Industry Insider
Landmark Dialogue on Periodontal Disease and Systemic Health Scheduled at The New York Academy of Sciences
On January 18, 2008, Columbia University College of Dental Medicine, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, The New York Academy of Sciences, and the National Periodontal Disease Coalition will sponsor a 1-day symposium, From Basic Science to Clinical Practice and Policy: A Medical-Dental Dialogue on the Relationship between Periodontal Disease and Systemic Health. The goal of this symposium is to discuss prospective research linking oral-systemic health using formal presentations and interactive audience-incorporated panel discussions. Sessions will examine the oral systemic link in cardiac disease, renal disease, and during pregnancy. Each session will conclude with a formal discussion using an audio response system. This will generate real-time responses from all participants and it is anticipated that this will open up the discussions and enhance the learning experience for participants. During the final session, focused on policy and education, speakers will discuss current and future mechanisms to improve communication, collaboration, and education regarding these interlinking fields of healthcare. This program is designed to facilitate multidisciplinary collaboration. Physicians, dentists, basic and translational investigators, healthcare organization administrators, and all healthcare professionals are urged to attend. The event is supported by Aetna Dental, Colgate Oral Pharmaceuticals, Johnson and Johnson Oral Health Care Products, Oral Health America, and OraPharma, Inc. For more information, please visit: www.nyas.org/oshconf.
Howard University College of Dentistry Receives $2.2 Million from Health Resources and Services Administration
The Health Resources and Services Administration has awarded Howard University College of Dentistry $2,195,800 over a 3-year span in support of its Pediatric Dentistry Residency Program. Funding of the Advanced Education Program in Pediatric Dentistry (AEPPD) will facilitate an increase in much-needed community outreach efforts and develop culturally competent oral healthcare professionals in pediatric dentistry who, as a result, will provide care to the underserved, uninsured, and underinsured populations in the United States and the global community.
“This generous funding enables our continuous efforts to attract the best and brightest African-American and other underprivileged students to Howard in our quest to reduce oral health disparities in the pediatric population in underserved communities,” said Leo E. Rouse, DDS, FACD, dean of Howard University College of Dentistry.
Disparities in oral healthcare across the country have been raised to the forefront in recent months, spearheaded by news of the death of a 12-year-old from Maryland who died from untreated dental decay. A bill that would strengthen dental care for children of working poor persons will soon be considered by members of Congress.
The grant provides stipends and tuition/fees for six first-year and six second-year dentistry residents. Other facilities providing support to the program include Howard University Hospital Children’s National Medical Center, The Spanish Catholic Health Center, The HSC Pediatric Center, and Howard University College of Medicine.
Presently, 80% of all African-American pediatric dentists have been trained at Howard University College of Dentistry, located in the inner city in the midst of a large African-American and Hispanic population. The 2004/2005 American Dental Association survey of minority enrollment in AEPPD in dental schools reveals that of the total of 394 positions available, 27 were filled by African Americans, 41 by Hispanics, 83 by Asians, and one by a Native American.
Howard University is one of 48 US private, doctoral/research-extensive universities and comprises 12 schools and colleges. Founded in 1867, students pursue studies in more than 120 areas leading to undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees. Since 1998, the University has produced two Rhodes Scholars, a Truman Scholar, 19 Fulbright Scholars, and 10 Pickering Fellows. Howard also produces more on-campus African-American PhDs than any other university in the world. For more information about Howard University, call 202-238-2330 or visit the University's Web site at www.Howard.edu.
Zest Anchors, Inc (Escondido, CA) celebrated its 30th company anniversary on November 17th. Founded in 1977 by Max Zuest after selling Zuest Dental Laboratory, the company manufactured the original Zest Anchor Attachment for roots. The company, now managed by the son, Paul Zuest, is responsible for the worldwide manufacturing of the top-selling Locator® Attachment System. Zest Anchors, Inc has recently expanded their machining operations into a second, 17,000 square foot new building near the company headquarters in Escondido.
The company will celebrate its milestone of 30 years in the dental industry by taking all of its employees and their spouses on a 4-day cruise to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, from December 6th through 10th.
For more information and the complete story of the company, visit their website at www.zestanchors.com.
Dates Set for “the Legal Aspects of Dentistry” Conference
The “Legal Aspects of Dentistry Conference” as part of the “Standards of Excellence in Medicine” annual meeting of the American College of Legal Medicine will be February 29 to March 2, 2008, in Houston, Texas. There will be 23 presentations of key dentistry and law issues as well as many seminars about medicine and the law issues. For additional information, visit www.aclm.org or call the American College of Legal Medicine at 847-969-0283.
