July 17, 2020 | News

As the deputy head of the department of operative and preventive dentistry at Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin in Germany, Prof. Falk Schwendicke has his finger firmly on the pulse of current advancements in the dental world. In a recent article for the Journal of Dental Research, he and his co-authors explored the current and potential applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in the dental clinic. Schwendicke recently spoke with Dental Tribune International to explain more about the topic.

July 16, 2020 | News

LEIPZIG, Germany: No international tourism means no dental tourism, but what does that mean for the patients and dentist who rely on it? When borders began to close around the world in March owing to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, tens of thousands of dental patients had their treatment abroad either cancelled or postponed. As borders begin to reopen, those travelling for medical treatments are being welcomed with open arms.

July 15, 2020 | News

SACRAMENTO, Calif., U.S.: Dentistry has recently topped the list of the most dangerous jobs for risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission, and although dentists are slowly returning to normal practice, many patients feel anxious about returning to the dental office. The California Dental Association (CDA) has published a set of recommendations that will help dental staff offer reassurance to returning patients whose appointments were canceled or postponed as a result of the pandemic.

July 14, 2020 | News

HOLLY RIDGE, N.C., U.S.: Recent comparisons between the value of personal protective equipment (PPE) and the value of gold have raised some interesting questions, such as whether the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has caused consumers to value their health more than they value rare minerals or status symbols. The monetary value of PPE is still nowhere near that of gold, but the provision of essential services, such as oral care, now hinges on its supply. Many dentists are absorbing added PPE costs in order to keep patient numbers up, but at whose expense?

July 13, 2020 | News

DUBLIN, Ireland: According to the Irish Cancer Society, about 550 people are affected by mouth, head and neck cancers in Ireland each year. As patients are less likely to visit their dental practice owing to SARS-CoV-2 and the associated risk of infection, dentists have warned that a high number of oral cancers could be missed or diagnosed at a very late stage.

July 9, 2020 | News

WUHAN, China: As researchers continue their quest to better understand the SARS-CoV-2 virus, a new study has aimed at improving the detection of SARS-CoV-2 ribonucleic acid. By using oropharyngeal secretions instead of nasopharyngeal swabs (NPSs) for nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) for SARS-CoV-2, the researchers managed to reduce the number of false-negative results from testing of patients who had apparently recovered from the disease.

July 9, 2020 | News

NASHVILLE, Tenn., U.S.: The next generation of dentists is entering a profession that suddenly has considerable risk associated with it—a fact already evident to the many dental students who recently graduated in virtual commencement ceremonies held using online platforms such as YouTube, Zoom and Facebook Live.

July 8, 2020 | Business

CHARLOTTE, N.C., USA: As part of Dentsply Sirona’s continued pledge to create healthy practices for healthy smiles and drive practice recovery, the Dental Solutions Company has teamed up with the American Dental Association to provide ADA members access to free patient communication resources based on the ADA’s Return to Work Interim Guidance Toolkit.

July 8, 2020 | News

Previous international crises, and the 2008–2013 crisis in particular, have arisen from the collapse of the economic or financial system at the macroeconomic level, having an impact on businesses (for example, through the resulting credit crunch) and society, especially as a consequence of the resulting rise in unemployment. It is quite evident that all this has an impact on the real economy, or the purchasing power of families, creating a sharp drop in demand. All of this happened in the Western world in the 2008–2013 period.

July 7, 2020 | News

NEW YORK, U.S.: Dentists in the U.S. are seeing more patients despite the continued and alarming spread of SARS-CoV-2 within the country. In the same week that the daily number of new confirmed cases of COVID-19 steadily topped 40,000, analysts at Baird Equity Research found that patient volumes had increased by an encouraging rate. The analysts said that this suggested that the rising number of infections in the U.S. was not currently impacting the recovery of its dental market.

July 2, 2020 | News

GERRARDS CROSS, UK: The British Endodontic Society (BES) intends to fund new research in response to the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Proposals are invited for short-term research projects aimed at addressing and/or mitigating the impact of aerosol-generating procedures (AGPs) during the pandemic.

July 2, 2020 | News

SASKATOON, Saskatchewan, Canada: Researchers from the University of Saskatchewan (USask) in Saskatoon are currently working on two large projects that have recently received substantial federal funding. The first project is aimed at developing a novel saliva-based test for SARS-CoV-2 detection, whereas the second one aims to examine COVID-19 incidence rates among Canadian dentists.

June 30, 2020 | News

BÜRMOOS, Austria: A campaign designed to help dental professionals around the world get back to work amid the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has been launched by the dental technology manufacturer W&H. The company aims to support customers and partners through the online campaign by providing imaginative and responsible information that it says will help to re-establish regulated and safe daily routines in dental clinics.

June 26, 2020 | News

SYDNEY, Australia: As the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic continues to rage across the world, the Antipodean nations of Australia and New Zealand have, by and large, managed to control the spread of the coronavirus to this point. As a result, both countries have been able to open up dental practices for many routine procedures, albeit with a heightened sense of cautiousness.

June 25, 2020 | Advertorial

ESCHBORN, Germany: Osstem Meeting Online, a global virtual dental conference series launched in April, will present its grand finale on 27 June, for which attendees from over 60 countries are already registered. The symposium will feature live participation and a global fundraising campaign under the hashtag #VoiceOfTogether.

June 25, 2020 | News

BELFAST, UK: The SARS-CoV-2 virus has not only brought with it the fear of infection, but has also caused great pain to dental patients who have had limited access to dental care during the lockdown. In addition, it has brought distress to dentists who have been concerned about the sustainability of their dental practices and have sympathised with those patients who have been left in agony. Fortunately, as the number of infections is slowly decreasing, dental professionals are resuming their practices in order to address the oral health needs of patients; however, many remain fearful of the business challenges that lie ahead of them.

June 25, 2020 | Interviews

In the absence of a dental market response to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, Dr Mustafa Ayna, a Germany-based dentist who heads his own practice in Duisburg, decided to take action and designed a device that eliminates the SARS-CoV-2 virus before it can spread in the treatment room. In cooperation with mechanical engineer Philipp Maack from the Ruhr University Bochum and Dr Aydin Gülses of the clinic for oral and maxillofacial surgery at the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein in Kiel in Germany, he designed the corona terminator. He hopes that the device will soon be available for other dental practices.

June 24, 2020 | News

NEW HAVEN, Conn., U.S.: We are learning more about SARS-CoV-2 every day, including more about how to effectively test for it. Researchers at the Yale School of Public Health have found that employing saliva samples to test for the virus could lower the risk of infection for health workers. The researchers have partnered with the National Basketball Association (NBA) to test the efficacy of a saliva sampling method that they say presents as a faster, less invasive and more accurate alternative to the recommended nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal sampling methods.