VOCO Retraction Paste – Astringent Retraction Paste with Extra-long and Fine Tip that Fits Directly into the Sulcus.

For those of you "in the trenches" of clinical dentistry, here's a product that you should be aware of that just hit the market.  It's VOCO's new Retraction Paste.

For fixed prosthetics and also for subgingival Class V restorations, many of us reach for retraction cord.  I'll be the first to say retraction cord works... but it's not the most efficient way to do things.  Heck, walking works too, but if I need to get to the west coast, I'm flying.

That's why I'm excited the VOCO has this new product now available.  I've been working with it for about a month now and I have had good experiences with the product.  It is easy to place, works well for retraction, and rinses away easily.  This is definitely one of those products you need to have in your toolkit to make things easier and help you provide better outcomes for your patients.

Here is the full press release from VOCO:

 Introducing VOCO Retraction Paste, an astringent paste with aluminum chloride that effectively widens and dries the gingival sulcus, creating the ideal conditions for accurate and successful digital or conventional impressions. VOCO engineered a special unit dose capsule with two goals in mind: first, to make application easy and precise and second, to avoid injury to the gingiva. Therefore, VOCO opted to create an extra-long, fine tip made of soft plastic instead of metal. This ensures that the opening of the tip does not have any sharp edges. The special rheology of the capsule design allows for the reduction of the force required to extrude the paste. Each unit dose capsule is packaged in a single-dose ISO blister pack, reducing hygiene concerns. At 0.3 g per cap, there is enough material for up to three sulci.

A two-phase consistency makes for simple application. First, the paste easily flows under low pressure for precise application. Afterwards, it increases its viscosity to remain stable in the sulcus, stops bleeding, displaces moisture, and leads to effective temporary widening. VOCO Retraction paste comes in a bright turquoise blue color, providing high contrast to tooth structure and gingiva, ensuring that the paste is visible and can be easily rinsed off after only 1 – 2 minutes.

VOCO Retraction Paste can save up to 50% of the practitioner’s procedural time compared to other methods and brands, and it can be used as a replacement for, or in combination with a retraction cord.

Catalog Description:

Fast, easy, and effective aluminum chloride-based astringent retraction paste in a unit-dose capsule with extra-long and fine tip that fits directly into the sulcus. Highly visible turquoise blue color, rinseable for easy clean-up. Hygienic single-dose blister pack. 

Indications:

• For temporary retraction of the marginal gingiva to provide a dry gingival sulcus when the periodontium is healthy

• Analog or digital impressions

• Cementation of temporary and permanent restorations

• Preparation of class II and V restorations

Advantages:

• Aluminum chloride-based – for a clean and dry sulcus

• Unit dose with extra-long, thin and flexible tip – for hygienic, simple and precise application into the sulcus

• 2-Stage Viscosity – initially flowable for easy, low-force application, then stabilizes for optimal retraction

• Turquoise blue color – contrasts well with the gingiva

• Easily rinseable – for quick clean-up

• Up to 50% faster - compared to just cord

FDA Clears World’s First AI Software to Read Dental X-Rays

This is one of those moments that, if you are in the dental industry, you should take note of.  For the past 5 years or so, I've been lucky enough to work with some different companies and different systems that are using artificial intelligence to study and evaluate radiographs (x-rays).  The systems have all evolved and gotten better over time.  That, after all, is the idea behind A.I... the system learns and makes better decisions as it accumulates more and more data.

The reason I feel this is a watershed moment in the industry is due to three letters... FDA.  The agency simply doesn't give clearance to products willy nilly.  No, in order to receive FDA clearance, a company has to be subjected to strenuous and arduous processes.  It is a long process and efficacy must be proven.  Over my career I've helped companies on trying to receive FDA clearance and from personal experience I can tell you the people at the FDA are dedicated and their priority is safety of the American public.

