April, Oral Cancer Awareness Month, will be here before we know it. As dental professionals, it’s our duty to educate patients about oral cancer and perform annual screenings. According to the Oral Cancer Foundation, “This is the fifth year in a row in which there has been an increase in the rate of occurrence of oral cancers.” There are some factors that contribute to these scary statistics, including tobacco and alcohol use and exposure to the HPV-16 virus (human papilloma virus version 16), which can be reduced by educating the community about their effects on oral and overall body health.

So – How Can You Help?

There are a few options. As dental professionals, the Oral Cancer Foundation is asking you to host a free screening event at your practice for at least 3 hours any day throughout the month of April. The Foundation will provide you with the materials needed to host the event, and assist in promoting the event to your local community. Some of the materials offered by the Oral Cancer Foundation include patient education brochures, buttons for the staff, official oral cancer awareness wristbands for the staff, and items for download, such as a press release, screening release form, referral forms and a poster for promotional use. Hosting a free screening event not only benefits the community, but could possibly drive new patients to your dental practice.

You might also want to consider becoming a member of the Oral Cancer Foundation. Becoming an official member of the Oral Cancer Foundation means the Foundation will provide a membership plaque for you to hang in your office, as well as more patient education brochures, a pin for your lapel and a copy of “Oral Cancer: The Dentist’s Role in Diagnosis, Management, Rehabilitation and Prevention” by Robert A. Ord.

Another simple effort that goes a long way, the Oral Cancer Foundation urges dental professionals to use social media to help raise awareness. If you have a blog, Facebook page, website, etc., post oral cancer facts or links to the Oral Cancer Foundation website. Also, don’t forget to join The Oral Cancer Foundation on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.

Then of course, if you are able to do so, donate to the Oral Cancer Foundation. As they say, every little bit helps!

Does your dental practice do anything special for Oral Cancer Awareness Month? If so, make sure to let us know in the comments section below!

We recently celebrated National Children’s Health Month, which is a great time to reach out to parents to have them bring their children in for dental checkups. However, many children have a fear of the dentist. Think of it from the child’s perspective – they are lying on a chair while a stranger pokes and prods their mouth with shiny, sharp instruments. That doesn’t sound like much fun, does it?

Luckily, there are steps you can take to help make these visits less stressful. Here are four tips you can use to help make your appointments with little ones a success.

• Work with parents before the exam. For many children, the events leading up to their visit can be as important as the actual appointment. Have resources for parents that help them prepare their little ones for the experience. Activities such as writing out a few questions for him or her to ask the dentist or a quick primer on why dental care is necessary will engage the child and give them an opportunity to play a larger role in their appointment.
• Create an inviting space. Visiting the dentist takes children out of their usual routine, so try to make your waiting room as welcoming as possible. Consider having a space with coloring books, crayons and soft toys. Many dentists even have a “play wall” – an entire wall of their waiting room covered with a fun mural, a television showing children’s programming and engaging toys. Not only will this take their mind off of the visit, it will make it easier for Mom or Dad to fill out any necessary paperwork while waiting.
• Be detailed. Before you begin, explain the purpose of the visit. Describe each step of the process to him or her as it happens. Let them know exactly what’s going to happen so they know what to expect. Speak directly to the child (if they are old enough to communicate) instead of using a parent as a proxy. This relaxes the child and makes them feel that they have greater insight to what is happening and relaxes them.
• Congratulate them. For many children, a visit to the dentist is a very emotional experience. Let them know that they did a great job and explain to them why receiving regular checkups is important. Use this as an opportunity to reinforce good dental habits and to empower the child to take command of their dental health until their next visit. A tangible treat will contribute to the child’s positive experience. Remember, not all rewards have to include candy!

Evaluate each child individually and work with their parents to make sure that you’re in the best position possible to have a successful appointment. What tips and tricks do you use to help young patients feel more at ease in your office?

Dr. M. Guram is a dentist with HomeTown Dental, a practice with 9 locations through out North Texas.  From family dental care to advanced cosmetic dentistry, HomeTown Dental has you covered. Connect with Dr. Guram and HomeTown Dental on Facebook and Twitter.

When a new tool or technology is introduced in the dental industry, as in any other consumer-driven market, inevitably other companies will get in on the action by introducing their own version of the same product.

That’s the great thing about competitive markets: someone’s always bound to make a better mousetrap. A downside to this is that the market is often flooded with a bevy of “me too” products that simply copy each other and don’t offer any real competitive advantages. However, a positive effect of a free-market economy is innovation.

Applying inspired and innovative technologies to an existing category of devices can help turn a “me too” product into a “gotta have it!” product that’s truly in a league of its own. That’s the route that Quantum Dental Technologies, a company located in Ontario, Canada, took when they designed and developed their evidence-based caries detection system called The Canary System.

