The Alpha Omega Foundation US Announces the appointment of 3 New Board Members; Dr. Jeff Goldsmith, Orthodontist from Charlotte, North Carolina, Dr. Daniel Nazarain, retired Periodontist and Entrepreneur from Los Angeles, California, and Dr. Stefan I. Stefanović gynecologist, breast cancer researcher, and healthcare manager from Heidelberg, Germany.

“Our current Board of Directors is comprised of a dedicated team of professionals who are committed to engaging with the community and sharing the importance of oral health,” said Dr. Marc Rothman, Chairman of the Board.

“We are excited to welcome Jeff, Danny, and Stefan. Their expertise and energy will infuse the foundation with new ideas as we continue to support oral healthcare initiatives worldwide.”

Dr. Jeff Goldsmith is an orthodontist from Charlotte, North Carolina. He is a multiple UNC graduate, receiving his BS, Dental Degree and then a masters in orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics. In 2015, Jeff founded the AO chapter at the University of North Carolina - Adams School of Dentistry. After graduation, Jeff embarked on a - mission to Mbale, Uganda to give free dental care to the Jewish Abayudaya community in 2016. Jeff is actively involved with many local dental associations and sits on the boards of the Charlotte Dental Society, Levine Jewish Community Center, and Charlotte Jewish Preschool in Charlotte, NC. For fun, Dr. Goldsmith loves spending time with his wife, 2 young children, his dog, cheering on the Carolina Panthers, and all things Tar Heel!

Dr. Daniel Nazarian is a retired periodontist from Los Angeles with a strong background in investment management. His experience includes negotiating deals, entrepreneurship, venture capital, angel investments, strategic partnerships, and public speaking. Currently, Daniel is the managing principal of Transolam, a lead partner in Tel Aviv University Ventures, and a Governor of Tel Aviv University. He has also been involved in various civic and charitable organizations, including serving as a Health and Safety commissioner for the City of Beverly Hills, founding president of the Young Professionals Division of the Magbit Foundation, and active member of Sinai Temple in Beverly Hills. In addition, Daniel holds the distinction of being the first spouse of the city of Beverly Hills.

Dr. Stefan I. Stefanović, is a gynecologist, breast cancer researcher, and healthcare manager. He holds the title of associate professor (Privatdozent) at the University of Heidelberg, Mannheim Medical Faculty, Germany, is a member of the Management - Executive medical board of the Mannheim University Hospital, has served as the global president of OSSI (Organization of Serbian Students abroad) and as the Diaspora expert on missions of knowledge and education transfer throughout Europe. Stefan is the president and founder of Belgrade-based biomedical research incubator International Medical Diplomacy Institute (IMDI) and has been invited to the board of Royal foundation of Prince Philip of Serbia. He speaks Serbian, German (C2), English (C1), Russian (C2), Litvak-Yiddish (B1) and has a passive knowledge of several other languages. In addition, Stefan is the Heir apparent to the headship of the House of Stefanović-Leštari bearing the Grand cordon of the Order of the House of Stefanović-Leštari.

To learn more about or donate to the Alpha Omega Foundation US, call 301-228-0227 or visit www.aofus.org .

Retired Director of Clinical Research & Development for ClearChoice Management Services, LLC Receives Highest Tribute For Decades of Contributions to Implant Dentistry

For more than 40 years, Steven E. Eckert, DDS, MS has been one of the most prominent names in implant dentistry, winning several awards throughout his career and serving as a mentor and coach for many prosthodontists in the ClearChoice Dental Implant Center® network. While Dr. Eckert is now retired, his accomplishments continue to significantly impact the field. Last week, he was honored once again by the Academy of Osseointegration (AO) as he humbly accepted the organization's Distinguished Service Award.

