Dear Restoratives Insider,
A new company formed by three recent college graduates is hoping to improve the root canal experience for patients and practitioners alike. Don't let the company principals' ages -- all are under 25 -- deter you from the potential of their new invention, which looks to solve a long-frustrating endodontic issue.
Find out more about this intriguing new device, and how it came to be, in our latest Restoratives Insider Exclusive.
In other Restoratives Community news, it's been a busy couple of months for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In December, the FDA convened a two-day meeting of medical and scientific experts to examine the potential risks of amalgam mercury exposure. Will their findings pave the way for the potential elimination of dental amalgam? Read more.
And last month, U.S. marshals descended on a Florida dental product manufacturer after repeated attempts by the FDA to get the company to improve its manufacturing processes. Click here to learn more, including what products were seized that the FDA is warning dentists to avoid.
Also last month, the FDA issued a warning to another dental product company regarding claims the company was making in some of its advertising and marketing materials. What specifically caught the agency's attention? Read more here.
In other regulatory developments, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Environmental Protection Agency caused a stir with their recent joint call for a reduction in fluoride levels in drinking water. Click here to find out what prompted this policy shift and how communities across the U.S. are responding.
A different controversy of international proportions took place when Hospira, the last remaining U.S. manufacturer of Pentothal, announced that it would discontinue production of the common drug. How did a nearly obsolete drug cause such a stir in and beyond the medical community? Read more.
On the clinical front, the risk for bacteremia is greater following dental extractions under general anesthesia than local anesthesia, a new study in Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology, Oral Radiology, and Endodontology concluded. The causes are unclear but the risk factors should be reconsidered, according to the authors.
In other news, a Pennsylvania man's family is suing after he suffered a fatal stroke following the extraction of multiple teeth at a Veterans Affairs hospital. Learn about the series of events that lead to the patient's death and the subsequent lawsuit here.
Finally, CAMBRA advocates gathered in San Francisco last month to discuss how to help the dental community more fully embrace this preventive dentistry concept. While many obstacles remain, overall the conference struck a positive note. Read more.