I salute the folks at Pearl for going through this process.  Achieving FDA clearance is something to be proud of.  Those of you reading this are witnessing a tipping point in healthcare.  Since I first had a chance to view A.I. aiding in radiographic interpretation, I've felt that the profession could benefit greatly from having a "virtual second opinion".  Now that benefit has arrived.  Below is the press release from Pearl:

Pearl, the leader in dental AI solutions, today announced that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared its AI-powered, real-time pathology detection solution Second Opinion® to help dentists accurately identify a broad range of common dental conditions in patient x-rays.

Pearl’s announcement marks an important step forward for technology-assisted dental care. Second Opinion® becomes the first AI-driven solution cleared to detect numerous conditions in dental x-rays, and the first to add US FDA clearance to European CE, Canadian MDEL, UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention, Australian TGA and New Zealand MEDSAFE clearances. Second Opinion® is now the only AI-driven computer-aided clinical radiology solution available to dentists throughout North America, Europe, Australia and many other parts of the world.

“This clearance is a major milestone not only for our team and for the many dentists, advisors and partners who have contributed to Second Opinion’s development, but also for dentistry itself,” said Ophir Tanz, CEO and founder of Pearl. “AI is a paradigm-shifting technology that will add value across the entire healthcare continuum. Because x-rays are a regular part of every dental patient’s experience, the first place most people will encounter the power of medical AI technology will be in their dentist’s chair. Second Opinion®’s FDA clearance has made that possible.”

Pearl’s system supports dental professionals in their review of radiographs by applying computer vision to identify and highlight key pathologic and nonpathologic findings, including dental caries, discrepancies at the margin of existing restorations, calculus, periapical radiolucency, crowns, fillings, root canals, bridges and implants. When x-rays are captured in a dental office, Second Opinion® immediately displays the images and any detected conditions on monitors in the operatory, giving dentists sharper vision into their patients’ oral health and giving patients greater understanding of their dentist’s findings.

“The benefit that Pearl’s AI brings to patient communication in the dental operatory – and the trust that follows – cannot be overstated, and it is in that area that Second Opinion®’s impact will be most immediately felt,” said Professor Dr. Markus Blatz, DMD, a leading authority in restorative dentistry and digital innovation. “Its long-term impact on the field of clinical dentistry may be more important, however. We endeavor to establish a standard of care through instruction at dental school, but at some point our instruction stops. Second Opinion® will help us maintain that standard and, over time, establish a more consistently rewarding patient experience.”

Second Opinion® exceeded the FDA’s stringent efficacy requirements across four separate clinical studies, each featuring a radiographic dataset of over 2,000 images and a reader group of 86 expert dentists and dental radiologists. The tests showed clear advantages for readers using Second Opinion®, including finding that study participants reading x-rays with the assistance of Pearl’s AI system accurately identified 36% more lesions than those without AI assistance did.

“Second Opinion® now joins a family of FDA cleared CADe medical systems already in use for radiologically-driven tasks such as lung nodule detection and mammography interpretation,” Pearl’s Chief Technology Officer and co-founder, Cambron Carter, said. “State of the art algorithms that currently assist in the detection of cancerous lesions can now be applied to detect many more frequently occurring dental diseases. The standard of care in dentistry is about to level up.”

Pearl's AI driven software is already in daily use by radiograph manufacturers, dentists and dental service organizations across Europe, Canada, Australiasia, South America and the Middle East. US dentists and dental offices can begin implementing Second Opinion® today by visiting: www.hellopearl.com/products/second-opinion.

About Pearl

Pearl is shaping the future of dental care by delivering AI and computer vision solutions that advance efficiency, accuracy, transparency and patient care. Founded in 2019 by Ophir Tanz, Pearl is backed by Craft Ventures and other leading venture capital firms. For more information or to request a demonstration, please visit https://www.hellopearl.com.

Flex Dental Announces Integration with Dentrix

The Dentrix Community Gets a Seamless Modern Upgrade to Patient Engagement

Flex Dental, the emerging leader in patient engagement solutions for dental practices, took another major leap forward today by announcing a new release offering full and seamless integration with Dentrix G6 and G7.