The Distinguished Service Award is the highest tribute the Academy can pay to an AO member. It is awarded to recognize individuals for outstanding clinical, educational or scientific achievement, contribution to implant dentistry and/or exemplary service to the academy. Further, the AO celebrates individuals who have made broad contributions over time that may have resulted in any one or more of the following:

· Scientific Research

· Evolution of the knowledge base that guides practice

· Enhancement of education programs

· Significant changes in governance or the political milieu for implant dentistry

· New understanding of tissue replacement therapies in oral and facial care

· Improved patient care, satisfaction, and outcome

"Today, we have a level of knowledge in the field of osseointegration that we never thought we would see 25 to 30 years ago. We've seen this explosion of knowledge that is truly impressive and has done a wonderful service for our patients," said Dr. Eckert. "I would like to thank the AO for the Distinguished Service Award. Being the first recipient of this award is indeed a humbling experience and one that I won't soon forget."

Prior to his retirement at the end of 2022, Dr. Eckert practiced for over 40 years with 25 of those years at the Mayo Clinic where he served as the prosthodontic program director for 15 years and also as the director/examiner for the American Board of Prosthodontics, a peer elected position. During his tenure at ClearChoice, Dr. Eckert opened and served as the primary prosthodontist at ClearChoice Minneapolis in Edina, Minn. from 2010-2018, and he served as the Director of Clinical Research & Development for ClearChoice Management Services, the administrative support team that serves the ClearChoice Dental Implant Center network. In 2017, Dr. Eckert was the recipient of three prestigious awards: the Academy of Osseointegration Brånemark Osseointegration Award honoring an individual's impact on, and leadership in, the field of implant dentistry; the American Academy of Maxillofacial Prosthetics Ackerman Award that honors significant contributions to the advancement of this special area of practice; and the American College of Prosthodontists Dan Gordon Award recognizing lifetime achievement.

The Distinguished Service Award was presented to Dr. Eckert on Thursday, March 16th prior to the opening session of the AO's annual meeting in Phoenix. During the meeting, ClearChoice network doctors Amirali Zandinejad, DDS, MSc and Sameh El-Ebrashi, BDS, MS presented on topics related to 3D printing, digital workflow, and fixed-detachable hybrid prostheses.

For more information, visit clearchoice.com. 

Planet DDS, a leading provider of cloud-based dental software, announced that Gary Rizo has joined the company as VP of Infrastructure.

Rizo is a seasoned technology leader with more than 20 years of experience in startup and enterprise organizations. He joins Planet DDS from Spireon, where he served as SVP of Engineering. In that role, he led a 120+ global engineering team, and was responsible for all web and mobile app development and delivery. During his tenure, he built and operated highly scalable enterprise-level SaaS applications across IoT. He also has experience in eCommerce from his time at iherb and performance marketing products at Lifescript.

In his new role, Rizo reports to Planet DDS Chief Technology Officer Angelina Hendricks, and will be responsible for driving the corporate and product cloud infrastructure, security and compliance for Planet DDS, leading the company’s long-term technology strategy and translating IT capabilities into strategic business decisions. He will build a service-oriented, customer-focused infrastructure and ensure the reliability, scalability, security and maturity of Planet DDS's systems to support the company's rapid growth.

"We are thrilled to welcome Gary to the Planet DDS team," said Hendricks. "Gary's extensive experience in building and operating highly scalable enterprise-level SaaS applications will be invaluable as we continue to expand our offerings. His leadership and expertise in infrastructure strategy will help us to deliver on our commitment to providing the highest quality cloud-based SaaS solutions for dental offices and dental groups."

"I am excited to join Planet DDS and contribute to its continued success," said Rizo. "I look forward to working with the team to build and scale the company's infrastructure and support to ensure that we can continue to provide reliable, secure and innovative SaaS solutions for the dental industry."

Rizo is a graduate from California State Long Beach with a BS in Business.

Surgical Wing at Texas Tech Dental Oral Health Clinic to Be Named for Dr. Thomas and Hendrika Spier

Thomas Spier, DDS, has led an incredible life. A child survivor of a WWII Nazi concentration camp, he immigrated to America with his Dutch mother and sister in 1952. His father, Jo Spier, who was a famous Dutch illustrator, and his older brother, Peter E. Spier, who was to become a renowned children's book author and illustrator in his own right, had previously arrived in 1951.

