Cast your Dental Excellence votes! And, Fla. county reverses fluoride vote

Dear DrBicuspid Member,

Today we kick off the semifinal round of the annual DrBicuspid Dental Excellence Awards. Don't miss this opportunity to honor dentistry's best and brightest, from researchers, educators, and consultants to new products and hot topics. Click here or go to dentalexcellenceawards.drbicuspid.com to vote for your top choices! Voting ends midnight, December 14.

Meanwhile, in Practice Management Community news, the Texas Coalition of Dental Support Organizations is working to circumvent efforts to increase legislative oversight of their businesses, saying that any new regulations would be anticompetitive. Read more.

Over in the Restoratives Community, after voting a year ago to end water fluoridation in Pinellas County, FL, the Board of County Commissioners last week reversed itself, voting to reinstate the practice to the roughly 700,000 people who live there. What changed their minds? Read more.

In a related article, Dr. Margherita Fontana, associate professor at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry, is an accomplished researcher focused on improving caries disease management, prevention, and remineralization, particularly in children. As part of our ongoing Leaders in Dentistry series, we spoke with Dr. Fontana about her latest project: developing and validating a risk assessment tool for caries that can be used in pediatric medical offices.

Finally, in Hygiene Community news, a new study in the Journal of Periodontology that looked at the relationship between oral health and coronary artery disease in Pakistan found that poor oral health indicators were significantly associated with the disease.