Three Salt Lake City dentists traveled across the globe this week to provide dental care to nearly 200 Indian children.

Dr. Scott Mcgavin is one of the three dentists participating in the Rising Star Outreach program, started by a Utahn to help children around the world. The trio will provide dental work to children living in leprosy colonies around India. The children don’t have leprosy, but their parents do.

“We’re going to go back and continue what we started a couple of years ago and do some dental work for some kids who otherwise wouldn’t get dental work,” said Mcgavin. “Even though they don’t have leprosy, they’re treated as if they do. Their opportunities in life are virtually non-existent.”

Rather than extract teeth, the dentists will be fixing the kids’ smiles.

“She didn’t want us over there extracting teeth; she didn’t want us to put anymore burns on them then they already had,” said Mcgavin.

The dentists hope to expand the program and get a new generation of dentists involved and expose them to the other side of dentistry.

“You don’t have to worry about who’s paying the bill, you don’t have to worry about what insurance they have. There’s… continue reading

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About a year or so ago, some dentists in Maine started noticing that insurance plans were cutting back on preventive coverage for kids. Instead of paying for the two fluoride treatments a year recommended for most children by dental associations, many insurers would only cover one. This has dentists like Whitney Wignall riled up–and taking the fight to restore coverage for fluoride treatments to the State House.

First, she just has to finish painting fluoride varnish on 6-year-old Moria Concannon’s teeth. “All right, I’m going to dry it off with a little bit of air first, OK? And just stay open for me,” she says.

Wignall works at Southern Maine Pediatric Dentistry in South Portland. Concannon’s mother is willing to pay the extra money for her daughter to have more than the one treatment their insurance will cover. But Wignall says that’s often not the case.

“A lot of parents decline having it done, and they say, my insurance doesn’t cover it, I only want it once a year,” she says. “They feel like, well the insurance company knows what’s actually necessary, you’re trying to do something extra.”

This week, legislators will take up a bill that would require insurers to pay for two fluoride treatments per child annually, and up to four treatments for children with… continue reading

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January 23, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/ — Dr. Jack Gruber, DDS of New York is announcing the launch of a new toothbrush designed to change the way his patients combat gum disease while keeping their teeth clean. The PeriClean is a gentle, brushless toothbrush for receding gums designed to address the problems associated with brushing with a normal toothbrush.

Dr. Gruber has been in the dental profession for over 35 years. During that period he, like many other dentists, had seen hundreds of patients suffering the same recurring dental problems. Motivated by a genuine concern for those patients, Dr. Gruber was determined to find the underlying cause.

“Young people have inadvertently been destroying healthy mouths for years because they have been taught a single, incorrect method for cleaning their teeth. Each year, 23.8 million people suffer from gum recession as a result of using toothbrushes; People of all ages are scrubbing away enamel, gums, and eventually the bones beneath their gums.” Stated Dr. Gruber. “The gums are thin like paper, under that is bone that is as thin as an eggshell. When you know that much, you wouldn’t want to go… continue reading

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EAST CHINA TWP. — Third-graders from Washington Elementary School in Marysville took a break Wednesday from reading, writing and arithmetic to learn about teeth.

The children took a field trip to Dr. Christopher Brieden’s office to learn about the importance of dental hygiene.

Brieden, an orthodontist for 32 years, has had student field trips to his office for more than a decade. He started by visiting schools when his practice was new, he said. He pays for the bus transportation for the students to get to his office.

“Every February is National Children’s Dental Health Month, and that’s when us professionals are encouraged to go the extra mile,” he said. “… I feel an obligation to give back to the community and teach the kids.”

Students visited stations at the office to learn about giving a patient braces, taking X-rays and making dental molds. Children also learned the proper way to floss and brush their teeth.

“I liked it because they are teaching you why you should brush your teeth and what’s gonna happen if you don’t brush your teeth,” said third-grader Kendell Lindsay, 8. “You’re gonna lose… continue reading

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A Bradford dentist is to embark on the challenge of a lifetime to raise money for a charity close to his heart.

John Sinclair, a dentist at Leeds Road Dental Practice, will climb Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak, in January next year for the Cleft Lip and Palate Association.

Mr Sinclair, 37, and his wife Carolyn, 38, became parents to their second little boy Jamie, in October.

The couple, of Horsforth, found out from ante-natal scans that Jamie would be born with a cleft lip.

The three-month-old is due to have his first operation on February 14 to correct this. He will also need a second operation when he grows older.

One in 700 children are born with this condition – about 1,000 a year in the UK – and the charity provides information, advice and one-to-one support through its network of branches.

