Friday, June 17, 2011

The Morning Drill: June 17, 2011



A collection of dentistry and health related links/comments to start your day.

Adriana Sklenarikova 'Saved' by Bulgarian Dentist
World renown supermodel Adriana Karembeu nee Sklenarikova had to undergo an emergency dentist appointment during her visit to Bulgaria.

While on a working lunch at the Bulgarian Velingrad spa resort, the supermodel suddenly felt her tooth aches. Sklenarikova had to go to a local dentist, who immediately solved her problem, according to the 24 chasa daily.

The model was vary grateful and even took a picture with the dentist. Adriana Sklenarikova is in Bulgaria to get acquainted with the country's spa business opportunities.

On Tuesday, she was present at the official opening of a new spa center in the northern Bulgarian city of Veliko Tarnovo.

Her visit to the Balkan country also has to do with the launch of her own cosmetics brand, which is stepping on the Bulgarian market.
Healing Times for Dental Implants Could Be Cut
The technology used to replace lost teeth with titanium dental implants could be improved. By studying the surface structure of dental implants not only at micro level but also at nano level, researchers at the University of Gothenburg; Sweden, have come up with a method that could shorten the healing time for patients.

"Increasing the active surface at nano level and changing the conductivity of the implant allows us to affect the body's own biomechanics and speed up the healing of the implant," says Johanna Löberg at the University of Gothenburg's Department of Chemistry. "This would reduce the discomfort for patients and makes for a better quality of life during the healing process."

Dental implants have been used to replace lost teeth for more than 40 years now. Per-Ingvar Brånemark, who was recently awarded the European Inventor Award, was the first person to realise that titanium was very body-friendly and could be implanted into bone without being rejected. Titanium is covered with a thin layer of naturally formed oxide and it is this oxide's properties that determine how well an implant fuses with the bone.

It became clear at an early point that a rough surface was better than a smooth one, and the surface of today's implants is often characterised by different levels of roughness, from the thread to the superimposed nanostructures. Anchoring the implant in the bone exerts a mechanical influence on the bone tissue known as biomechanical stimulation, and this facilitates the formation of new bone. As the topography (roughness) of the surface is important for the formation of new bone, it is essential to be able to measure and describe the surface appearance in detail. But roughness is not the only property that affects healing.
College of San Mateo's dental program is in decay

A locked, darkened room sits on the third floor of a sparkling new building at the College of San Mateo. Pipes poke out of its walls and floors, gathering dust.

The room was supposed to be the center of a new dental hygienist training program, and was built at considerable expense using voter-approved bond funding. 

But by the time the building was completed last year, the community college had lost so much state funding that it was forced to put the hygienist training program on indefinite hold. Until the state bounces back financially, the expensive room will likely remain locked and darkened, college President Michael Claire said.

“When we’re cutting English classes and mathematics classes and there’s waiting lists for those, you have to make some decisions about what you can and can’t do,” Claire said. “You have to make really tough decisions about the have-to-haves versus the nice-to-haves.”

Across the state, public entities have faced a similar problem, as voters approve funding for new facilities but there is no money to run them once they’re constructed.

Dental care called a health care crisis


Sepulveda is part of what local officials are calling a growing North Coast health care crisis that only now is being assessed in Sonoma County. According to a study by the Sonoma County Task Force on Oral Health, yet to be formally released to the public:

-- In 2010, there were only 15 dentists for 109,000 low-income residents in Sonoma County — a fraction of the pool available to those with private insurance.

-- In 2009, 52 percent of the county's third-graders had a history of tooth decay, exceeding the state average.

-- The county's impoverished third-graders are more than twice as likely to suffer from untreated tooth decay as children from more affluent families.

The report is expected to be reviewed by the county Board of Supervisors next month.

Enjoy your morning drill!

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