the DPR Editorial Team

 and why dentists and dental practices should make the switch from film to digital. We've heard the discussions about ROI. We've seen practitioners talk about the benefits of digital radiography for the environment. We've witnessed dentists tell us that digital radiography gives a the "tech-savvy" feel for their patients. We've also heard patients who are concerned about the amount of radiation they receive during a dental visit.

E-book: How outdated technology is costing you money

Yet, despite all of the talk and ideas being thrown around, there are still plenty of dentists out there who use film in their practices. For this infographic, we asked dental professionals what they liked about radiography, why they made the switch, and why they don't own a piece of equipment that they think might be the best for their practices.

Another infographic: Everything to know about curing lights

Click below to see what our readers told us about their current and future mindsets regarding digital radiography.

Articles

For years, there has been talk about digital radiography and why dentists and dental practices should make the switch from film to digital. We've heard the discussions about ROI. We've seen practitioners talk about the benefits of digital radiography for the environment. We've witnessed dentists tell us that digital radiography gives a the "tech-savvy" feel for their patients.

Infographic: Digital radiography in the dental practice

Crest recently unveiled what it describes as one of its most breakthrough product launches in a decade with the launch of 

. The small, flexible, semi-transparent strips provide targeted, immediate and long-lasting tooth sensitivity relief like never before.

Studies indicate that more than 50 percent of people will experience tooth sensitivity at some point in their life caused by weakened enamel, gum recession and other factors. A recent survey also said that only four out of 10 sensitivity toothpaste users are satisfied with their sensitivity toothpaste, which served as a primary motivation for bringing Crest Sensi-Stop Strips to market.

“Crest Sensi-Stop Strips are a revolutionary at-home treatment for the nearly 30 million Americans who suffer from sensitive teeth,” said Dr. Nancy Rosen, who practices in New York City. “I have struggled to find an at-home solution that leaves my patients satisfied until now. With one strip applied for 10 minutes, my patients can now have targeted and immediate relief for up to one month.”

Discover more new products we saw at the ADA Annual Session

Sensitivity sufferers admit they have changed their behaviors as a result of tooth sensitivity, including the use of sensitivity tooth paste and compensatory behaviors. Compensatory behaviors include actions such as avoiding hot or cold foods and liquids, avoiding sweets, avoiding cold air or changing an oral care routine. Early stages of tooth sensitivity typically begin when people are in their 30s and 40s however any one can be susceptible as the age at which most sufferers first experience tooth sensitivity can range from 20-49 years old. The onset largely depends on oral care habits and practices such as over-aggressive brushing or gum disease.

Learn more about "The Insane Pain" of hypersensitivity

With Crest Sensi-Stop Strips, the right amount of tooth sensitivity treatment is applied exactly where it is needed. They are designed to cover the outer gumline of sensitive teeth for just 10 minutes. Using the same ingredient as some professional treatments, exposed dentinal tubules are blocked.

“Crest Sensi-Stop Strips are Procter & Gamble’s biggest innovation ever in the tooth sensitivity category,” said Charles Pierce, Group President, Global Oral Care & New Business Creation and Innovation, Procter & Gamble. “This new at-home treatment addresses tooth sensitivity and is a simple and highly-effective addition to existing oral care routines. One Strip, 10 minutes and up to one month of protection.”

More from Procter & Gamble:	Oral-B introduces first electric toothbrush with Bluetooth capabilities

Suggested retail prices for the new Crest Sensi-Stop Strips are $19.99 (6 ct.), $27.99 (10 ct.) and $34.99 (12 ct.). The strips are publicly available for purchase on store shelves at drugstores and mass retailers throughout the United States.

Crest recently unveiled what it describes as one of its most breakthrough product launches in a decade with the launch of Crest Sensi-Stop Strips. The small, flexible, semi-transparent strips provide targeted, immediate and long-lasting tooth sensitivity relief like never before.

Introducing Crest Sensi-Stop Strips [VIDEO]

 have launched a new product for dental practices looking for statistics to help make better decisions about their PPO dental plans. 

 for Dentrix is an easy-to-use report that gives the office a snapshot of how their PPO dental plans are affecting their practices’ productivity and profitability.

