FDA panel makes amalgam recommendations; AAOMR chief lauds NYT article

Dear DrBicuspid Member,

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) needs to look more closely at the available research to better determine if amalgam restorations pose risks for certain patients -- notably pregnant women, young children, and medically vulnerable patients -- an FDA advisory panel concluded after a two-day hearing in Washington, DC, last week.

The FDA is expected to consider the panel's advice and then determine whether to make changes in how it regulates dental amalgam. Click here or visit the Restoratives Community to read some of the panel's other recommendations and testimony from amalgam opponents and supporters who attended the meeting.

In Hygiene Community news, 10 years after launching a program that reimburses primary care physicians for delivering preventive oral health services to Medicaid children, North Carolina has seen a significant increase in the number of practitioners offering these services and the number of kids receiving them. Read more.

Finally, why does the president of the American Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology (AAOMR) feel the recent New York Times article questioning the safety of cone-beam CT should be applauded? Click here to find out in the latest Imaging & CAD/CAM Community contribution.