Botox enhances implant outcomes; novel caries detector hits U.S. market

Dear DrBicuspid Member,

It's that time of year again: The DrBicuspid Dental Excellence Awards are back!

Do you have a favorite new product you think deserves recognition? Do your colleagues deserve special attention for their efforts in education or research? Then nominate them for the second annual Dental Excellence Awards, designed to honor the best and brightest in dentistry.

Starting today, we will take suggestions from our members for candidates in 12 categories, ranging from Most Effective Dentist Educator to Best New Material to Hottest Clinical Procedure. You'll then be asked to select the finalists in two subsequent rounds of voting, with awards presented to the winners at the Chicago Midwinter Meeting in February.

Your participation in the nomination process is crucial to ensuring that the Dental Excellence Awards are an accurate reflection of dentistry. To get started, just click here or go to dentalexcellenceawards.drbicuspid.com.

More Botox supporters

While some dental and cosmetic professionals feel Botox injections are not appropriate in the dental office, others believe they can aid patients both therapeutically and cosmetically. Some dentists already use Botox to treat bruxism, temporomandibular disorders, and migraine headaches. So why not use it to help implant patients too?

That's what one presenter suggested at the American Academy of Implant Dentistry meeting last week. Click here to read more in our latest Cosmetics Community feature.

Meanwhile, in Imaging & CAD/CAM Community news, a caries detection device developed in Scotland uses electronic impedance spectroscopy to achieve fewer false positives and greater accuracy than competing systems, according to the manufacturer. And it's now being marketed in the U.S. Read more.

Finally, some good news for the manufacturers and users of osteoporosis drugs: In postmenopausal women with low bone mineral density, long-term bisphosphonate therapy appears to benefit their oral health, according to a study by researchers from the Case Western School of Dental Medicine.