Designed for Henry Schein’s Dentrix practice management system, The PPO Analyzer gives dental teams an efficient and accurate system for the front office to improve treatment planning, increase collections, and easily view net production, said Dayna Johnson, founder of Rae Dental Management and a certified Dentrix trainer.

“The PPO Analyzer also tracks statistics such as PPO write-offs, patient demographics, and specific production information without forcing teams to sort through multiple reports,” Johnson added. “Doctors have been asking for these features and we have been listening. The PPO Analyzer for Dentrix brings all this information together on one report for Dentrix, the market leader in practice management systems.”

The PPO Analyzer for Dentrix is a “Dentrix G5 Connected” solution and has four main components:

– Shows production by fee schedule and compares it to your UCR fee schedule to give you a net difference. This is your bottom line PPO write-off.

 – Gives total number of patients and percentage of active patient base by fee schedule. Also, it will break it down by male, female, and child.

 – Shows how long the average claim aging is by each PPO plan. These statistics give not only average claim aging, but also total number of resubmissions by fee schedule.

 – Breaks down the numbers a little farther to show the total number of doctor visits, hygiene visits, and average production per visit.

“Also, this section will show you total number of broken appointments by fee schedule,”Johnson added.

RELATED VIDEO:	How to successfully implement practice management software

Because The PPO Analyzer is 'Dentrix G5 Connected,' it integrates directly with the Dentrix system, quickly accessing your Dentrix data to provide valuable reporting," said Kevin Bunker, president, North America Dental Practice Solutions at Henry Schein, Inc.

“There isn’t anything else like it on the market right now. 

 users should be very excited about this report because they cannot pull these numbers onto one report,” said Aaron Cali with Great Minds, Inc.

Exclusive first look: The top 3 features of Dentrix G6

According to the developers, these components can help you make better decisions about your 

. They also say it might also help you to target market certain employers with good PPO plans or help you map out your schedule to increase production.

For more information or to purchase The PPO Analyzer, go to 

Great Minds, Inc., and Rae Dental Management have launched a new product for dental practices looking for statistics to help make better decisions about their PPO dental plans. The PPO Analyzer for Dentrix is an easy-to-use report that gives the office a snapshot of how their PPO dental plans are affecting their practices’ productivity and profitability.

Introducing The PPO Analyzer

Don’t let your practice management system confine you to your office, or worse yet, your desktop. Too often you need to access patient data from someplace other than your office.

Until now, you had no choice but to purchase an in-office practice management system that limited where and on what computers you worked. But now, cloud-based systems offer the robust flexibility today’s advanced practices need. 

Join us for a free webinar with Adam McDaniel, Dentrix Ascend Product Manager at Henry Schein Practice Solutions,

 and get a look at how the flexibility of a cloud-based system can give you:

		Around-the-clock access to your schedule and patient information from anywhere 

		Multiple-location access so you can move office to office while on the same system 

		iPad optimization so you can experience new levels of mobility inside your practice 

		Hardware diversity so you can use the system you know

Sponsored by Henry Schein Practice Solutions

Webinar: The dental practice management benefits of cloud-based systems

Bryan Couch, DDS, doesn’t mince words when it comes to his experience with digital impressions and in-office CAD/CAM: “It’s the single most important tool I’ve purchased in 29 years of dentistry.”

The Coppell, Texas, cosmetic and family dentist first invested in the E4D system (now PlanScan) five years ago, with the goal of simply controlling his lab costs. But what he found, he says, is a system that has revolutionized his patients’ experiences of dental care by allowing him to deliver excellent restorations in a single visit while controlling costs across the board.

We talked with Dr. Couch in the summer 2014 about 

the new digital workflow that comes with CAD/CAM.

 To get it even more in-depth look at this process, Dr. Couch explains his first-hand experience in a new 

In this free webinar, Dr. Couch uses real examples from his Coppell, Texas, practice to illustrate each step of the digital process and explain how incorporating a digital workflow has improved his scheduling, treatment outcomes, patient satisfaction, efficiency, and profitability. 