“Over the last three years Flex Dental has been among the fastest-growing patient engagement solutions in dentistry,” said company founder and CEO Brennan Dean. Until now, Flex’s growth has been fueled exclusively by its integration with the Open Dental practice management platform and has been widely embraced by the Open Dental user community. Dean continues, “Integration with Dentrix allows tens of thousands of additional dental practices to experience a more modern, intuitive, and cost-efficient approach to patient engagement.”

Dentrix customers can use Flex’s innovative and highly automated communication tools to engage with customers and increase revenue opportunities. Benefits for Dentrix users include:

● Seamless patient communication including two-way, real-time texts and email.

● Automated patient reminders, which have been proven to reduce no-shows.

● Digital patient forms that instantly update in Dentrix, eliminating paper and manual data entry

for staff.

● Compelling treatment plan presentations that increase acceptance and patient recall.

● A streamlined and simplified process for requesting patient feedback and positive reviews

that link directly to popular social media platforms.

Dean founded Flex in 2018, to support his wife Jen, who struggled with the limitations of existing patient engagement offerings when starting her own practice shortly after graduating from dental school. “We started Flex with creating the ideal staff and patient experience in mind. Practices have embraced the Flex patient engagement platform for its comprehensive features, ease of use, and same-day onboarding. Flex’s streamlined workflows and efficient patient communications are proving more valuable than ever for dental offices challenged by staffing shortages created by The Great Resignation,” said Dean

While solving critical staff needs for efficiency and automation, Flex is also built to provide the modern customer experience that patients expect. “Today’s patients want to be part of their care plan and value open communication with their healthcare providers,” said Dean. “Flex enables that level and depth of engagement with fast, convenient, and intuitive user interfaces that look, feel, and act like best practice e-commerce or social media platforms. We’re excited about introducing the Flex patient engagement system and approach to the many practices within the Dentrix user community.”

For more information on Flex's integration with Dentrix, click here.  

Medit Announces a Distribution Agreement in North America with Henry Schein Dental

Medit, makers of the award-winning i700 scanner, announced a distribution agreement in North America with Henry Schein Dental, a global solutions provider of dental products and services, to help optimize workflows and improve operational success and clinical outcomes of dental practices. 

“Medit is pleased to collaborate with Henry Schein, as doing so helps align our company and products with a tremendous community of like-minded manufacturers and distributors in the dental industry,” said Brian Connolly, VP of Business Development for Medit USA. “Our open-platform Medit i700 scanner, much like Henry Schein’s software solutions, helps dentists streamline workflows to minimize chair time and maximize patient care, as well as help enhance overall practice productivity.” 

Featured at the Henry Schein booth during the 2022 Chicago Midwinter Dental meeting, the Medit i700 scanner is powered by a super-fast camera that captures up to 70 frames per second. This means more data with each pass, resulting in a smooth and quick scanning experience with realistic colors and a crisp image. 

The camera and other internal components have been reduced in size creating a new handpiece that is smaller and lighter, weighing just 245g (8.64oz). The tips have been redesigned and are now reversible and autoclavable 100 times, increasing comfort of use and ease of maintenance. The Medit i700 scanner can be directly connected to a personal computer using a power delivery cable, helping improve the consultation experience and enhancing communication with dental labs through a real-time cloud-based system. 

“We at Henry Schein are dedicated to helping dental practice owners harness the power of digital technology,” said AJ Caffentzis, President, US Dental Distribution, Henry Schein. “We’re pleased to now offer the Medit i700 scanner as part of our portfolio, and look forward to helping our customers seamlessly implement this technology into their practices.”

More information about the Medit i700 scanner can be found at www.medit.com. 



About MEDIT Corporation:

MEDIT is a global provider of 3D measurement solutions for dental clinics and labs, including intraoral scanners, based on its own patented state-of-the-art technology. The company also develops platform solutions for digital dentistry, supporting collaborative workflows. The company’s goal is to provide innovative technology and the highest quality products to ensure mutual growth for all partners. 

