Week in Review: Stronger composites | Anesthesia trends | Digital dentistry

Dear DrBicuspid Member,

The question of finding a way to extend the life of a resin composite has weighed on researchers' minds for some time. Now an unusual source, a polymer used to strengthen car bumpers and protect wood decks, might offer a solution. A new filling material with thiourethane demonstrated up to twice the strength of a typical composite in a recent study.

How safe is the use of anesthesia in traditional oral surgeries? The data from thousands of oral surgery procedures suggest that the most severe anesthesia complications are very rare, occurring in less than one person out of thousands of patients.

The above report is reassuring about the safety of anesthesia, when proper preparation, training, and precautions are taken. But the take-away message is that the more knowledgeable practitioners are about the potential medical emergencies that can be encountered during administration of outpatient anesthesia, the more prepared they will be in the management of these complications.

Does your practice embrace digital dentistry? As technology expert Christien Kopas writes, dentists understand that advancing a practice's technological capabilities can increase treatment options and provide a competitive advantage. She offers a thoughtful list of questions to consider before you make the leap into these new technologies.

Finally this week, many new products have been introduced between the Chicago Dental Society Midwinter Meeting and the International Dental Show. We offer our winter new-product roundup to help you see what's new.