On-Demand Webinar: Navigating digital impressions and CAD/CAM in the real world

 released its NBDHE prep program to the public in mid-2013 and, after a year in business, is pleased to announce a 100% reported pass rate among subscribers.

“We could not be more excited to see HygienistPrep proving so reliably useful to our customers,” said Mauricio Dujowich, founding partner of XPrep Learning Solutions, HygienistPrep’s parent company. “We look forward to helping many more students in the years to come and continually improving to remain the best possible preparation tool for National Board exams.”

RELATED ARTICLE:	How Electronic Health Records (EHRs) will benefit tomorrow's dental hygienist

Beginning in 2011, a group of dental education enthusiasts, along with experts in internet-based board preparation, joined forces with the objective to create the most comprehensive online platform ever created for dental hygiene students preparing to take the 

“Our main objective is helping make students’ lives easier by creating online solutions that both bolster their knowledge on content while simultaneously giving them an environment that mimics the computer based exam,” Dujowich said. “This way, come the big day, they feel as prepared as possible on multiple levels.”

Content and functionality have been built from the ground up specifically to address board preparation needs. In fact, success guarantees are afforded to all students who complete the majority of the 1,500 multiple choice questions provided within the program.

RELATED ARTICLE:	What more than 500 dental hygienists said about their salaries and benefits

Subscriptions of 30, 60 or 90 days are available, or the duration can be customized to accommodate an entire class. Students are able to use the program from any web-enabled device, including smartphones, tablets, or computers.

“The randomized questions, the variety of formats, and the case studies were all excellent in the sense that they provided a good idea of what the test would look like,” said Sara, a HygienistPrep user at Indiana School of Dentistry.

HygienistPrep focuses on the same categories covered on the NBDHE, including testlets in the area of Community Health Research as well as case-based questions complete with intraoral photographs, charting and digital radiographs. All questions are specifically designed with the NBDHE in mind. The web-based interface, ratio of question types, question format, and user interface were strategically created to simulate an actual NBDHE exam and to help familiarize the student with the board exam experience.

Statistics and graphs are generated to reveal weaker and stronger areas in each individual’s performance. Detailed answer explanations to all questions, combined with PowerPages™ (condensed study notes), provide an extensive and interactive learning resource. No more need for scouring textbooks and lecture notes – HygienistPrep provides all of the information a student will need in one online program.

RELATED ARTICLE:	What 101 hygienists said about loupes

To find out more about HygienistPrep, go to 

 and take a tour. Pricing for the three subscription options are 30 days ($199), 60 days ($229), and 90 days ($249).

For further information or inquiries about institutional pricing offered to groups of students, please email Kathleen Allen, RDH, Education Coordinator for HygienistPrep, at kallen@hygienistprep.com.

KEEP LEARNING:	Free Webinar on managing hypersensitivity

HygienistPrep™ released its NBDHE prep program to the public in mid-2013 and, after a year in business, is pleased to announce a 100% reported pass rate among subscribers.

Closer look: HygienistPrep helping dental hygiene students soar through NBDHE

In her 30 years as a dental hygienist, Elizabeth Martens has heard plenty of times why people won’t floss … they simply can’t get their hands and the floss inside their mouth.

Wanting to eliminate that issue, Martens devised 

, a prepackaged floss sized like a credit card that has small knots throughout the string. She believes the knots aggressively reduce plaque and improve the patient’s grip, ending the problem of “slippery floss.”

“My experience as a dental hygienist inspired me to design a better floss,” Martens said. “By having a knot along the entire length of the floss, it acts as a grip, like the nubs on a wide receiver’s gloves. It creates more body, and therefore more grip. Right out of the gate, people aren’t fumbling trying to hold the floss.”

According to the manufacturer, Knotty Floss is the first available floss with the ability to reach deeper into areas that pack food between the teeth and gums. Relief is felt immediately after pulling the knot through the area where food gets impacted. Popcorn kernels, berry seeds, apple peels, and grains of all kind are no match for the powerful knots in Knotty Floss.

Watch below to hear more benefits of Knotty Floss during an interview with Martens with a recent trade show.