At the time, Dr. Spier spoke limited English, but he put the experiences of WWII behind him and became an American success story. He graduated from Adelphi College with a B.A. in pre-medical studies, accomplishing this in just two and a half years, in spite of English being his fifth language and still unperfected. Dr. Spier went on to graduate from Columbia University’s College of Dental Medicine, known then as the Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery.

In August 1959, with his first wife and one-year-old daughter, Dr. Spier moved to New Mexico to serve a two-year tour of duty with the United States Public Health Service (PHS) to provide care to Native American communities throughout Northern New Mexico — from San Felipe Pueblo in the south to Taos Pueblo in the north.

His clinic was a mobile bumper-pull Winnebago trailer, supplied with a barber's chair, electric dental drill powered by extension cord, and water via a hose that Dr. Spier hooked up anywhere he could. He relates that he would always try to park in the shade of a tree because it got hot inside the trailer. Dr. Spier completed his PHS commitment in August 1961, and then went into private practice in Santa Fe. Dental and oral health care was so important to Dr. Spier that he served as president of the New Mexico Dental Association in 1972.

In honor of his extraordinary journey and accomplishments, Dr. Spier’s family has created the Spier Family Dental Scholarship Fund for the Hunt School of Dental Medicine at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso. The scholarship fund, established as a part of the family’s celebration of Dr. Spier’s 90th birthday in 2021, will give priority to incoming dental students from New Mexico, the Spiers’ home state.

“We’re grateful to the Spier family for their generosity,” said Richard Black, D.D.S., M.S., dean of the Hunt School of Dental Medicine. “Their support will allow us to educate more students from our neighboring state of New Mexico, which also faces a significant shortage of dentists. By providing talented students with the opportunity to learn and train locally, we’re growing our own future generation of dentists who will remain in our Borderplex region to practice. This, in turn, will help New Mexico patients receive the care they need to maintain good oral health.”

“We hope the deserving students who receive these scholarships will continue building on the tradition of delivering world-class patient care, improve the quality of life in the region, and be inspired by our father to excel in a career of service and dentistry,” said Peter A. Spier, one of Dr. Spier’s children who initiated and shepherded the effort to create the scholarship fund.

Inspired by Dr. Spier’s life and career, and their love for him, his four children, along with his granddaughters, extended family and friends from across the U.S. and the Netherlands, contributed to the $100,000 scholarship fund. In honor of their generous gift, TTUHSC El Paso is establishing the Hendrika and Thomas Spier, D.D.S, Family Dental Surgical Wing in the Texas Tech Dental Oral Health Clinic. Dr. Spier and his second wife, Hendrika, have been married 48 years.

The announcement and unveiling of the named surgical wing was held Monday, March 20, at the Texas Tech Dental Oral Health Clinic. Moved by their loved ones’ generosity and the morning’s events, Dr. Spier and Hendrika contributed an additional $10,000 to the scholarship fund.

“The naming of the dental surgical wing pays homage to a remarkable couple,” added Peter Spier. “The scholarship fund recognizes my father’s achievements forged by his disciplined work ethic, professionalism, love of the practice and the art of dentistry, which improved health care for communities in Northern New Mexico throughout his 41-year career.”

Dr. Spier’s story is one that will inspire the spirit of service in Hunt School of Dental Medicine students. Many of the school’s inaugural class of 2025 are the first in their families to graduate from college and are nontraditional students with spouses, children, and unique life experiences, including military service.

As of 2019, there were 51.5 dentists per 100,000 residents in New Mexico, ranking the state 37th in dentists per capita for the U.S., according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information. In addition, 32 of the 33 counties in New Mexico are federally designated Health Professional Shortage Areas in Dental Health. This includes the nearby counties of Doña Ana, Otero, Lincoln and Hidalgo.

Like West Texas, rural New Mexico lacks adequate dental care access. According to the New Mexico Department of Health, these communities struggle to recruit and retain dental providers. Three New Mexico counties do not have a practicing dentist.

Before the Hunt School of Dental Medicine opened in 2021, the nearest doctoral-level dental schools New Mexico students could attend were A.T. Still University in Mesa, Arizona or the University of Colorado in Aurora, Colorado.

