DrBicuspid.com Hygiene Insider

Dear Hygiene Insider,

Last Tuesday it looked like Maine was on track to become the next U.S. state to adopt a midlevel provider model for dentistry when the House of Representatives approved legislation to establish dental hygiene therapists as a viable workforce option.

But 24 hours later the Senate defeated the bill, leaving many wondering how the state intends to address its access-to-dental-care problems, especially for underserved populations in rural areas. Read more.

In a related story in the Hygiene Community, Kaiser Permanente Northwest plans to eliminate periodontal hygienists from its dental care program in Oregon and Washington -- the only program of its kind that Kaiser offers. In 2012, the 19 specialists provided care to more than 20,000 patients with serious periodontal disease.

Meanwhile, dental hygienists from across the U.S. gathered in Boston last week for the American Dental Hygienists' Association (ADHA) annual session, which celebrated the 100th anniversary of the hygienist profession. Just prior to the meeting, we spoke with Ann Battrell, ADHA executive director, to get her thoughts on the many advances the profession has made in the last century and some key changes on the horizon.

And in her role as 2012-2013 ADHA president, Susan Savage, RDH, BSDH, spent the last year traveling around the U.S. talking to hygienists and other dental and nondental groups about oral health and the challenges the U.S. faces in closing the access-to-care gap. Click here to read our exclusive interview with her.

On the clinical front, Cargill -- an international producer of food, agricultural, financial, and industrial products and services -- is stepping into the global oral health market with a noncaloric sweetener that the company claims rivals -- perhaps even bests -- xylitol in preventing caries. Read more.

And anticariogenic agents of the future may come from a variety of natural sources. Five such agents -- Albizia myriophylla wood, osteopontin, epigallocatechin gallate, ginkgogenolic acid, and shiitake mushroom extract -- are already being studied for their potential in this field, according to contributing editor Zachary Conley, a graduate student at the University of Arizona who is studying molecular and cellular biology.

Even eating cheese can help protect teeth against caries, according to a study published in the May/June 2013 issue of General Dentistry.

Finally, the Network for Canadian Oral Health Research -- the first of its kind in Canada -- is designed to encourage collaborative, multidisciplinary research teams to look at questions about oral health in new ways and to encourage students to consider oral health research as a career.