Don't Miss the Cyber Security Webinar this Friday!

 

This Friday, I'll be partnering with Gary Salman, CEO of Black Talon Security, on a webinar we've titled "Winning the Cyber War: A Battle Plan to Protect Your Practice".

There are a lot of myths and misconceptions surrounding security and best practices.  Just like, as a dentist, I'm not qualified to perform an appendectomy, many doctors trust their security to either themselves or 'computer guys' that are really great with helping offices run, but are woefully under skilled to evaluate and perform security against threats.

The unfortunate truth is that the people who deal in ransomware, encryption attacks, and data theft are highly skilled professionals.  Many of them have college degrees in Computer Science and they are incredibly good at what they do.

Cyber Security requires vigilance and experts that have your back.  Gary and I are going to go over some best practices and recommendations to decrease your likelihood of having to deal with these types of threats.  I've been at the tech game for quite a while and I've seen a lot of changes.  The current environment requires offices to be vigilant about their security.

Join Gary and I this Friday to learn how you can do more to prevent a security disaster from happening!

You can read more about the course and register here.  

Delta Dental of Massachusetts Partners with Smile Generation to Launch Novel Program Using Saliva-Based Screenings to Detect Periodontal Disease Earlier

 

Here's some interesting news about an effort being made by Delta Dental of Massachusetts.  I recently received this press release and thought it was something readers should be aware of.  If you are a Delta Dental provider, assuming it performs as promised, you may be hearing more about this as other Delta state offices implement it...

 Delta Dental of Massachusetts (DDMA), the largest dental insurance carrier in Massachusetts, is introducing a groundbreaking program aimed at early detection of periodontal (gum) disease using saliva-based screenings. This novel initiative, running through July 2025, offers patients a more holistic approach to oral health by identifying disease risk early, with the goal of preventing serious systemic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes.

In a first-of-its-kind effort for a dental insurer, DDMA is collaborating with six Smile Generation offices in Massachusetts to offer these chairside saliva screenings at no additional cost to its members. The program’s goal is to use saliva to educate patients on their periodontal health risks and offer personalized care to mitigate those risks.

As part of the “Healthy Body Enhanced Benefit Program,” eligible members will not only receive the saliva-based screenings but also additional benefits such as extra dental cleanings, personalized education, and take-home medications — all designed to address their specific periodontal disease risk at no extra out-of-pocket cost. This initiative represents a proactive approach to oral health care by focusing on prevention rather than treatment.

“Gum disease is far too prevalent and is largely preventable,” says Anthony Falone, DMD, MS, owner and practicing dentist at Waltham Modern Dentistry, one of the participating dental practices. “This program allows us to intervene earlier with personalized treatments, using non-invasive saliva screenings to catch disease progression before clinical signs of disease are visible to the naked eye.” 

Nearly half (42%) of all adults aged 30 years and older have some form of gum disease, with severe periodontitis affecting about 8% of adults (CDC, 2024). Research continues to demonstrate a strong connection between oral health and overall health. Periodontal disease, if left untreated, can exacerbate systemic conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, significantly increasing overall health care costs. Early detection, through the use of these saliva screenings, is crucial in reducing those risks.

The saliva-based test measures levels of active matrix metalloproteinase-8 (aMMP-8), a biomarker that indicates active collagen breakdown in the gums—a key sign of periodontal disease. Identifying elevated aMMP-8 levels allows dentists to detect gum disease progression earlier than clinical symptoms appear, enabling timely, personalized interventions to prevent the progression of both oral and systemic diseases.

The program is available at six Smile Generation-trusted offices in Massachusetts, including Arsenal Modern Dentistry, Burlington Dentistry, Dentists of Attleboro, Milford Dentist Office, Shrewsbury Dentistry, and Waltham Modern Dentistry. These saliva screenings, typically not covered by dental insurance, will be available at no additional cost for DDMA adult members at these participating offices.

DDMA hopes the learnings from this innovative program will enable a greater focus on patient-centered care for all stakeholders and will ultimately inform our approach relative to covered benefits and reimbursement.  

“We are committed to enabling optimal oral health for our patients through the adoption of innovative solutions and collaboration with our participating dentists. By working together, we can improve our patient oral health outcomes and more broadly their overall health,” says Kirill Zaydenman, Vice President of Product Strategy and Transformation Delta Dental of Massachusetts.  

