January 15, 2021 | Interviews

Overtreatment, as the word suggests, is excessive or unnecessary care provided to patients for a variety of reasons, such as malpractice, pressure from management or financial gain. In a recent interview, Dental Tribune International had the opportunity to discuss the topic with Dr Alexander C. L. Holden, a specialist in public health dentistry and a senior lecturer at the University of Sydney. Holden co-authored a study that explored overtreatment in Australian private dentistry. He found that some dental professionals are no strangers to commercialism and that the pursuit of profit often prompted them to provide more dental treatments than were necessary.

January 11, 2021 | News

SINGAPORE: With the aim of preventing the spread of SARS-CoV-2, researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed a portable tent-like shield for use during dental procedures. Named the Dental Droplet and Aerosol Reducing Tent—the Dental DART—the foldable transparent structure is placed around the patient’s head in order to create a barrier that reduces direct and indirect exposure to viruses such as SARS-CoV-2.

January 8, 2021 | News

MELBOURNE, Australia: Owing to potential exposure to COVID-19, the Australian government has introduced tough restrictions on healthcare personnel during the pandemic. This has created a major barrier to accessing dental services, and many Australians have had to postpone their dental appointments indefinitely. In a recent study, researchers from the University of Melbourne explored the issue of the disruption of dental services and investigated how COVID‐19 has had an impact on paediatric dental care in Australia. They believe that the data gained through measuring this impact could help inform future restrictions on dental practice.

January 6, 2021 | News

LEIPZIG, Germany: As a result of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the vast majority of dental practices around the world have been partially or completely shut down at times, and routine dental check-ups have been postponed as a result. Whereas some practices have reopened to offer in-person treatment—albeit with enhanced personal protective equipment measures—others have modified their services to offer teledentistry.

December 30, 2020 | Business

HONG KONG/HARROGATE, UK: CareCapital, an equity investor focused on the dental and oral care industry, has announced an agreement to acquire global dental implant company Neoss. In conjunction with the transaction, Dr Robert Gottlander has been appointed President and CEO of Neoss.

December 17, 2020 | Advertorial

An award-winning clinician, researcher and director at the Brånemark Centre in Perth in Australia, Dr Graham Carmichael is a consultant prosthodontist and an adjunct clinical senior lecturer at the University of Western Australia. He has trained dentists and specialists in implant dentistry since 2006. In this interview, he discusses what he most appreciates about the Xeal abutment surface and the TiUltra implant surface and offers his opinion about their long-term potential.

December 15, 2020 | News

Having had more than three decades of experience in the international healthcare industry, Donald M. Casey is better qualified than anyone to guide Dentsply Sirona through the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The company’s CEO recently spoke with Dental Tribune International about the success of this year’s virtual DS World and how the nature of product demonstrations has changed in 2020.

December 14, 2020 | News

DÜSSELDORF, Germany/HONG KONG: Since the number of female dentists has steadily increased over the past decades, their needs in the field of dental ergonomics have come into focus. The female breast and varying bra cup sizes play an important role, as they often prevent the dentist from adopting a symmetrical upright working posture during patient treatment. A joint project by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Ergonomie in der Zahnheilkunde (German academy of dental ergonomics) (AGEZ) and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) is being undertaken to establish criteria for the production of a bra which will ensure a healthy working posture and an unobstructed view of the patient’s oral cavity. In order to develop a product that meets the needs of female dentists and dental nurses, the researchers have created a survey and would like to encourage as many participants as possible to provide feedback.

December 10, 2020 | News

SYDNEY, Australia: Though the spread of SARS-CoV-2 has been relatively well controlled in Australia, access to dental healthcare continues to be an issue in the country. In 2020, to help combat this, a charity associated with the Australian Dental Association ’s New South Wales branch (ADA NSW) stepped up and delivered more than A$300,000 (€185,600) worth of free dental treatment throughout the year.

December 8, 2020 | Interviews

Dental Tribune International (DTI) recently had the opportunity to speak with Dr Sushil Koirala, the founder and chairman of National Dental Hospital and Koirala Dental Academy, a global dental education centre based in Kathmandu in Nepal. Koirala spoke about how the pandemic had affected the dental industry in the Asia Pacific region. In the second part of the interview, he shared his thoughts on the second wave of COVID-19 and discussed the possible long-term post-pandemic changes to the provision of dental care in the region. He also discussed the best course of action for dental professionals who want to overcome the current health crisis and even benefit from it.

December 7, 2020 | News

LEIPZIG, Germany: It is hard to overstate the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on dental trade fairs in 2020. From March onwards, essentially all dental events were shifted online, postponed or outright cancelled, effectively devastating an important and profitable sector of the industry. Though the number of new COVID-19 cases continues to climb by hundreds of thousands with each passing day, there are a number of bright spots on the horizon, leading us to ask what dental events will look like in 2021 and beyond.

December 2, 2020 | News

WELLINGTON, New Zealand: Cannabis poses a threat to oral health, but most patients are reluctant to ask their dentists for advice about what largely remains an illegal drug. New Zealanders were asked to vote for or against the legalisation of recreational cannabis use in a historic referendum that was held concurrently with the country’s October general election. Most voted against legalisation in a closely fought contest that ultimately brought renewed focus to the public health risks associated with legalising, or not legalising, the widely used substance.

November 20, 2020 | Interviews | News

COVID-19 has had an enormous impact on dental business, but its effects have varied among countries around the world. In this interview, Dental Tribune International (DTI) spoke with Dr Sushil Koirala, the founder and chairman of National Dental Hospital and Koirala Dental Academy, a global dental education centre based in Kathmandu in Nepal, on how the pandemic has affected the dental industry in the Asia Pacific region, where he is based.

November 19, 2020 | News

SYDNEY, Australia: Though the COVID-19 pandemic has been relatively well controlled in the state of New South Wales (NSW), physical distancing restrictions have meant that many events are still taking place in a virtual setting. One such event is the 2020 convention of the Australian Dental Association’s (ADA) NSW branch, which is featuring a range of different presenters discussing dental and other health-related topics.

November 18, 2020 | News

TAIPEI, Taiwan: SARS-CoV-2 has required dental schools to be innovative. Three online symposia were held earlier this year in order to analyse strategies that had been adopted for keeping classes going during the first wave of the pandemic. A qualitative study of the symposia found that better online tools were needed, but that digital teaching platforms had created new opportunities for regional collaboration.

November 17, 2020 | News

NAGOYA, Japan: With the aim of clarifying the relationship between panoramic radiographic appearance and longitudinal CBCT classification of root configurations of the mandibular second molar, researchers from Japan have investigated hundreds of panoramic radiographs and are now planning to develop an artificial intelligence (AI) system to help simplify diagnosis of mandibular second molar root canal configurations on panoramic radiographs in the future.

November 13, 2020 | News

MELBOURNE, Australia: Since World Diabetes Day is set for this Saturday, 14 November, the relationship between diabetes and oral health management may be on the minds of dental professionals. A research project conducted in Australia has confirmed that the oral healthcare setting can play a valuable role in individuals’ systemic health by screening for patients who either have Type 2 diabetes or are prediabetic.

November 9, 2020 | News

GUANGZHOU, China: Dental pulp regeneration has been a great challenge to researchers in the field of endodontics for decades. It has been widely regocnised that tissue-engineered biomaterials might be beneficial for endodontic regeneration; however, single-component materials or shape-fixed scaffolds are not able to meet the requirements for multifunctional dental pulp regrowth. Inspired by the clinical use of multiple acellular tissue grafts, researchers in China have become interested in decellularised dental pulp matrix.