Drew Boxler

	The problem: CAD/CAM systems can be expensive

	For the past several years, digital chairside CAD/CAM has been gaining popularity with more dentists. However, purchasing a full system can require a large financial investment that may be impractical for smaller offices or new practices.

Related reading: How to use a 3D digital workflow for ortho treatment

	The solution: Planmeca Emerald™ and PlanCAD

Planmeca Emerald with Planmeca PlanCAD software is a complete restorative design system built on an open architecture platform.â¨

		Planmeca products’ open architecture allows dentists to collaborate with external partners or integrate technology from other manufacturers.â¨

		Accuracy of the Planmeca Emerald eliminates the need for retakes and provides patients with a pleasant experience when taking impressions.â¨

		The speed of Planmeca Emerald and easy-to-use design software, Planmeca PlanCAD, create more efficient restorative workflows and more opportunities for increased office productivity.                                                          â¨

Articles

How the open architecture and open STL files of Planmeca Emerald™ and Planmeca PlanCAD® help more dentists collaborate for cost effective restorations. 

Solve my problem: Capture, design and collaborate for cost-effective restorations

	3M Oral Care and Bioclear have announced a new partnership to bring state-of-the-art procedures to dentists. 

	“As part of the partnership, 3M will host hands-on training courses across the country, featuring Bioclear approved specialists, in order to amplify education of the Bioclear Method," states 3M in a press release. “Kits containing all of the required Bioclear tools, along with 3M’s direct restorative products, will be available to dentists who are implementing the method into their practice.”

Trending article: Managing the fear factor

“It’s our mission to provide dentists and dental schools with the techniques, tools and equipment to allow for longer lasting, stronger, and aesthetically superior composites,” says Dr. David Clark, founder of Bioclear, in a press release. “I’ve honed the techniques and I’ve tested the products so I know, without a doubt, what works best in the mouth, and that’s why I’m excited to partner with 3M to further the education of dentists in modern restorative techniques.”

	According to 3M, the Bioclear Method is a minimally-invasive procedure that offers longer lasting and esthetic anterior and posterior composite results. The procedure is an apparent universal pathway for clinicians, as true engineering and new standardized cavity preparations are combined with 3M materials and Bioclear instruments.

The collaboration will further advance modern restorative technique education.

3M Oral Care and Bioclear partner to bring dentists updated procedures

	Here at Dental Products Report, we typically specialize in covering and promoting innovative technologies that will hopefully advance your practice and professional abilities. For this feature, we're excited to present a product that differs ever so slightly in that it's not your traditional "device"; rather, it's a product that will allow you to promote your practice's brand and connect with patients of all ages.

	Operating out of Columbia, Maryland, Bracket Ears offers a diverse array of low-cost, high-quality accessories for your orthodontic and general dental patients. Currently, the company offers accessories for both men and women - signature earrings designed to mimic a brace’s bracket; woven and leather bracelets; unique charms; as well as cuff links, lapel pins, and tie bars for men - and sells to clients nationwide and abroad.

	In addition, Bracket Ears is in the process of developing themed accessory lines, including animal charms; icons for causes such as Susan G. Komen's "For the Cure" campaign and autism awareness; holidays and celebrations; American iconography; political parties; spirit wear, sports; and even desserts.

The company debuted in 2012 as a result of the efforts of dentist and attorney Dr. Casey Crafton’s daughters, Gigi and McKenzie.

	According to Dr. Crafton, the story begins many years prior, when he was 21. After unexpectedly losing his brother in an aviation accident, he and his family became very charitable, which he says has influenced his entire life and practice.

	“As a pediatric dentist, I see a lot of special needs kids. I’ve always been attracted [to help] to that population,” Dr. Crafton says.

	Given Dr. Crafton’s clientele, he says that his son expressed interest to participate in Bike to the Beach's Maryland Ride for Autism - a 100-mile bicycle ride extending from Baltimore and Eastern Shore, MD, to Dewey Beach, DE, that raises money for autism research.

	After returning from the ride, Dr. Crafton says his daughters, who were only 8 and 12 at the time, were motivated to become involved with raising money for autism research as well. As a result, the girls designed the original earrings that resemble a bracket worn by a patient, intended to be distributed during patient sessions.

	"The idea for [Bracket Ears] was that when [the dentist/orthodontist] starts the case, you put the braces on the patient and you give the patient a pair of earrings to match their teeth," Dr. Crafton says.

	Dr. Crafton then talked with a patent attorney, whom was convinced that the girls’ idea was both patentable and profitable.

	“A lot of people have ideas, but if you don’t act on the idea, it doesn’t work very well. I want [my daughters] to be self-sufficient, to realize that if you want something you keep working for it, and it could ultimately be yours - but it’s not easy,” Dr. Crafton says. 

	By 2013, Dr. Crafton and his family traveled to China to have the first Bracket Ears earrings produced. Later that year, they sold more than 3,000 pairs of the earrings at the American Academy of Orthodontists conference. 
	After partnering with the global dental device manufacturing company Dentsply, the girls started to grow their product offering.

	“Dentsply said that we needed more than an earring product. I wasn’t really sure wealth to come up with … and my daughters said that they could probably do a bracelet,” Dr. Crafton says.