Mr Sinclair said: “I work in a dental practice in Bradford and my business partner and colleague has also had a… continue reading

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Children in Scotland today have the best dental health since records began, the Scottish government has said.

Almost 70% of P7 pupils have no obvious sign of tooth decay, beating a 60% target previously set by ministers.

The figures were released as part of a report by the National Dental Inspection Programme.

At the same time, Scotland’s chief dentist urged parents to ensure their children stuck to a good tooth-brushing routine.

The Scottish government also said dental registration figures were at a record high, with an extra 1.36 million people registering with an NHS dentist since March 2007, bringing the total to almost four million as of September 30.

Public Health Minister Michael Matheson, said: “It is important to make sure that we maintain this good oral health record over Christmas and New Year, and as we move into 2012.”

With children tucking into Christmas selection boxes across Scotland, chief dental officer Margie Taylor, said: “We know that over the festive period we can sometimes overindulge in chocolates and sugary treats.

“Not eating sugary snacks between meals… continue reading

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High-street practitioners regularly see children with teeth worn away to little more than stumps due to the youngsters’ mouths being bathed in the acidic drinks day-in, day-out, said Kathryn Harley, dean of the Faculty of Dentistry at the Royal College of Surgeons.

National surveys show half of five-year-olds exhibit signs of ‘tooth wear’, caused by acidic drinks dissolving and softening enamel.

Teeth edges first start to fret, then chip. They gradually get worn back until, in some cases, all that remain are hideous stumps.

Harley said a generation of children was growing up refusing to drink water because they had been fed fruit juice since they were babies.

“The problem is that we have got a generation who won’t drink water. They want it flavoured all the time,” she said.

“We see lots of parents who say, ‘My children won’t drink water’. But if a child has been introduced as an infant to juice, parents are going to really struggle to get him to drink water when he is a bit older.”

Harley, who runs a specialist clinic sorting out serious dental problems, explained that fruit juice and… continue reading

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Nearly half of all Queenslanders aged five to 12 years suffered from tooth decay, a report into children’s dental health has found.

The Australian Institute of Health and Wellbeing report Child Dental Health Surveys Australia, 2005 and 2006, released yesterday, found 45.4 per cent of Queensland children utilising public dental services suffered from tooth decay in either their baby or adult teeth.

The state’s record compares unfavourably to the rest of the surveyed states, with only the Northern Territory having a higher instance of decay (47.1 per cent).

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It also found the average Queensland child aged five to six years was likely to have nearly three (2.74) of their teeth affected by decay.

Queensland children’s poor dental health was highlighted last year when an Ipswich woman was jailed for 12 months for only feeding her nine-year-old daughter cordial.

The girl needed to have 12 teeth extracted.

The studies predate the state government’s move to add fluoride to the Queensland water supply.

A lack of exposure to fluoride is named in the study as one of the risk factors for dental decay, along with the intake of… continue reading

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THE nation’s consumer watchdog has launched a crackdown on dangerous DIY teeth-whitening products after users complained of burns to their gums and mouth.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission moved to stop the supply of DIY teeth-whiteners containing unsafe concentrations of peroxide.

“The ACCC is concerned that high concentrations of peroxides used in these products has resulted in injuries such as chemical burns to gums and the mouth,” ACCC Commissioner Sarah Court says.

The regulator has so far identified nine home use teeth-whitening products which have now been recalled from sale across the country.

Suppliers of the teeth-whitening kits have now been notified products containing concentrations of more than six per cent hydrogen peroxide or more than 18 per cent carbamide peroxide are unsafe and should not be supplied to consumers.

The ACCC action follows a market survey of DIY teeth-whitening kits sparked by reports of associated injuries.

“In addition to chemical burns to gums and the mouth, other reported injuries have included blistering or… continue reading

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Northern Ireland teenagers have some of the highest levels of tooth decay in Europe, a study funded by Queen’s University has found.

Teenagers, particularly in deprived areas, were twice as likely to have permanent damage as those elsewhere.

The report said teenagers in affluent areas were having braces fitted and aesthetic treatments.

The British Dental Association said a dental health strategy, published five years ago, must be implemented.

Poor diet, social deprivation and a non-fluoridated water supply all contribute to bad teeth.

As well as highlighting the standard of oral hygiene the report also found that teenagers in poorer areas were more likely to have extractions.

Peter Crooks from the BDA said the current dental contract did not pay dentists to deliver preventive treatments.

He has accused the Department of Health of dragging its feet on the dental health strategy.

“I think it is critical that it is implemented as soon as possible,” he said.

Peter Crooks of the BDA accused the Department of Health of dragging its feet

“We have been talking with the… continue reading

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