Why Knotty Floss is 'knot' your ordinary dental floss [VIDEO]

Kevin Henry, group editorial director for Advanstar’s dental division, including 

, was recently tabbed with an honor for his social media efforts as a British writer named him as one of the top 5 dental influencers on Twitter.

, Roadside Multimedia, based in Marysville, Wash., paid honor to the five dental influencers and explained why each should be “followed” by those using Twitter.

“@kgh23 provides great content about dental products that could help your practice make decisions and he links to various dental articles that could both educate your team and patients,” Arron George of Roadside Multimedia wrote in his article.

“It was a tremendous surprise and honor and I want to thank Roadside Multimedia for their acknowledgment of my efforts,” Henry said. “My goal on Twitter is to always bring the best dental information I can to my followers and this reinforces that people are paying attention to what I say on social media.”

ARTICLE: 10 tips to improve your dental practice's social media efforts

When asked about his “secret to Twitter success,” Henry had a piece of advice to pass along.

“I truly believe hashtags are one of the reasons why I’ve eclipsed 5,300 followers, and why I get new followers every day,” Henry said. “You will rarely see a tweet go out from me that doesn’t have #dental or #dentist in it. I want to make sure that the information I send out is seen by the industry, and the hashtags make a big difference.”

Click on any of the embedded links to follow 

Kevin Henry, group editorial director for Advanstar’s dental division, including Dental Products Report, Modern Hygienist, Dental Lab Products, and Dental Practice Management, was recently tabbed with an honor for his social media efforts as a British writer named him as one of the top 5 dental influencers on Twitter.

Group Editorial Director Kevin Henry named as one of Top 5 dental influencers on Twitter

Esthetics are more important to denture patients than ever before. Finding a simple and predictable method of prescribing highly esthetic partial and complete dentures is necessary to satisfy the heightened expectations of today’s patient.

In a new on-demand webinar co-sponsored by Ivoclar Vivadent and 

, Dr. John Nosti, DMD, shows you how to do just that. In the webinar, Dr. Nosti demonstrates how to get great denture results in fit, form and function. You'll learn how to streamline the denture process while making it more predictable.

Dr. Nosti says he believes most dentists don’t enjoy doing dentures because in dental school, many learn an “antiquated way” of completing them. He says he enjoys working with removables because he embraces new product innovations that help along the way.

“We’re not really told a great system or a great process from start to finish on how to deliver a high-quality denture,” Dr. Nosti says. He wants to challenge the current state of dentures.

In a recent interview, Dr. Nosti tells Advanstar Dental Media Content Director Kevin Henry that in his webinar, he attempts to demystify dentures by explaining how design tools and other product innovations can streamline the process while reaping better dentures in various degrees.

Dr. Nosti practices full time in Mays Landing/Somers Point, N.J., as well as Manhattan, N.Y., with an emphasis on functional cosmetics, full mouth rehabilitations, and TMJ dysfunction. Dr. Nosti is the Clinical Director for The Clinical Mastery Series, a continuum geared toward advancing the cosmetic and functional practices of dentists worldwide.

On-Demand Webinar: Learn how to prescribe highly esthetic partial and complete dentures

 were developed to provide each dentist with a digital treatment center designed to suit their own operatory style. 

"It's adapting a level of technology that has not been seen in the U.S. market today," said National Sales Manager Ryan Carlstrom. "It is a touchscreen display, which has not been seen to date." 

"Technologically transformed" 3M True Definition Scanner is built for fast, comfortable scanning [VIDEO]

, the unit is digital from the ground up, complete with a continental delivery system that can sense which instrument the dentist is using. The unit also has bullwhip-style tubing that locks into place for no reverse pressure while instruments are being used.

Among other features, the chair itself has an articulated 

Free E-Book: 7 Ways to Avoid Work-Related Pain and Extend Your Career

"Depending on how you want it configured, it can be a simple chair to quite complex, said Carlstrom. "The response has been overwhelming and we're excited to finally be bringing these technologies to the U.S. market."

	Watch the following  video to learn about the full range of features and options offered by 

 New to the U.S. market, Anthos digital dental units were developed to provide each dentist with a digital treatment center designed to suit their own operatory style. 