Biotech Company Integral Dental Enters Market for Treatment of Peri-Implantitis

 

WASHINGTON D.C. Oct./30/2024 – Today Integral Dental announces the launch of its first product, OraclePI, the only early diagnostic test for peri-implant disease. The test delivers a disease diagnosis and personalized care plan recommendations based on patient specific data. Dental implants represent an important option for patients with missing teeth. While implant success rates are high, the greatest risk of failure is an infection of the surrounding tissue, called peri-implantitis. Integral’s new product, OraclePI enables clinicians to gain insight into 100% of the bacteria present at the implant site, diagnoses the state of infection, and makes recommendations on most effective antibiotics and other treatments. “This has the potential to improve patient outcomes and drive profitability for dental practices,” said Rachel Raymond, CEO of Integral Dental. “As the demand for implants grows, we’re excited to offer an option for personalized management.” 

By combining cutting-edge genomic sequencing and AI, OraclePI empowers dentists with actionable insights to improve patient outcomes through personalized care. “We’ve worked hard to make sure our processes fit seamlessly into the daily workflow of the dental office,” said Matt Getz, COO of Integral Dental, “our $110/test cost to dentists is part of the innovation we’re bringing to the table.” Earlier interventions in peri-implant disease are often more effective and less invasive than if they are performed at more advanced stages of infection. Performing a diagnostic test as part of routine implant management can help clinicians identify problems early and keep their patients healthy. “The specific antibiotic recommendations give us the opportunity to practice true personalized medicine,” said Dr. Peter Joseph, DMD, Clinical Advisor to Integral Dental, “I plan to integrate this tool into my practice and ask all my referring doctors to do the same. The better the information, the better we can help patients.”  

Diagnosing peri-implant disease is just the beginning for Integral’s technology platform. Integral’s vision extends beyond oral health to addressing systemic diseases triggered by oral pathogens, such as cardiovascular disease, pre-term birth, rheumatoid arthritis, and colon cancer. When we diagnose and treat oral pathogens early and effectively, healthcare costs reduce precipitously, and patient outcomes improve. Integral Dental continues to explore innovative applications for OraclePI, building bridges between oral health and broader medical care.

Call to Action:  OraclePI  is now available for purchase and is being offered in 10 kit packs for a limited time. To learn more and add Integral to the services offering your patients, visit  IntegralDental.bio. 

About Integral: Integral is a biotechnology company dedicated to closing the gap between oral and systemic health. The innovation is based on Next Generation Sequencing and Machine Learning technology and driven by co-founders Rachel Raymond and Matt Getz. The founders bring extensive biotech and healthcare executive experience, MBAs from Harvard Business School, and a passion for preventative medicine to this large, global health problem. Integral is a resident company of Johnson & Johnson Innovation - JLABS, a premier life science incubator program in Washington, DC. 

Dentsply Sirona Provides Update on Byte Aligner Products - Company Suspending Sales of Byte Alingers

Here is some info for any doctors that might have been using Dentsply Sirona Byte Alingers.  This comes from a recent company press release...

Voluntarily Suspends Sales and Marketing of Byte Aligners and Impression Kits

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 24, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. (“Dentsply Sirona” or the "Company") (Nasdaq: XRAY), today announced the voluntary suspension of sales and marketing of its Byte Aligners and Impression Kits while the Company conducts a review of certain regulatory requirements related to these products. The Company’s decision was made in consultation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

In connection with this review, and Dentsply Sirona’s proactive efforts to continuously improve its processes, the Company has suspended shipment and processing of new and recently placed orders for Byte Aligners and Impression Kits.

The Company holds itself to the highest standards of quality and compliance with patient safety at the center of everything we do. To that end, we will continue to work closely with the FDA and other regulatory authorities, while communicating with treating dentists and their patients to support their continued care as appropriate.

Independent of the above matter, the state regulatory environment has adversely impacted our Byte Aligner business model, resulting in declining conversion rates, and new documentation, records and additional requirements (such as evidence of visits to a dentist or patient x-rays). As a result, we had begun to assess our resources at Byte to leverage and/or redeploy infrastructure, talent, and capability elsewhere in our business. Examples include augmenting resources to improve other software platforms, accelerating DS Core functionality, and enhancing the patient experience.