In October 2021, the New Mexico Higher Education Department (NMHED) and Hunt School of Dental Medicine announced an agreement in which the agency will cover the difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition for two New Mexico students who otherwise would be required to pay the higher out-of-state tuition to attend the Texas school. The funds, provided by the New Mexico Legislature, will cover up to $20,000 in tuition per student.

To support the mission of TTUHSC El Paso or for more information on how to make a contribution to the Spier Family Dental Scholarship Fund, contact Andrea Tawney, vice president of TTUHSC El Paso’s Office of Institutional Advancement, at andrea.tawney@ttuhsc.edu.   

With Predominantly all Products Proudly Manufactured in the USA

Parkell, a global leader in dental materials and devices, is excited to celebrate its 75th anniversary. Based on Long Island, New York, Parkell has been proudly performing the vast majority of design, engineering, manufacturing, and service work in the United States, and from its same approximate footprint for 75 years. This long presence on Long Island is a point of pride for Parkell, due to its strong commitment to its talented team, some of whom have been at Parkell for several decades, as well as its strong connection with the Long Island community.

“It was 75 years ago when two entrepreneurs, Alex Mitchell and Carl Parker, came together on Long Island to form Parkell,” says David Mott, President of Parkell, “and Parkell’s mission today remains the same as when it was formed: to provide customers and partners with innovative, premium-quality products that enable dental professionals to give unsurpassed patient care.”

“Parkell’s commitment to the dental community has never been stronger,” says Mott. “Our mission is to work ever closer with practicing dentists, in efforts to identify ongoing challenges and needs, and to work collaboratively to come up with innovative solutions. It is this connection with the dental community and our focus on quality that has gotten us to 75 years. We know that customers place a high level of trust in Parkell when using our products, and we work extremely hard to honor that trust by delivering only the best possible products and services.”

Parkell’s products are currently sold in over 60 countries, through a vast network of distributors as well as through Parkell’s new subsidiary in Europe. Parkell’s diverse portfolio of advanced materials and devices includes, the TurboSensor® ultrasonic scalers and handcrafted 25K and 30K magnetostrictive inserts and piezo tips (which service tens of thousands of dental offices in the U.S. alone), Blu-Mousse® bite registration materials, the Predicta® Bioactive family of restoratives, cements, and desensitizers, Dryz® gingival retraction paste, Digitest® pulp vitality tester, Brush&Bond® bonding agents, C&B-Metabond® adhesive luting cement system, Cinch® impression materials, SNAP® self-cure Resin, SmarTemp® temporary crown and bridge materials, Sensimatic® electrosurgical device, the generations-trusted and gold-standard Accufilm® articulating film, and many, many more.

With a long history of forging and cultivating relationships with dental professionals from early on as students, Parkell’s commitment to creating innovative products has helped it grow with customers and remain a mainstay at schools with progressive educational programs. Throughout the years, Parkell has supported many organizations and agencies by providing unsurpassed quality and performance, which has made it the go-to for reliability.

For more information about Parkell, please visit www.parkell.com or call (800) 243-7446.  

BIOLASE, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIOL), the global leader in dental lasers and a company continually focused on improving the dental ecosystem, has launched a new e-commerce website for its U.S. customers.

The new website, store.biolase.com, combines a state-of-the-art desktop and mobile-friendly design with "collections" for a unique and modern shopping experience that customers are accustomed to in today's environment. These different collections allow practitioners to quickly locate a product, and they can further refine the search criteria by procedure, laser type, or dental specialty with the click of their mouse or swipe on their mobile phone.

The website gives customers the ability to link their business bank account to their BIOLASE store account and to subscribe to items they buy on a regular basis, giving office staff more time to spend on patient care instead of placing orders. The site will also suggest popular items based on search history as customers browse or complete their purchases.

On a quarterly basis, the BIOLASE store website will spotlight a different BIOLASE dentist, along with helpful tips for some of their favorite procedures. This will enable more customers to quickly be exposed to the additional capabilities of their laser that they may not have previously considered, as well as learn which tips are being used in certain cases by top laser clinicians.

