DrBicuspid.com Business & Industry Insider

Dear Business & Industry Insider,

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning consumers and healthcare providers that certain electric toothbrushes can break during use and cause serious injuries, including chipped or broken teeth, cuts to the mouth and gums, and injuries to the face and eyes. And it is not the first time that the battery-powered Arm & Hammer Spinbrush -- previously known as the Crest Spinbrush -- has come under FDA scrutiny.

In other regulatory news, a New Jersey dental products manufacturer has been ordered to cease operations after an investigation by the FDA found that several of the company's products had not undergone appropriate regulatory review.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission agreed last month to stay enforcement of its finding that the North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners' efforts to block nondentists from providing teeth-whitening services violate antitrust laws. Read more.

And Dentsply International is suing the attorney and legal firm that represented it in a 2008 breach-of-contract lawsuit that wound up costing the dental products firm more than $15 million.

In new product news, Millennium Dental unveiled an Android-based, upgradable control screen for its PerioLase MVP-7 laser system at the 2012 Chicago Midwinter Meeting, marking the first time tablet technology has been used in this way on a dental laser.

And can chocolate actually be good for your teeth? A New Orleans start-up has leveraged 30 years of research to create toothpaste that eliminates the need for fluoride by using a naturally occurring compound found in cocoa that also strengthens tooth enamel. Read more.

Finally, the average individual already counts a toothbrush and floss among their tools for maintaining a healthy mouth. PhotOral, a new company based in Lexington, MA, is hoping that its light-based intraoral device, which targets pathogenic oral bacteria, will be added to that list. Read more.