Additional details regarding today’s announcement can be found in the Company’s Form 8-K that was filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Select Preliminary Third Quarter 2024 Results

Dentsply Sirona is also announcing select preliminary financial results for the three months ended September 30, 2024 (“third quarter 2024”). The Company expects to report third quarter 2024 net sales of approximately $951 million and adjusted EPS is expected to be between $0.49 and $0.51. For the third quarter 2024, the Company expects to report year-over-year net sales growth in Essential Dental Solutions, partially offset by

declines in Orthodontic and Implant Solutions and Connected Technology Solutions segments. Wellspect Healthcare net sales are expected to be approximately flat due to timing with a large US distributor. Net sales and adjusted EPS were favorably impacted by a shift in the timing of distributor orders for Essential Dental Solutions products from the fourth quarter into the third quarter of approximately $20 million associated with the Company’s planned fourth quarter ERP implementation in North America. The Company does not provide preliminary estimates of EPS on a GAAP basis as certain information needed to prepare adjustments is not yet available and cannot be reasonably estimated. A description of the adjustments typically made to compute adjusted EPS can be found in Exhibit 99.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on July 31, 2024.

The Company expects to record non-cash charges for the impairment of goodwill within the range of $450 - $550 million, net of tax, pertaining to two of its reporting units, Orthodontic Aligner Solutions and Implants & Prosthetic Solutions, which together comprise the Orthodontic and Implant Solutions segment. The decline in fair value for the Orthodontic Aligner Solutions reporting unit is driven primarily by adverse impacts from state regulatory trends pertaining to the Company’s Byte Aligner business, while the decline in fair value for the Implants & Prosthetic Solutions reporting unit is driven by weakened demand in conjunction with competitive pricing pressures and adverse impacts of ongoing global conflicts in certain markets, as well as lower long-term expectations for volumes of lab materials. These factors contributed to reductions to forecasted revenues, lower operating margins, and expectations for lower future cash flows in the near term, resulting in an impairment during the third quarter for the aforementioned reporting units.  

The Company will evaluate and assess the appropriate next steps for Byte, with the goal of continuing to provide access to quality oral care to underserved populations. In connection with this assessment, the Company may incur additional impairments and write-offs regarding this business, which may be material in the current and future periods.

The preliminary estimates above are based solely upon information available to management as of the date of this press release and are subject to change. The Company’s actual results may differ materially from these estimates due to the completion of its quarter-end closing procedures, final adjustments and developments that may arise or information that may become available between now and the time the Company’s financial results are finalized and included in its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2024.

Dentsply Sirona will provide further updates on the business and its performance including an update to its 2024 full year outlook during its third quarter 2024 earnings call, which has been scheduled for November 7, 2024.

About Dentsply Sirona

Dentsply Sirona is the world’s largest manufacturer of professional dental products and technologies, with over a century of innovation and service to the dental industry and patients worldwide. Dentsply Sirona develops, manufactures, and markets a comprehensive solutions offering including dental and oral health products as well as other consumable medical devices under a strong portfolio of world class brands. Dentsply Sirona’s products provide innovative, high-quality and effective solutions to advance patient care and deliver better and safer dental care. Dentsply Sirona’s headquarters is located in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Company’s shares are listed in the United States on Nasdaq under the symbol XRAY. Visit www.dentsplysirona.com for more information about Dentsply Sirona and its products.

Forward-Looking Statements and Associated Risks

All statements in this Press Release that do not directly and exclusively relate to historical facts constitute “forward-looking statements.” Such statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in such statements, many of which are outside of our control, including those described in Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors” of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023 (the "2023 Form 10-K"), and other factors which may be described in the Company’s other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). No assurance can be given that any expectation, belief, goal or plan set forth in any forward-looking statement can or will be achieved, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements which speak only as of the date they are made. We do not undertake any obligation to update or release any revisions to any forward-looking statement or to report any events or circumstances after the date of this Press Release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Investors should understand it is not possible to predict or identify all such factors or risks. As such, you should not consider the risks identified in the Company’s SEC filings to be a complete discussion of all potential risks or uncertainties associated with an investment in the Company.

Curadont Samba is Here!

The Sambra toothbrush has arrived.  As you may remember, I recently posted about this interesting new brushing device that basically brushes your teeth for you, with little physical effort needed by the user.

I'm happy to say that the company wasted *no* time in getting it to me.  I inquired about a sample unit to try and they were incredibly responsive.  I love follow through!

Samba was developed by Curaprox to provide users with a thorough cleaning without the effort required to manually move the brush into all the proper areas.  Many patients have trouble with accessing all areas of their teeth properly and the idea of Samba is to take that part of the routine out of the process.

