Recession hits dentists; adhesives tested

Dear DrBicuspid.com member,

An implant or half a year of gasoline? Groceries or a crown? As recession spreads around the country, consumers are making tough choices. And their penny pinching has already hit dentists.

So says a stock analyst at investment bank Robert W. Baird, whose pessimism let the air out of share prices of nearly a half-dozen dental supply companies last week. Read about how job losses across the U.S. could affect your practice in a story by Assistant Editor Rabia Mughal.

In these straitened times, more patients may be tempted to get dental care -- then overlook the bill. That's one reason that we're also featuring a how-to article on coping with deadbeats.

But there's at least a ray of good news shining through the headlines. At the American Association for Dental Research (AADR) annual meeting in Dallas, researchers presented evidence that self-etch dental adhesives are getting stronger. And their results contained a surprise that turned the heads of some materials experts. Find out why.

The report was one in a series from the AADR meeting that also included liability questions about cone-beam CT (CBCT) findings. You'll find that story in our newly built Imaging Community.

The community is open to all our members, but you can also get an advance look at imaging news in the future if you subscribe to our Imaging Insider e-mail newsletter, which will start next month. To opt in to this e-mail newsletter just click here.

A few days after the AADR meeting, and hundreds of miles away in San Diego, researchers reported on another conundrum in dentistry: What stops dentists from screening all their patients for oral cancer? Part of the answer, they discovered, comes in rectangles and fits in wallets.

All that and much more is new on DrBicuspid.com. We're open 24/7, so come on down.