"We expect the new website will generate increased adoption within our laser platform by making it easier to identify the variety of procedural applications the laser can be used for, along with the best tips available for each treatment and procedure," said Steven Sandor, Chief Operating Officer of BIOLASE.

"We're excited to launch this new e-commerce site," said John Beaver, President and CEO of BIOLASE. "We are continually focused on accelerating the dental laser adoption curve, and we believe this improved online shopping experience will help increase our momentum and continue to help laser dentistry become the gold standard of care." 

Authors Offer Recommendations on How to Address Health Inequities

Today, CareQuest Institute for Oral Health®, the Society of American Indian Dentists (SAID), and the National Indian Health Board’s (NIHB) Tribal Oral Health Initiative released a white paper on oral health disparities in American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities.

The white paper, “American Indian and Alaska Native Communities Face a ‘Disproportionate Burden of Oral Disease’: Reversing Inequities Involves Challenges and Opportunities,” includes striking new data from CareQuest Institute’s State of Oral Health Equity in America survey and offers strategic recommendations on how to address disparities and inequities facing AI/AN communities.

Filled with graphics, quotes, and frameworks, the paper details how historical and intergenerational trauma including genocide, exposure to infectious diseases, forced boarding school attendance, lack of access to nutritional and affordable food, and lack of access to routine preventive care place AI/AN communities at high risk of poor overall and oral health outcomes.

“The data and research in this white paper affirm the serious health disparities that AI/AN communities have faced for generations due to structural racism and historical trauma,” said CareQuest Institute CEO and President Myechia Minter-Jordan, MD, MBA. “We need broad distributive justice to break this cycle. Our hope is that the data and recommendations in this white paper help address the deep health inequities facing this population. We are grateful to SAID and NIHB for their partnership on this important project and look forward to continuing to work with all stakeholders toward solutions.”

"SAID is committed to achieving equal representation for AI/ANs in the field of dentistry and we are grateful for the opportunity to partner with CareQuest Institute to contribute to the understanding of oral disease as it impacts our communities and people,” said Cristin Haase, DMD, MPH, president of Society of American Indian Dentists. “Partnerships such as these are important for opening the door to critical conversations and driving change towards inclusive oral health care for AI/AN communities. It is common for our population to be excluded or erased from data collection regarding dentistry workforce and oral health, and it is vital that we continue to remain visible and raise awareness of the issues."

Findings from the white paper include:

· The prevalence of early childhood caries (tooth decay) in AI/AN communities is three times higher than it is for white children.

· AI/AN adults are twice as likely to have untreated decay as the overall US population, and 83% of AI/AN adults report tooth loss compared to 66% of the overall US population.

· Three and a half times as many people who identified as AI/AN reported going to the emergency department for dental care or mouth pain in the last year (13.5%) compared with those who do not identify as AI/AN (3.9%).

· More than half of AI/AN adults (54.1%) reported being denied health care or oral health care at some point due to discrimination, compared to 40% of non-AI/AN respondents.

· The number of AI/AN students applying to dental school has decreased dramatically over the past decade, with a record high of 92 in 2006 to record lows within the past 20 years of 16 AI/AN applicants in 2019 and only eight in 2021.

The authors also make several strategic recommendations on how to reduce oral health disparities in AI/AN communities, including:

· Developing partnerships with AI/AN communities and organizations to better understand their priorities.

· Collecting more accurate data, including the inclusion of AI/AN as an individual category to avoid misclassification.

· Increasing representation of AI/AN individuals in dental education settings.

· Developing career pathway programs for AI/AN individuals to enter all dental workforce positions.

· Ensuring state and federal oral health care policies are made in collaboration and consultation with tribal leaders and the Indian Health Service.

Read the full white paper here.

CareQuest Institute is hosting a webinar, in collaboration with native-led organizations, to discuss the findings and recommendations from the white paper on Thursday, March 30 at 1 p.m. ET. A panel of experts will detail the disparities facing AI/AN populations and share ongoing culturally and community-driven strategies to improve AI/AN oral health. Register here.  