More than 50 Authorized Lava™ Milling Center clients gathered August 23rd and 24th to attend the 3M ESPE (St. Paul, MN) Authorized Lava Milling Center Conference held at the new 3M Innovation Center. The conference gave attendees the opportunity to collaborate with 3M ESPE on the future of digital dentistry and learn about exciting new technologies in the R&D pipeline. Participants also were treated to the 3M World of Innovation Tour, an impressive presentation of visual displays and hands-on demonstration stations, to gain a greater understanding of 3M’s research and development model of collaborating across the entire corporation to create innovative products.
“The conference provided the ideal forum to reinforce our partnership with milling centers by sharing our vision for the future and introducing our Lava Precision Solutions umbrella brand,” said Jim Buchanan, US sales and marketing manager, 3M ESPE. “We will continue to strengthen the brand by partnering with our milling centers and by helping to improve productivity and automation as we roll out new technology.”
The conference began with Jeff Lavers, 3M ESPE division vice president, who discussed 3M ESPE’s commitment to digital dentistry and was followed by Wayne Roen, business director of digital restorative dentistry, who presented 3M ESPE’s vision for the digital workflow. Overall, 10 interactive presentations, ranging from product demonstrations to technological alternatives, were given.
With their minds on groundbreaking innovation, participants were given a live demonstration of 3M ESPE’s newest technology—the 3M ESPE Lava Chairside Oral Scanner C.O.S.—and learned of 3M ESPE’s plans to partner with them as the device is rolled out in 2008. Other key presentations discussed the new Lava Design 4.0 Software upgrades and the important differences between types of zirconia.
As the world of digital dentistry and digital workflow develops, collaboration between industry-leading manufacturers and customer partners is imperative to the success of these new technologies. The 3M ESPE Authorized Lava Milling Center Conference created the opportunity to build upon these partnerships to ensure the successful future of digital dentistry and digital workflow.
3M ESPE Evolves the Lava™ Brand to Become the Company’s Global Digital Restoratives Brand
Intending to extend the company’s reach into the digital restorative dental space, 3M ESPE (St. Paul, MN) announces the extension of the Lava™ Brand.
“For us, it was a logical step to further define and extend the Lava brand,” said Jeff Lavers, division vice president, 3M ESPE. “The brand’s solid reputation enables us to extend the Lava brand into new and exciting technologies like the upcoming Lava™ Chairside Oral Scanner C.O.S.”
The entire Lava portfolio is now called Lava Precision Solutions and provides a heightened level of energy and focus to the vision of the organization. It also provides a consistent and clear message that shows the commitment of 3M ESPE to the growing digital restorative space.
Extending the Lava brand in this way communicates 3M ESPE’s strength in both material science and digital technology and its capability to integrate both. This new approach to the Lava brand captures the company’s unique ability to provide customers with innovative and integrated end-to-end digital workflow solutions. These solutions are aimed at improving dental practices and labs, as well as optimizing outcomes for their patients and customers.
With the market becoming more and more cluttered with products that only offer one piece of the digital workflow, an open, integrated solution can help customers confidently move from a conventional way of practicing oral care to a new, digital one. A complete digital workflow solution is a key for success and 3M ESPE is well positioned for that today and tomorrow.
Zila Product Selected to Identify Pre-Cancer in Study of Leading Cancer Treatment Chemotherapeutic ERBITUX
Zila, Inc’s (Phoenix, AZ) ViziLite® Plus with TBlue630™, a screening system for early detection of abnormalities that can lead to oral cancer, has been selected to identify pre-cancerous lesions in a Phase II study of Cetuximab (ERBITUX®), a leading cancer therapeutic for head and neck cancer developed by ImClone Systems and distributed by Bristol-Myers Squibb.
The National Institutes of Health has awarded a Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant for the study. The primary objective of the clinical trial is to evaluate ERBITUX efficacy in treating upper aerodigestive pre-cancer. ERBITUX is currently marketed for the treatment of head and neck cancer (including upper aerodigestive) as well as metastatic colorectal cancer.
Dr. Frank J. Bellizzi, president of Zila Pharmaceuticals, said “We are pleased that Zila's ViziLite Plus with TBlue630 has been selected for use in this clinical trial. The use of ViziLite Plus in such an important study with the leading head and neck cancer therapeutic demonstrates its growing reputation as the premier oral cancer screening technology.”