MEDIT is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea since its inception in 2000. The company also has representatives located in the Americas and Europe and boasts a global network of distributors in over 70 countries. 

For detailed information about MEDIT products and software, please visit the MEDIT official website (www.medit.com/), and for other various content, please refer to the MEDIT official YouTube (youtube.com/user/meditcompany) and other social media channels (instagram.com/meditcompany/)

About Henry Schein, Inc.

Henry Schein, Inc. (Nasdaq: HSIC) is a solutions company for healthcare professionals powered by a network of people and technology. With more than 21,600 Team Schein Members worldwide, the Company’s network of trusted advisors provides more than 1 million customers globally with more than 300 valued solutions that help improve operational success and clinical outcomes. Our Business, Clinical, Technology and Supply Chain solutions help office-based dental and medical practitioners work more efficiently so they can provide quality care more effectively. These solutions also support dental laboratories, government and institutional healthcare clinics, as well as other alternate care sites. 

Henry Schein operates through a centralized and automated distribution network, with a selection of more than 120,000 branded products and Henry Schein private-brand products in stock, as well as more than 180,000 additional products available as special-order items. 

A FORTUNE 500 Company and a member of the S&P 500® index, Henry Schein is headquartered in Melville, NY, and has operations or affiliates in 32 countries and territories. The Company’s sales reached $12.4 billion in 2021, and have grown at a compound annual rate of approximately 12.5 percent since Henry Schein became a public company in 1995. 

For more information, visit Henry Schein at www.henryschein.com, Facebook.com/HenrySchein, Instagram.com/HenrySchein, and Twitter.com/HenrySchein.

The Top 20 Most Used Passwords of 2021

 

Today's  post covers a couple of bases for me.  The fist thing I want to accomplish today is to remind everyone that passwords are really, really important and should be treated as such.  I realize that to  a lot of you, that is probably one of the silliest things you've read today.  However, I bring that simple fact up because, also in this post, I'm going to provide you the list of 2021's most common passwords and I think when you see the list, those of you who understand the importance of a password will collectively roll your eyes.

Backups are only as good as the last one you did and passwords are only as good as the number of people who know them. They need to be unique for each place they are used and they need to be impossible to guess.

That brings me to the second part of what I want this post to accomplish.  That part is my love of password manager programs and my personal favorite, Sticky Password.  Over the years I've fallen in love with Sticky Password for a variety of reasons.  I won't list them all here, but I will list a few of my fave features.

• Security - the program stores all of my information encrypted in the cloud.  I have one incredibly complicated password that opens Sticky and gives me access to everything.
• Availability - they have a version that pretty much runs on everything
• Ease of use - it integrates with the browser and if you choose, it can fill in personal info on websites for you
• Updates - the program receives frequent updates and continues to evolve
• Manatees - with every premium license sold, a portion of the payment goes to saving manatees

There is one other feature that I want to mention outside of the bullet point list.  That is a random character password generator.  The easiest way to come up with complicated passwords is to use an algorithm to create them.  Anytime I need a new password, I just click the button and a new random generated password is created.  Then, of course, it is synchronized to the cloud where all of my devices can access by inputting my master password.  I don't have to worry about creating a really good password, the program does the heavy lifting for me.

The peace of mind I receive with Sticky Password is well worth  the $29.99 per year fee.  I love the program and it is *highly recommended*!!!

Now on to the list of the most common 20 passwords!

• 123456
• 123456789
• Qwerty
• Password
• 12345
• 12345678
• 111111
• 1234567
• 123123
• Qwerty123
• 1q2w3e
• 1234567890
• DEFAULT
• 0
• Abc123
• 654321
• 123321
• Qwertyuiop
• Iloveyou
• 666666

Gemini EVO™ Laser: The Next Evolution in Laser Dentistry

 Ultradent Products, Inc. has released the Gemini EVO™ Laser, which is said to combine the benefits of higher 100-watt power with the versatility of dual-wavelength design. The Gemini EVO’s 100 watts of super-pulsed power provide faster cutting, less heat, and clean incisions in soft tissue.

