Dental water line blamed in patient's death; toothbrush gets FDA warning

Dear DrBicuspid Member,

A contaminated water line in a dental practice in Italy is being blamed for the death of an 82-year-old woman who contracted Legionnaire's disease after two visits to the office for treatment.

In a case report published last week in Lancet, researchers from the Italian National Health Service provided details of their investigation into what led to the woman's death and outlined control measures for dental practices to follow to ensure they maintain optimum patient safety. Read more.

In other Hygiene Community news, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning consumers that certain electric toothbrushes can break during use and cause serious injuries. Click here to read which battery-powered models the agency is specifically concerned about.

And in the latest installment of our Leaders in Dentistry series, Pamela Quinones, RDH, president of the American Dental Hygienists' Association, shares her thoughts on the role midlevel providers and dental therapists may play in increasing access to care and whether there are too many dental hygienists in the U.S.

Finally, are optical caries detection devices a useful adjunct for detecting, assessing, and monitoring caries progression? Click here to read the results of a study that demonstrated how one such device is able to image the entire spectrum of caries severity, from enamel demineralization to dentin decay.