The coordinating center for the study is The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University. The protocol chairman is Joseph Califano, MD, of the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.
Over 30 clinical investigators at key academic research institutions and cancer research centers are scheduled to participate in the study. The Phase II study is anticipated to enroll and evaluate approximately 60 patients over a 3-year period. Patients will be evaluated clinically and biopsies will be taken pre- and post-treatment. The biopsies will be analyzed histopathologically, but will also be analyzed for genetic changes using Zila's proprietary LOH assay, the only validated method for identifying biomarkers consistent with oral premalignencies and oral cancer.
DENTSPLY Prosthetics Announces Cercon Zirconia 7- Year Limited Warranty
DENTSPLY Prosthetics (York, PA), a division of DENTSPLY International, announced that it will offer a 7-year warranty against breakage of its Cercon Zirconia dental crown-and-bridge framework material. This decision was reached after reviewing 9 years of clinical research data on the performance of Cercon Zirconia’s strength and wear properties over time. Cercon Zirconia is used by dental laboratories in the fabrication of all-ceramic crown-and-bridge restorations. The warranty against breakage provides for material replacement to the dental laboratory at no charge during the 7 years following the restoration placement with the dental patient. For more information on the warranty program, contact Scott Martinet at 717-849-4498 or smartinet@dentsply.com.
Astra Tech Acquires an Innovative Dental CAD/CAM Company
The Swedish medical technology company Astra Tech AB, (Mölndal, Sweden) a subsidiary of AstraZeneca, is purchasing the US dental company Atlantis Components Inc (Cambridge, MA) for $ 71 million.
“The purchase of Atlantis gives us an even stronger product portfolio in the field of dental implants. We strengthen our position in the North American market and can introduce the latest digital CAD/CAM technology in Europe. This also gives us a leading position in the fastest growing segment in the field of implants,” says Astra Tech’s President and CEO, Peter Selley.
“Our objective is to be one of the three largest dental implant companies within the next three years,” Selley continues.
For the past 10 years, Atlantis Components Inc. has developed a patented method for digitally producing abutments. Using the latest CAD/CAM technology, individually adapted abutments are produced for each patient. As opposed to standard abutments, Atlantis’ technology is built around a unique method that is based on the appearance of the final tooth. The end result is optimized individual esthetics and long-term reliability. For the clinician and patient this technology means reduced chair time because the precision of the abutments eliminates the need for the dentist to make further adjustments.
Atlantis’ method makes it possible to fabricate individual abutments for most of the major implant systems on the market. The technology also allows for increased efficiency and profitability for the dental laboratory.
“Astra Tech with its focus on research and with its global sales organization is a perfect new owner for Atlantis. This will create optimal prerequisites for continued development of Atlantis’ unique technology as well as expanding the business,” says Bob Stockard, CEO, Atlantis.
Operations will be integrated within Astra Tech’s North American headquarter in Waltham, Massachusetts. “The two companies complement each other perfectly. Through the acquisition of Atlantis, we can offer all dentists working with implants an optimal solution, in terms of both esthetics and function,” says Scott Root, president and CEO, Astra Tech Inc, North America. “We will develop a Center of Excellence in the United States for esthetics, based on Atlantis’ unique know-how and technology in order to offer advanced innovative digital dentistry solutions,” says Selley.
In 2008, Astra Tech will begin producing Atlantis’ CAD/CAM abutments for the European market at its headquarters in Mölndal, Sweden. The launch and sales in Europe will be handled by Astra Tech’s existing sales organization.
For additional information, please contact: 800-531-3481.
Crosstex® International Acquires Strong Dental Products
Crosstex International (Hauppauge, NY), a leading global dental infection control and single-use disposable products manufacturer, proudly announces its acquisition of Strong Dental Products, Inc (Corona, CA), the pioneering manufacturer of comfort cushioning and protective barriers for X-ray film and digital sensors.
Edge-Ease®, a soft foam X-ray cushion, provides an extremely comfortable edge on film packets and digital sensors. Sensor Slippers®, Wrap-Ease®, BiteWing-Ease™, and Slip-Ease™ enhance patient comfort, easily and efficiently protecting both patients and digital sensors. Strong Dental products join Crosstex Patient’s Choice™ products (TWIST® prophy angles; Sparkle™ and Sparkle Free™ Prophy Pastes; Zap™ Fluoride Gels, Foams and Trays; and GumNumb™ Topical Anesthetics) sold through dental dealers.
For additional information, contact 888-276-7783 or visit www.crosstex.com.