Following the expansion into bracelet designs, Bracket Ears has proceeded to develop the array of products listed earlier in this article and is now actively attempting to enter the collegiate marketplace. As of this writing, they've cooperated with institutions like the University of Maryland, Penn State and Texas A&M to produce logo accessories intended for dental patients as well as the greater student and alumni populations.

	"Feedback from patients has been overwhelming positive." says Jeanne Hyatt, a representative for Bracket Ears. For Hyatt, one of the moments that solidified Bracket Ears’ significance was when two little girls and their father came into Dr. Crafton’s practice for a routine appointment. The girls selected turtle earrings while leaving, and excitedly asked their father when they could return to the dentist.

	Interactions like these benefit both the patient and practice.

	“If you look at it from a dollars and cents standpoint, if you come into my practice and you’re an 8-year-old little girl and I give you the earrings and the bracelets, and you wear that to school and tell your friends that I’m the guy in town giving out the earrings, I’m more inclined to connect with that patient and get that patient in the practice,” Dr. Crafton says.

	Though Dr. Crafton’s daughters will be starting college, the company hopes to continue to develop new product lines for patients and customers. With the anticipated expansion into more collegiate markets, more options should be available for your patients in the near future. Until then, check out the Bracket Ears product line 

Born from two little girls' desire to raise money for autism awareness, Bracket Ears offers accessories to connect with patients of all ages and has seen tremendous strides in its first five years. 

Bracket Ears: A unique way to grow your practice

	Dentists have routinely emphasized the importance of mechanical cleansing, citing it as one of the most effective measures to deter plaque buildup and the potential onset of caries and periodontal disease. When advising patients, one of the most common questions that dentists receive regards the process of mechanical cleansing: can patients do without either, and is there a combination of flossing and brushing that works better than others?

	The answer to the first question is relatively easy: no. The answer to the second question is actually still being debated.

	According to the fourth edition of Medical Microbiology, the dental profession grew out of the proliferation of dental decay in the beginning of the 20th century. The condition was so widespread that it was the leading cause of military service rejection in World Wars I and II and the Korean War. To combat the issue, dentists began proactively emphasizing the important of routine mechanical cleansing and even helped establish one of the major breakthroughs in national oral health – community water fluoridation.

Related article: Study confirms water fluoridation prevents tooth decay in children and teens

	Until the spring of this year, few clinical studieshad been published examining mechanical cleansing’s effectiveness at removal of plaque. Any studies that were published regarding plaque removal usually focused on the comparison of the effectiveness between different types of brushes, brushing techniques and even toothpaste use. Additionally, though most studies would acknowledge the increased benefit flossing provides, few quantified the combined effect of brushing and flossing. 

	Then, in the spring of 2018, dental students at the Dental Materials Research Center at Mashhad University of Medical Sciences in Mashhad, Iran, participated in a two-part, randomized-controlled crossover study to quantify the combined effectiveness of brushing and flossing and hopefully determine the best process for mechanical cleansing. 

	After suspending their individual oral cleansing produces for 48 hours, the students were split into two groups. One group brushed their teeth with a fluoride-rich toothpaste prior to flossing, while the other group flossed their teeth prior to brushing with a fluoride-rich toothpaste. After cleansing plaque levels were recorded using the Rustogi Modified Navy Plaque Index, and remaining fluoride levels were measured using a fluoride ion-specific electrode. After a two-week break, constituting a wash-out period to allow for a reestablishment of the students’ oral microbiota, the process was repeated with the groups conducting the opposite cleansing procedure. 

	According to Dr. Richard T. Kao, periodontist and president-elect of the Academy of Periodontology, the study was approached in a very classical manner, with very little threat of long-term negative effects. 

One of the primary concerns in conducting a study such as this is the potential to introduce unnecessary infection into human participants. Further complication with this particular study was the fact that dental students paying for an education were the test subjects.

	According to the study’s official press release, the students were given a prophylaxis treatment prior to the start of the study. Dr. Kao said that the students also underwent an intensive examination with careful instructions provided regarding protection and cleansing. 

	“This was actually a very good study, simple-minded, that answers a lot of basic questions…” Dr. Kao says.

	Furthermore, according to Dr. Kao, most ethical complications were nullified because, at all stages of the study, the students were brushing - and thus eliminating - the buildup of bacteria that could potentially cause infection.

Trending article: The dangers of microbial resistance in the dental practice

	After examining the collected data, the researchers concluded that whole and interdental plaque buildup were greatly reduced in the mouths of students who flossed their teeth before brushing. Regarding fluoride retention, when students flossed prior to brushing, more fluoride residue was found within the interdental spaces than when students flossed prior to brushing. 

	Though the students were using a fluoride-rich toothpaste, which Dr. Kao says is pretty standard for consumer products, fluoride retention was most likely higher when flossing preceded brushing because the interdental spaces were cleared before being exposed to both the toothpaste containing fluoride as well as fluoridated tap water. 

	Stephen R. Daniel, DDS, current president of the American Academy of Periodontology, said in a press release that “while this study finds that flossing before brushing may result in the reduction of plaque, it’s important for everyone to remember to do both every day to maintain the health of their smiles.” 

Click here to read the full study in Wiley's Journal of Periodontology