For the second year running, Dentsply Sirona supports World Oral Health Day (WOHD) on March 20 as well as throughout the rest of the year with a number of activities. This commitment is part of Dentsply Sirona's sustainability strategy, "BEYOND: Taking action for a brighter world," and supports the aim of raising awareness of oral health as a key factor in living a longer, healthier life.

Dentsply Sirona, the world’s largest manufacturer of professional dental products and technologies, continues its partnership with FDI World Dental Federation for World Oral Health Day 2023. Following the great success of last year’s efforts, Dentsply Sirona will launch a number of activities around March 20, with further action to follow throughout the year.

This year’s campaign theme, “Be Proud of Your Mouth – Look after your oral health for a lifetime of smiles,” aims to draw attention to the importance of maintaining life-long oral health. Dentsply Sirona is focusing its activities on supporting customers in educating their patients, in addition to a social media campaign aimed at the general public that highlights the importance of good oral hygiene and the role that dental professionals play in achieving and maintaining oral health.

“We are proud to continue our support for World Oral Health Day for a second year,” says Erania Brackett, Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Sustainability at Dentsply Sirona, who contributed to an FDI podcast episode on the topic of WOHD. “The aim of the day aligns fully with our own sustainability strategy BEYOND, especially our goal of creating 25 million healthy smiles by 2025. Let’s all work together to improve oral health globally and bring many more smiles to people near and far.”

Special activities for dentists and Dentsply Sirona employees

Building on WOHD’s crucial message, Dentsply Sirona has developed a toolkit that the company strives to release in the US, Canada and UK by end April 2023 that healthcare professionals will be able to use to help educate their patients on the importance of oral health. The toolkit includes digital and print-ready messages, as well as leaflets. Healthcare professionals will be able to download the toolkit via the Dentsply Sirona website.

Dentsply Sirona employees will also be provided with targeted information via the DS Community intranet site and Yammer on how to best take care of their own as well as their family's oral health. For extra motivation, Dentsply Sirona will later in the year launch an internal dental check-up fundraiser and value every dental appointment that employees schedule during a set period of time with a donation to its partner Smile Train, the world’s largest cleft surgery charity.

Dentsply Sirona sponsors “Most original activity” award

To draw additional attention on the aims of WOHD, Dentsply Sirona proudly sponsors the “Most original activity” award, presented at the FDI World Dental Congress in Sydney, Australia. After March 20, student associations can submit their WOHD activity report by the end of April, with those that have a unique way of promoting oral health messages and successfully spread them among the public making it onto a shortlist for the award. The final winners will be announced at the FDI World Dental Congress in September. For information on how to enter the competition and the criteria for winning, go to the WOHD website.

For more information on Dentsply Sirona’s sustainability strategy BEYOND, visit www.dentsplysirona.com/sustainability.

Further information about the WOHD partnership with FDI is available on the Dentsply Sirona website.

Prominent Hygiene Thought Leaders Join the Cellerant Team - Best of Class Hygiene Awards Panel

Cellerant Consulting Group is excited to announce that Rachel Wall, RDH, BS and Valerie Dangler, RDH, BSDH have joined the company as Senior Executive Consultants and have also joined the Cellerant Best of Class Hygiene Award panel of judges, which is currently concluding deliberations for 2023 award winners to be announced in July.

“Rachel and Valerie are important additions to the Cellerant hygiene team,” said Dr. Lou Shuman, CEO and founder of Cellerant Consulting Group. Led by Melissa Turner, Chief Hygiene Officer, Rachel and Valerie join fellow hygiene industry leaders Amanda Hill BSDH, RDH, Brooke Crouch RDH, Pamela Maragliano-Muniz DMD, Kristin Goodfellow BA, RDH, Nancy Miller RDH, BA and Sarah Crow RDH. Senior executive consultants play a critical role to Cellerant’s corporate clients by providing early stage product design input, hands-on evaluation, and high quality post-launch clinical education to the dental community. “Rachel and Valerie are well-known all-stars and are respected voices in the dental community, combining expert clinical knowledge with tremendous insights on the products and technology that will make hygiene departments successful for the future.”