The 'U' shaped brush is simply put over an entire arch and then activated to brush every surface simultaneously.  The user holds the brush in position and then presses the 'On' button and Samba does all of the work.  It turns off automatically and then the user flips it over and repeats the process on the opposite arch.

Personally, I've taken a greater interest in helping people with their home care since I saw my dad decline in his later years.   Many older adults lose manual dexterity as they age and brushing their teeth can suffer from that.   There are also many patients who, for many reasons, lose or lack dexterity and I feel that a device like this could be a tremendous benefit for those type of people as well.

Even younger patients often don't understand proper brushing technique and my opinion is that it would be much easier to give them a device such as Samba and *know* things are being taken care of as opposed to educating them in the office and then *hoping* they understand and follow through at home.

I'm going to put the Samba through my own personal home care routine and let you know how it goes.  It is currently charging as I type...

I'm grateful to the good folks at Curaprox in sending me a device to evaluate.  I'll let you all know how it goes...

MUSC Digital Post-grad Program Struggling

 

Occasionally I get some not so great information and today's post is about one of those subjects.  I recently spoke to someone off the record about the profession's first digital dentistry post graduate program.  The program is offered by MUSC (Medical University of South Carolina) College of Dental Medicine.  It is a "two-year clinical program with an emphasis on prosthodontic rehabilitations using multiple digital and analog systems to restore routine to complex patients".  Doctors who complete the program receive a degree "MSD (Master of Science in Dentistry, College of Dental Medicine, Digital Dentistry Track). 

As most of you know, I've been involved with digital dentistry since the very early days of my career and have made it my life's work to  deliver information about it to the profession.  Digital technologies have allowed dentistry to make incredible leaps forward.  Doctors now have the opportunity to provide treatment that is exponentially better than ever before.  Advancements have created 'totally digital workflows' with amazing outcomes.

I was thrilled when I learned that MUSC had started their post graduate program because that is exactly what the profession needs.  Many schools currently teach a mixture of analog and digital systems.  While these current educational programs allow doctors to graduate with a high degree of competency, many new graduates are then in need of learning how to incorporate the true digital aspects of practice.  This normally requires a serious financial investment in continuing education.  While established doctors have the financial wherewithal to do that, recent graduates are saddled with significant student loan debt.  When you add to that the costs of setting up a new office, debt loads can be severe.  Coming up with the money to then educate themselves about all the digital systems is often not possible.

That's why I was so excited about the MUSC program.  It allows doctors to get a post graduate focus on all the digital tools and how to incorporate them together.  The benefits of something along those lines would be a tremendous help to doctors and patients.

Unfortunately what I'm hearing is that the program is struggling... and that is unfortunate.  Digital systems are only advancing and doctors need knowledge and exposure to these systems to be able to integrate them into their practices for maximum benefit and impact.

Hopefully what I'm hearing is only a bump in the proverbial road.  Sometimes good ideas simply take a bit to catch on and any business goes through cycles of expansion and contraction.  I support MUSC in their decision to setup this program and I hope it continues.  The profession needs forward thinking projects like this to help prepare for the future.

I didn't get any specifics in my conversation, but I'm hoping for the best.

Another Post on the Importance of Security and Ways to Help

 

First of all, the way to help.  On Friday November 8th I'll be giving a webinar on data security in the dental office.  However,  while I'm passionate on the subject doctors need an expert to listen to.  That's why the webinar will  be a tag team effort by myself and Gary Salman who is the CEO of Black Talon Security.  As the CEO of a data security firm, Gary knows this subject forwards and backwards.  Click here to register.

The second thing I want to bring up today is about the severe penalties that can be meted out by the federal government *and* affected individuals for violations of HIPAA.  There are many reasons why data security is incredibly important, but if for no other reason, doctors should be concerned about the costs incurred with these types of security situations.

I'm not going to mention the practice by name, but in February 2023 (between the 17th and 22nd), a DSO with over 300 offices experienced a data breach that compromised PHI (Protected Health Information) of patients.  

In addition to the fines, affected business operations, etc that come along with these incidents, there was also a class action lawsuit filed by some of the patients.  Recently the DSO settled the lawsuit filed by the patients for $2.5 million.

I truly think that doctors should look at data security as 'insurance' and not as a 'nice to have'.  No locked door is 100% effective, but becoming a more difficult target certainly means that threat actors will go after less protected systems.

If you'd like to learn how to help avoid these kinds of situations, join Gary Salman and I on November 8th.