We’re glad we can support Mini Molars’ outreach to those who have the greatest need for dental care.”

Mini Molars provides dental care at a pagoda in Phnom Penh that hosts other aid projects and serves children from schools. Mini Molars workers also travel with mobile treatment units to communities throughout Cambodia to bring dental care to those in need.

Additional information is available at https://www.minimolars.de/english-1/

FDA 510k-cleared 3D print resin for clear thermo-flexible therapeutic splints and night guards

VOCO is proud to present V-Print Splint Comfort, their new FDA 510k-cleared biocompatible 3D printing resin for the production of clear, strong thermo-flexible therapeutic splints and night guards that are durable and esthetic.

V-Print Splint Comfort thermo-flexible resin allows for a precise fit to the teeth for optimal patient comfort. The high flexural strength and excellent wear resistance permits the fabrication of devices as thin as 1mm. The easy-to-polish V-Print Splint Comfort is clear, color-stable and odorless. All V-Print resins are sedimentation-free and therefore do not require shaking or “rolling” prior to use.

V-Print Splint is part of a large and growing line of 3D printer materials from VOCO, and is engineered to work with, as well as validated for, a growing number of open-source 3D printers that include Asiga, Ackuretta, Dental Wings, RapidShape, Microlay, MiiCraft, Shera, Straumann and Solflex. And like all V-Print resins, it is included in the design software from 3Shape and Exocad.

Funding matches Alabama Research and Development Enhancement Fund (ARDEF) grant to Kyounga Cheon, D.M.D., M.S., Associate Professor at the School of Dentistry, University of Alabama, Birmingham to develop a novel bioactive dental pulp capping (DPC) material

Endomimetics, the developer of Bionanomatrix™, a peptide-based biomaterial to promote healing and improve outcomes following medical device implantation and other procedures, announced today a collaboration with BISCO, Inc., to support development of a dental application for the Endomimetics’ Bionanomatrix™ technology. BISCO is a company dedicated to improving the ability to bond dental restorations. The $350,000 in funding provided by Endomimetics and BISCO match an Alabama Research and Development Enhancement Fund (ARDEF) grant to support research that will be conducted in the laboratory of Kyounga Cheon, D.M.D., M.S., Associate Professor of Dentistry, Department of Pediatric Dentistry, University of Alabama, Birmingham (UAB). The total funding of $700,000 will be used to develop a novel bioactive Direct Pulp Capping (DPC) material using Endomimetics Bionanomatrix™ to better treat dental caries and other dental ailments.

“Our Bionanomatrix™ technology is designed to improve healing and patient outcomes for a wide range of devices and surgical applications,” said Joseph Garner, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Endomimetics. “In dentistry, conventional DPC materials have several shortcomings that limit their clinical utility. The matching funds provided by Endomimetics and BISCO for Dr. Cheon’s ARDEF grant will provide additional support for her research and, hopefully, result in a viable product candidate to improve dental care. The collaboration with BISCO is part of our core strategy to develop the candidate applications of the Bionanaomatrix™ and partner with industry leaders to advance those candidates through clinical development and, if successful, to patients.”

The project focuses on developing a novel DPC material by improving bioactivity of pulp tissue while achieving ideal mechanical properties. Conventional DPC materials have shown high solubility, low sealing capacity, weak physical properties, uncontrolled pulp necrosis, and unpredictable clinical success. Although recent bioceramic materials have been developed to improve clinical outcomes with moderate clinical success, bioactive function to induce the formation of a mineralized barrier (reparative dentin) without pulp necrosis, antimicrobial/anti-inflammatory capacity, physical-mechanical properties (i.e., sealing capacity, pH control, discoloration, and setting time), and cost effectiveness of these DPC materials still needs to be improved. To address the current limitations and improve the capacity to maintain pulp vitality, the development of a novel bioactive DPC material is proposed, utilizing the innovative coating technology of the Bionanomatrix™.

The ARDEF was established by the Alabama Innovation Act (AIA) is administered by Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) for the purpose of encouraging new and continuing efforts to conduct research and development activities within Alabama. The development of the bioactive DPC began in early 2023 and is expected to run for two years.