The 2 wavelengths—810 nm and 980 nm—can be used individually or together, offering 3 wavelength modes. Select 810 nm for optimal coagulation, 980 nm for optimal ablation, or the dual-wavelength mode for optimal combination.

The Gemini EVO laser features 16 preset procedures divided into 3 categories for efficient, intuitive use. Built-in WiFI connectivity makes it easy to update software or obtain technician support, allowing the laser to sync with the Dashboard to provide valuable data about the machine and procedures. The guided touch interface with voice confirmation helps you make the proper selection with ease.

Users can now perform photobiomodulation therapy treatments (PBMT) with the Gemini EVO’s added category of PBM procedures. The laser makes PBMTs simple and easy by presetting the proper energy density for each PBM adaptor. It also features a PBMT calculator on the mobile dashboard to help determine proper treatment time. Three PBM adaptors are included with the EVO:

• 3 mm PBM—highly targeted for small treatment areas such as around the lips

• 7 mm PBM—ideal for localized spot treatment such as for aphthous and herpetic ulcers

• 25 mm PBM—designed for efficient treatment of large spots such as the area around the TMJ

Long-Awaited Solution to Help Fight Secondary Caries is Finally Here

 

For the last 2-3 years now I have worked with the smart people at Nobio to help them with their Infinix composite.  It is NOW available!  This product can be a serious disruptor/game changer in the restorative market.  Imagine a restorative material that actually kills bacteria.  The press release is below.  As many of you know, I have been placing Infinix restorations for a few months now and they are starting to show up at recare exams.  They look as good today as the day they were placed.  Here is all the info from Nobio:

Nobio Announces the launch of the Infinix™ Advanced Restoratives Product Line Including an Antimicrobial Bonding Agent and the Dental Industry’s First FDA-Cleared Antimicrobial Composites

Kadima, Israel & Middlebury, CT; February 22, 2022 — Nobio Ltd., is excited to announce the official launch of Infinix™, a new line of advanced antimicrobial restorative materials, designed to fight recurrent decay. “The Infinix family of restoratives is the first use case of a fundamental technology platform, that we see as applicable to a wide range of dental and non-dental products,” said Ronen Raz, Nobio’s Chief Operating Officer. The infinix system currently includes universal and flowable composites, as well as a universal bonding system, all incorporating Nobio’s patented QASi™ antimicrobial particle technology. A bulk-fill composite will be added later in 2022. 

“The goal has been to provide long-lasting bacteria inhibition at the restorative margins, reduce tooth demineralization, and as a result reduce restoration failure due to secondary caries,” said Nathan Zaltsman, Nobio’s Chief Technical Officer.  “Our patented antimicrobial technology is scientifically proven to provide a non-leaching, non-releasing, electrostatic contact kill of bacteria in dental restorative materials.” 

“While the antimicrobial properties of infinix are game-changing, we have also worked hard to achieve the handling and aesthetics that dentists need and expect. The feedback from our early users has been fantastic,” said John Scott, Nobio Chief Commercial Officer and head of U.S. operations. The Nobio team will be at the upcoming Chicago Dental Society Annual Meeting (Feb. 24 – 26th) to mark the initial launch. “We invite the entire dental community to learn more about Infinix™ at infinix.com and are looking forward to in-person discussions with the dentists that attend the upcoming mid-winter meeting at booth #1507,” said Scott.

Infinix products will be available for purchase starting on February 23, 2022. Order online at infinix.com/shop or by calling (844) INFINIX (463-4649). 

About Nobio

Nobio is a material sciences company that redefines the field of antimicrobial products and solutions with its long-lasting, safe, and highly active novel QASi™ particle technology. Nobio developed and is commercializing Infinix, the first line of dental materials with its revolutionary antimicrobial technology to address the main causes of dental treatment failure and tooth loss. Nobio is also working with leading medical, dental, consumer, and industrial manufacturers to bring long-lasting antimicrobial properties to a wide range of products and applications. For more information, visit www.nobio.com or www.infinix.com.