Laura Dorr is the former executive editor of DPR's Modern Dental Network and a regular contributing author.

Laura Dorr

	Many people are afraid of going to the dentist, but most will muster the bravery to go in when their teeth start falling out. However, most people are not Angie Barlow of England.

	Barlow was terrified of going to the dentist because her mother learned she had throat cancer at a dental appointment. Her mother ultimately died from the cancer, at age 34, 

instilling a deep dread of the dentist in Barlow

. So deep, in fact, that Barlow did not go to the dentist when her teeth started falling out, and instead reaffixed them in her mouth with superglue.

Related reading: New survey says kids' anxiety about dentists may be learned trait from parents

, every time she lost a tooth (which seems like a fine time to consult a dental professional, but hey, whatever), Barlow just dabbed it with superglue and inserted it back into her mouth. “I used glue on the top of the tooth, and then I put it back in place until the glue is set,” she explained.

	The situation got so bad however, that the toxic chemicals in the superglue reportedly 

supporting her teeth in her upper jaw. When she finally did go to a dentist, they had to remove 11 of her top teeth and insert 6 titanium screws into her jaw so that they could place 12 new false teeth.

More weird news: The 9 worst at-home dentistry mistakes

	Her bizarre predicament appears in a new 

 documentary called “The Truth About Your Teeth.” Watch the documentary below or 

. (Warning: it’s about as bad as you’d expect for someone who’s been supergluing teeth into their mouth for 10 years – and then about 80 times worse). 

Free On Demand Webinar: Understanding medical billing and its relationship with 3D

Articles

Many people are afraid of going to the dentist, but most will muster the bravery to go in when their teeth start falling out. However, most people are not Angie Barlow of England.

Weird news: Woman superglued her teeth in to avoid going to the dentist

"This is the list every practitioner should be waiting for every year."

Amidst the day-to-day hustle and bustle, it’s easy to take for granted even the most cutting-edge products and technologies that streamline the job-but 

 is ensuring that these technologies don’t go overlooked. Pride’s sixth annual Best of Class Technology Awards recognize the exemplary products and technologies that are rapidly redesigning approaches to patient care and practice management.

	“This is the list every practitioner should be waiting for every year,” shared Best of Class founder and Pride Institute President Dr. Lou Shuman. “It has become a go-to list for the dental community, who can be completely confident they are purchasing the current state-of-the-art products. The goal is to find products and/or technologies that are considered clear differentiators; products that are truly class defining, above and beyond everything else in their respective categories.”	
	

“...products that are truly class defining, above and beyond everything else in their respective categories.”

After a year of individual analysis and review, the distinguished technology experts of the Best of Class advisory board come together to share their findings and vote on the products and technologies that best embody these criteria. The products and technologies under review come from a range of critical development areas including 3D technology, data mining, evolving materials and more.

	Selecting the winners “is a highly charged process since it is taken so seriously,” Dr. Shuman said. “It goes into the early hours of the next day. As they say, ‘when white smoke finally comes out of the chimney,’ the exhausted board members can go back to their hotels and then start the process all over again the next day.” 	 	The rigorous voting process is entirely non-profit and unbiased, and, to ensure impartiality, advisory board members are required to divulge any paid relationships with manufacturers. They are also ineligible to vote in any category in which they have a consulting relationship with a company. If the board members cannot identify a clear leader in a particular area, no award is given for that category.	 	“We’re not looking to create a top 10 or top 20 list. We go into this with no preconceived number,” Dr. Shuman stated. “If there is not a product in a category that meets the criteria, we simply skip the category.” 	

“If there is not a product in a category that meets the criteria, we simply skip the category.”

In the end, 19 honorees were singled out for recognition. Over the next several issues, DPR will spotlight each of these honorees and include feedback from the advisory board on what made these products stand out, as well as reviews from dentists who have seen results from these products in their practices. In addition to our features and reviews, interested parties can get more information straight from the sources by interacting with the Best of Class companies at the Pride Technology Expo at the upcoming ADA Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Oct. 9-11. 

Watch DPR's Kevin Henry and Dr. John Flucke, who also serves on the Pride Institute's advisory board, chat about voting for this year's Best of Class honorees

Acknowledging the dynamic decision-making that comes from bringing great minds and great dentists together, once again this year’s honorees were selected by a distinguished board of dental professionals. In our 2014 coverage of the honorees, every board member will contribute insights from his own experience with the product or category.

