Outstanding Contributions To Dentistry Honoured - British Dental Association
The Peterborough Dental Access Centre was last night named as the third winner of the British Dental Association (BDA) Good Practice Scheme Practice-of-the-Year Award. The award, open to all members of the BDA Good Practice Scheme, recognises outstanding commitment to patient care by the whole dental team. The winning team was applauded for delivering a comprehensive range of NHS services to a population primarily with high needs, seven days a week.

American Dental Association Petitions FDA To Classify, Regulate Tooth-Whitening Products
The American Dental Association (ADA) asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to establish appropriate classifications for tooth-whitening chemicals. Citing concern about the safety of whitening products that are often administered without the benefit of professional consultation or examination by a dentist, the Association said that the application of chemically based tooth whitening or bleaching agents can harm teeth, gums and other tissues in the mouth.

ADA Launches Community Dental Health Coordinator Pilot Program At Temple University
The American Dental Association (ADA) has signed an agreement with Temple University to train new dental team members as part of a pilot program to improve the oral health in underserved communities. The Community Dental Health Coordinator (CDHC) is a member of the dental health team who works in communities where residents have limited access to dental care to improve their oral health.

Dentists Can Help To Identify Patients At Risk Of A Heart Attack
"Dentists are really proud of their profession and feel no need to encroach upon doctors' territory," says senior dental officer and professor Mats Jontell at the Sahlgrenska Academy. "However, we wanted to find out if we as a profession could identify patients at risk of cardiovascular disease." The study involved 200 men and women over the age of 45 who did not have any known cardiovascular problems.

Multiple Sclerosis May Be Triggered By Factors From Common Human Bacteria
Current research suggests that a common oral bacterium may exacerbate autoimmune disease. The related report by Nichols et al, "Unique Lipids from a Common Human Bacterium Represent a New Class of TLR2 Ligands Capable of Enhancing Autoimmunity," appears in the December 2009 issue of The American Journal of Pathology. Multiple sclerosis (MS), a disease where the immune system attacks the brain and spinal cord, affects nearly 1 in 700 people in the United States.

Children Who Lack Continuity With A Regular Health Care Provider Miss Needed Services
Low-income children who don't access health care from the same place or provider over the long term are significantly more likely to have unmet health care needs compared with those who do, according to a new study published in the journal Pediatrics. Studies like this are crucial to informing the financing and delivery of quality health care for children, the researchers report.

California Issues Strict Rules For Health Professionals With Addiction Problems
News outlets report on a variety of health issues at the state level including stricter rules for drug abusers in the health industry in California, an examination of the nation's first city-run universal health care plan in San Francisco, a cigarette tax in Florida, sex offenders and ex-convicts in nursing homes in Illinois and efforts to battle medical errors in New Jersey.

News From The Journals Of The American Society For Microbiology
Bacterially Produced Antifungal on Skin of Amphibians May Protect Against Lethal Fungus A new study suggests that naturally occurring bacteria on the skin of salamanders could help protect other amphibians, including some species of endangered frogs, from a lethal skin disease.

British Dental Association Calls For NICE Evaluation Of Decontamination Evidence Base, UK
The British Dental Association (BDA) has called once again for a full review of the evidence base for the HTM 01-05 guidance document on decontamination in dental surgeries. The BDA has written to the Department of Health (DH) renewing its 2007 call for a National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) review of the evidence, after it emerged that three areas of the guidance have already been amended before the document is even printed.

Dental Access Contract Still Unsuitable As Changes Do Not Go Far Enough Says GDPC, UK
The unnecessarily complex contracts for dental access funding make them risky and inappropriate for dental practice, despite some changes made by the Department of Health (DH), the BDA's General Dental Practice Committee (GDPC) has said today. The final version of the 'PDS+' agreement developed for the current round of dental access procurement has been published today by DH. It runs to nearly 50 pages and 17 schedules.

Mouth Is Indicator Of Overall Health, Says Dental School Professor
One day in medical clinics, the big picture of a patient's state of health may be found in little pictures from the mouth, says Li Mao, MD, a new professor at the University of Maryland Dental School. The mouth or oral cavity area is an excellent indicator of the whole body's health, says Mao, who is the chair of the new Department of Oncology and Diagnostic Sciences at the School.

Find Dental CAD/CAM Treasure At Dental Showcase 2009, UK
Renishaw, the world's largest supplier of in-lab CAD/CAM scanning machines (hall 6 stand Q18), will highlight its new inciseTM dental milling system which enables dental laboratories of all sizes to manufacture truly low cost zirconia frameworks in-house.