About Endomimetics:

Endomimetics is a privately held Company founded to develop applications for its proprietary Bionanomatrix™ technology. Bionanomatrix™, invented by bioengineering scientists at the University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB), is a peptide-based coating that can be engineered to perform a variety of functions, which may have broad application in medical device implantation and other surgical procedures. Endomimetics plans to develop different applications through preclinical development then partner with medical device companies whose technology could benefit from Bionanomatrix™. The Company’s lead indication is the AVF GEL, which is designed to improve the maturation of arteriovenous fistulas. Other indications include coatings on stents and angioplasty balloons, dental direct pulp capping (DPC) and flow diverters. Additional information may be found on the Company’s website https://endomimetics.com/.

Roland DGA’s DGSHAPE Americas business group, a leading provider of advanced dental milling solutions, 3D printers, and accessories for laboratories and clinicians, has entered into a new strategic nationwide partnership with HASS Bio America, a top manufacturer of glass ceramic solutions for preventative, restorative, cosmetic, and prosthetic dentistry.

To kick off the strategic partnership, Roland DGA is now offering a co-branded variation of HASS Bio America’s Amber Mill Direct – Amber Mill Direct, Powered by Roland DGA – directly to its clients and distributors. Amber Mill Direct, “Powered by Roland” is a pre-crystallized CAD/CAM lithium disilicate block that does not need to be fired and is configured for optimized fabrication on Roland DGA’s DGSHAPE DWX-42W chairside milling solution.

The Amber Mill Direct, Powered by Roland DGA is the next-generation block that evolved from HASS’ success with Amber Mill, a lithium disilicate block that features freedom of translucency – a proprietary method of changing the translucency of the block by simply changing the oven schedule. Other advantages of the Amber Mill Direct include consistent, highly aesthetic, and durable restorations with extremely smooth margins and gradated strengths that differ from incisal to cervical, allowing for the most life-like restoration possible.

The DGSHAPE DWX-42W chairside milling solution is uniquely equipped to mill glass ceramics like Amber Mill Direct, as well as nano-composite hybrid materials, for quick, cost-effective, and precise restorations. An intelligent machine, it boasts a high-speed, all-metal spindle, an Automatic Tool Changer (ATC) with 6 stations, ethernet LAN connectivity, included VPanel for easy monitoring of milling jobs and tools, and a host of additional cutting-edge features.

"We’re excited about partnering with HASS,” said Roland DGA Dental Marketing Manager Lisa Aguirre. “The powerful combination of our state-of-the-art DWX-42W chairside milling solution and the new Amber Mill Direct, Powered by Roland DGA significantly streamlines the chairside digital workflow and increases in-office restorative capabilities. Equipped with both, clinicians can deliver precise restorations in just one visit.”

To learn more about the DWX-42W chairside milling solution, or the complete DGSHAPE dental product line, visit www.dgshapeamericas.com. For more information on HASS Bio America, visit https://www.hassbioamerica.com. 

exocad to offer in-depth looks at its latest software innovations with interactive stations

exocad, an Align Technology, Inc. company and a leading dental CAD/CAM software provider, today announced its participation at the International Dental Show (IDS) 2023, taking place March 14–18 in Cologne, Germany. exocad will showcase its newest series of 3.1 Rijeka software releases and demonstrate planning, design, and restoration workflows for dental technicians and dentists at the exhibition center’s hall 1, booth A040 / C041, right next to the Align Technology’s booth.

"IDS is one of our most anticipated events because of the fantastic opportunity it provides to connect and hear from our global dental community," said exocad CEO Tillmann Steinbrecher. "This year will be especially memorable as we move our expanded on-site activities into the exhibition center's brand-new hall 1."

exocad plans a diverse program at IDS for attendees to experience and learn about its latest releases. With a focus on patient experience and case acceptance, exocad will run its live Smile Creator Experience, a full smile design workshop that demonstrates how Smile Creator can help improve communication and predictability along the restoration workflow. More than two dozen top application specialists will run 11 demo stations to answer questions and present exocad’s most recent software releases. Renowned dental trailblazers Dr. Gulshan Murgai and Prof. Dr. Guilherme Saavedra will offer first-hand experience on how to effectively implement exocad software solutions into daily practice.

exocad will be at booth A040 /C041 in hall 1.

Additional information is available at exocad.com/ids