In addition to the new Canary System, there are several other caries detection systems on the market today, including DIAGNOdent by KaVo, The Caries ID by Dentsply Midwest, Spectra Caries Detection Aid System by Air Techniques, and the CS 1600 by Carestream Dental. Each of these employs a different technological means of caries detection.

DIAGNOdent uses digital imaging fiber-optic transillumination, which identifies zones of demineralization by recording transmitted visible light that’s directed at the tooth; The Caries ID device uses a wavelength of light to identify areas of demineralization; the Spectra Caries Detection Aid System is a light-emitting diode device that illuminates the tooth structure and simultaneously captures its image, which is then analyzed by software; and the CS 1600 uses reflectance and fluorescence signals to help in the detection of suspicious incipient caries.

The Canary System is unique in that its caries detection technology combines both laser luminescence (light) and photo-thermal radiometry (heat) that enables it to detect decay as deep as 5mm inside the tooth and to a size as small as 50 microns. Early mineral loss from a tooth causes small changes in its structure, which creates a more porous, less dense structure. This affects the location, rate and transport of the heat and light—generated by the tip of the Canary System probe—throughout the tooth structure. By measuring these parameters, the system can determine the extent of decay in a particular tooth.

Additionally, the luminescence from the tooth is measured by a photo-detector also mounted on the probe. Similar to other purely light-based techniques on the market, the scattering of the light limits its ability to penetrate deeper inside the tooth and therefore is highly influenced by surface features.

However, unlike current systems that employ a continuous luminescence, The Canary System uses an ac (alternating current) luminescence technique instead. The ac luminescence signal is unique in that its frequency changes according to the degree of demineralization in tooth enamel, so it carries information about the integrity of the tooth that can be measured.

In addition to the infrared laser and ac luminescence detectors, the handheld probe on The Canary System also contains an intra-oral camera so that real-time video and still images can also be captured along with the data regarding the health of the tooth. The image data can be used by dental professionals to provide a visual indicator of the state of the tooth, as well as a basis from which to compare any subsequent visual changes that might occur to the tooth over time.

To assess a tooth, the clinician simply places the probe over the tooth and activates the probe. In less than 3 seconds, The Canary System will provide a Canary number for that tooth. The Canary number, ranging from 0 to 100, is created from an algorithm combining the thermal properties and luminescence from the tooth. A Canary number of less than 20 indicates a healthy tooth surface; greater than 70 indicates a large lesion that may justify restoration. Canary numbers between 20 and 70 indicate the presence of an early carious lesion that does not requires a restoration but can be remineralized. Using this simple numbering system allows the clinician to communicate with their patients and easily explain the evolution or changes in caries lesions. It also allows clinicians to track progress of remineralization of early lesions and the outcomes of various preventive measures they may employ.

Research has demonstrated that the photothermal radiometry and luminescence technology used in The Canary System can detect all lesion types, including occlusal pit-and-fissure caries; smooth surface caries; acid erosion lesions; root caries; interproximal carious lesions; and demineralization and remineralization of early carious lesions.

Does your office use a computerized caries detection device and if so, which device(s) or technologies have you used, and how would you rate your experience with these devices? Do you plan to stick with conventional detection methods, such as x-rays and explorers? If so, why? Please let us know—post your feedback as a comment below.

Most dental professionals will admit one of the hardest parts about practicing dentistry is getting patients to come to the office. Frequently, it’s not until the patient is in such severe pain that they can’t chew, or better yet, talk without deep aching in the mouth and jaw.

Sometimes, you’ll get that stream of patients who mix together a random assortment of things from their junk drawer, shove them in their mouth and pray the ailment fixes itself. There are a few more common (and horrible) dental home remedies used to replace in-office services and treatment.

Professional whitening is one of those luxury services that most people would love to purchase but can’t afford. So, if a patient can come up with a quick and cheap substitution, the temptation to try it out often outweighs the risk. For whitening, we’ve heard of a number of homemade replacements for the professional service. Shockingly, Comet is among the list of contenders. Other bleaches and peroxides are on the list, too, and could become problematic for the patient.

Other than testing out weird and potentially dangerous at-home whitening products, we’ve heard of patients fixing a broken crown or cracked filling with Super Glue or even plumbing putty.

What weird, strange and/or creative “at-home” remedies have your patients conjured up? Have they actually worked or were they the start of a disaster in the mouth? Share your stories in the comments section below!

In honor of November, American Diabetes Month, the New Jersey Society of Periodontists developed this great brochure that can help your patients understand the diabetes/periodontal disease connection. If you have a blog or use social media for your dental practice, we recommend sharing these images so your patients can learn more about how their oral health and diabetes may be affected by each other, and how to better manage both.

For a PDF of these images, please email your request to dentalgeek@lanmark360.com.