New Study Shows That Dentists Can Predict Heart Disease - Before It Happens!
In a remarkable study in Sweden, dentists have led the way in a study designed to spot the early-warning signs of cardiovascular disease - which can lead to heart attacks.

Replacing Amalgam In Fillings
Tooth enamel is the hardest material in the human body because it's made almost entirely of minerals. As tough as it may be, however, enamel can be broken down by bacteria, forming cavities and eventually destroying the tooth. That's why dentists repair cavities by filling them with a material to replace the lost enamel. The most common such restorative is a material invented in the 19th-century known as amalgam -- the classic silver-black fillings many people have.

Form Of Mercury In Older Dental Fillings Unlikely To Be Toxic
Amid the on-going controversy over the safety of mercury-containing dental fillings, a University of Saskatchewan research team has shed new light on how the chemical forms of mercury at the surface of fillings change over time. Their work, just published in the American Chemical Society journal Chemical Research in Toxicology, shows that the surface forms of mercury in older "silver" fillings (also known as amalgams) may be less toxic than previously thought.

ADEA's Jeanne C. Sinkford, D.D.S., Ph.D., To Receive Herbert W. Nickens Award From The Association Of American Medical Colleges
Jeanne C. Sinkford, D.D.S., Ph.D., will receive national recognition for her outstanding contributions to promoting justice in medical education and health care as the recipient of the 2009 Herbert W. Nickens Award. She will be one of nine individuals and one medical school recognized for contributions to medical education on November 7, during the Association of American Medical Colleges' (AAMC) annual meeting. "Dr.

British Dental Association Attacks Unacceptable And Growing Chasm" In Oral Health Inequalities
An "unacceptable and growing chasm" exists in the UK between those with good and poor oral health, according to the British Dental Association's (BDA's) Oral Health Inequalities Policy which is published today. The policy highlights the close association between low socio-economic status and poor oral health, calling for more focus on preventive care. It also says there should be a more integrated approach to oral health from health and social care providers.

What Is A Dental Abscess? What Causes Dental Abscesses?
A dental abscess, or tooth abscess, is an accumulation of pus that forms inside the teeth or gums. The abscess typically originates from a bacterial infection, often one that has accumulated in the soft pulp of the tooth. Bacteria exist in plaque, a by-product of food, saliva and bacteria in the mouth which sticks to the teeth and damages them, as well as the gums.

Grand Opportunity Grant Funds Rapid Saliva Test Using Lab-On-A-Chip
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded researchers in Rice University's new BioScience Research Collaborative (BRC) a $2 million Grand Opportunity (GO) grant to develop a fast, inexpensive test for oral cancer that a dentist could perform simply by using a brush to collect a small sample of cells from a patient's mouth.

Study Suggests Dentists Can Identify Patients At Risk For Fatal Cardiovascular Event
A new study indicates dentists can play a potentially life-saving role in health care by identifying patients at risk of fatal heart attacks and referring them to physicians for further evaluation.

Hybrid Composite For Root Canal Treatment
Unrelenting toothache means a visit to the dentist is inevitable, and if the tooth decay is really bad root canal treatment is often the only option. The dentist first removes the nerve completely and then closes the ensuing canal with a filler. This must be airtight to prevent bacteria from entering and causing renewed inflammation. On the other hand, the material must also be removable.

IDF Guideline On Oral Health For People With Diabetes Supported By AAP
New clinical guidelines released by the International Diabetes Foundation (IDF) emphasize the importance of periodontal health for people with diabetes. Diabetes affects approximately 246 million people worldwide, and this number is only expected to increase. The IDF is an organization of 200 national diabetes associations from 160 countries.

State Watch: Virginia's Pharmacy For Mentally Ill, Michigan Dental Care Lawsuit, Rhode Island Insurers
In today's state watch, Virginia plans to close a pharmacy for the mentally ill, Medicaid patients in Michigan are suing over dental care and Rhode Island reports that insurers remain relatively healthy.

People From Ohio And Georgia Pay Less For Dental Care Than The National Average
The annual amount spent by Georgians and Ohioans or their insurers for dental care in 2006 averaged about $150 less than the national average of $607, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The average annual dental expenditure for each Georgian who had dental care was $466, while for Ohioans, it was $474.

BDA Attacks 'Unacceptable And Growing Chasm' In Oral Health Inequalities, UK
An "unacceptable and growing chasm" exists in the UK between those with good and poor oral health, according to the British Dental Association's (BDA's) Oral Health Inequalities Policy which is published today. The policy highlights the close association between low socio-economic status and poor oral health, calling for more focus on preventive care. It also says there should be a more integrated approach to oral health from health and social care providers.