As an international speaker, coach and owner of Inspired Hygiene, Rachel Wall, RDH has guided thousands of dental professionals to elevate their hygiene services and systems while driving profits to the bottom line and developing empowered, engaged hygienists. Rachel draws from 30 years of experience as a hygiene profitability coach and clinical hygienist to deliver to-the-point interactive workshops and coaching programs. She is a past recipient of the Dental Excellence Award from DrBicuspid.com for “Most Effective Dental Hygienist Educator” and has been named one of the Top 25 Women in Dentistry by Dental Products Report. Her book “Return on Hygiene” has been called the Hygiene Benchmark Bible and used by dentists all over North America to uncover the true potential of their hygiene teams.

Valerie Dangler, RDH, BSDH, CEO of ValDent Solutions, is an expert in dental practice management, dental hygiene education, clinical training and development, and sales consulting. Holding many roles during her 30 years in the dental industry, she lectures throughout North America and is a sought-after key opinion leader and advisor. She is a past recipient of the Hu-Friedy Golden Scaler award, has been nominated for several awards, and is past-president of her professional association.

“We have been fortunate that Cellerant’s hygiene division has grown rapidly since its launch several years ago,” said Melissa Turner, CHO. “It’s a great time to add well-respected leaders like Rachel and Valerie to the team. As members of the Best of Class Hygiene panel, they also bring great wisdom to judging the best technologies from a clinical growth perspective,” said Turner. 

The Denobi Awards, an industry-wide dental awards program celebrating outstanding individuals and dental teams, held its third annual red-carpet gala today and named 14 individuals and two dental teams as recipients.

The Denobi Awards Gala is the premier celebration recognizing and honoring excellence in dentistry and is focused on honoring the “unsung heroes” from all roles in dentistry – those who’ve made outstanding contributions to the world-wide dental industry. With the 2023 gala exclusively sponsored by Crown Seating and DNTLWorks, hundreds of nominations were received from across various roles in the industry, with a shortlist released in January. In partnership with the National Mobile & Teledentistry Conference, the prestigious gala took place on March 4, 2023 in Dallas, TX.

The gala culminated with the presentation of the Dr. Lou Shuman Denobi Pinnacle Achievement Award, the program’s highest award honoring an individual whose leadership and ongoing contributions have dramatically impacted the profession. The recipient of this year’s award was Dr. Cindy Roark, Senior Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer of Sage Dental.

Tickets are on sale now for the next Denobi Awards Gala on March 2, 2024 in Dallas, Texas. Nominations will run from October 1 – December 31, 2023. Congratulations to the following 2023 Denobi Award winners:

Aman Kaur, DDS – Founder, Women in DSO

Beverly Wilburn, DAADOM – Diplomat, American Association of Dental Office Managers

Cindy Roark, DMD – SVP & CCO, Sage Dental; Recipient of the Dr. Lou Shuman Denobi Pinnacle Achievement Award

Crystal Spring, BSDH, RDH, LAP – Executive Director, Smiles Across Montana

Fiona Perry, RDH – Founder, Flying Smiles (Scotland)

Jill Rethman, RDH, BA – Editor in Chief, Dimensions of Dental Hygiene; President-Elect, International Federation of Dental Hygienists

John Cutter, DDS – President, Teethcloud

Katrina Sanders, RDH, BSDH, M.Ed, RF – Founder, Sanders Board Preparatory

Kelly Tanner, PhD, RDH – CEO, Next Level Dental Hygiene

Lisa Moler, CEO – Founder, MedMark LLC

Ryan Vet, MBA, CVP – Owner, Speaking Consulting Network

Sampada Deshpande, DDS, FACD – Founder, New Dentist Club

Tija Hunter, CDA, CDIPC, EFDA, CDIA, CDSO, CDSH, MADAA – Past President, American Dental Assistants’ Association

Uche Odiatu, BA, DMD – International speaker

Sound Dental Care – Washington; Recipient of the Denobi Dental Team Award

Mainely Teeth – Maine; Recipient of the Denobi Dental Team Award

To learn more about The Denobi Awards and watch highlights, visit www.DenobiAwards.com.

To learn more about the National Mobile & Teledentistry Conference, visit www.nmdconference.com.