DrBicuspid.com Business & Industry Insider

Dear Business & Industry Insider,

These days it's refreshing to hear how a little intuition and ingenuity can help solve a pervasive problem and improve medical care in the process.

Thus is the case with PharynMed, a start-up company formed by a group of students from Miami University to target a common problem in dentistry for which there are few effective solutions: the gag reflex. PharynMed is commercializing a unique device invented by two professors at the university who stumbled upon the idea while working with a group of children undergoing speech therapy.

Click here to read more about this unique acupressure device in our latest Insider Exclusive or by visiting the Business & Industry Community.

In other industry news, what does the rising cost of x-ray film mean for dentistry? Despite significant increases in the price of film -- due primarily to price spikes in oil and precious metals -- conventional dental x-rays are not likely to disappear from the scene anytime soon. Even so, the trend toward digital imaging continues to grow, according to several industry experts. Read more.

Meanwhile, a patent battle is brewing between ClearCorrect and Align Technology. In March Align sued ClearCorrect, alleging patent infringement; now ClearCorrect has filed a countersuit against Align, denying allegations that its clear-aligner therapy systems infringe on Align patents and asking the court to declare all 408 claims in 10 of Align's patents invalid. Read more.

And in related news, Align has entered the intraoral scanning and digital impressioning market with the acquisition of Cadent, a provider of 3D digital scanning solutions for orthodontics and dentistry. Click here for details.

That wasn't the only acquisition to take place in the dental industry recently. Septodont purchased the OraVerse product line from Novalar Pharmaceuticals, which in turn announced that it was ceasing operations. OraVerse is the only local anesthesia reversal agent to gain U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval. Read more.

Meanwhile, Philips Oral Healthcare said it will discontinue certain advertising claims for its Sonicare FlexCare and FlexCare+ toothbrushes, after Procter & Gamble filed a complaint with the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus.

On a more positive note, a number of vendors from the dental community have reached out to provide aid to Japan earthquake and tsunami victims, including GC America, Aribex, and Henry Schein.

Finally, the mood was upbeat at the 2011 International Dental Show in Cologne, Germany, with vendors and attendees alike crowding the exhibit hall. Click here to read what products caught Dr. Marty Jablow's eye at the show.