-President of Pride Institute, Best of Class founder	

-Writer, speaker and Technology Editor for 

-Vice-Chair of Preclinical Education, Research and Technology, University of Pacific School of Dentistry	

-Writer, speaker, and technology consultant and columnist for Dr. Bicuspid	 	

Click through the following pages to view the 2014 - 2015 Best of Class honorees!

Honoree:  Newtron P5XS B.LED from ACTEON North America

Click here to learn more about the Newtron P5XS B.LED from ACTEON North America [VIDEO]

Honoree: SoproCARE from ACTEON North America

Click here to learn more about SoproCARE from ACTEON North America [VIDEO]

Dr. John Flucke discusses what he likes about the iOptima and why he thinks it's being honored in the Best of Class list

Click here to learn more about iOptima from Bien-Air [VIDEO]

Honoree: Aquasil Ultra Cordless from DENTSPLY Caulk

Click here to learn more about Aquasil Ultra Cordless from DENTSPLY Caulk [VIDEO]

Click here to learn more about CariVu from DEXIS [VIDEO]

Click here to learn more about Doxa Ceramir [VIDEO]

Honoree: i-CAT FLX from Imaging Sciences International

Click here to learn more about the i-CAT FLX from Imaging Sciences International [VIDEO]

Click here to learn more about the Demi Ultra Ultracapacitor LED curing light [VIDEO]

Click here to learn more about SonicFill from Kerr [VIDEO]

Click here to learn more about DDS Rescue from Liptake Dental [VIDEO]

Find out what Dr. John Flucke likes about the Sonicare Airfloss

Click here to learn more about Phillips Sonicare Airfloss [VIDEO]

Honoree: Excellerator & Excellerator RT from Propel Orthodontics

Click here to learn more about Propel Orthodontics' Excellerator and Excellerator [VIDEO]

Find out what Dr. John Flucke likes about the STATIM G4

     "This is the list every practitioner should be waiting for every year."  

Pride Institute's "Best of Class" 2014: Today's top technologies

	Rugby players are a carousing type who appreciate a good time, and one beer company is making it even easier for several players to enjoy the revelry.

	Salta, a Argentine beer company that sponsors of the country's rugby union, decided to give back to the hard-hitting community by 

 to repair broken teeth. However, the dental repairs took a strange turn when the damaged dentition was replaced with beer-bottle openers. 

Related reading: Teams - and teeth - get knocked out of the NHL playoffs

	 "We decided to give rugby players back the teeth they had lost in battle," 

 "But we weren't going to give them a simple tooth back, we developed a unique dental implant; a specially designed tooth to open beer."

	Although the new bottle-opening teeth seemed like the must just be a fictitious marketing gimmick, the stunt was turned into a commercial that showed footage of the players actually undergoing dental surgery to receive their new beverage-opening implants. The best part? The bottle-opening teeth actually work.

More sports news: Runners at higher risk for tooth decay

Rugby players are a carousing type who appreciate a good time, and one beer company is making it even easier for several players to enjoy the revelry.

Rugby players get teeth replaced with bottle openers

	A New York man was left gnashing his teeth in frustration last week when he lost a malpractice judgment against a local dentist on appeal.

Last week, a New York State Appellate Division Panel reversed a 

 that awarded $430K to Don Liyange for past and future pain and suffering caused by a dental burr he allegedly aspirated during a procedure in 2007. The burr subsequently became lodged in his lung. 

, the dentist who performed the procedure, denied the incident occurred in her practice and filed an appeal.

 state that during the procedure, Liyange “overheard an exchange between [Amann] and her assistant about an instrument needing to be replaced because it had broken,” but was not aware he had inhaled the drill bit. He said that the instrument was then replaced, and the dentist resumed working on him – until he felt something stuck in his throat and could not breathe. Liyange testified that Dr. Amann then “punched him on the back and whatever it was became dislodged.”

 In January 2008, he began suffering chest pain, went to the hospital, where a chest X-ray revealed an inch-long metallic object in his lung. Subsequent CT scans showed that the object “appear[ed] to be a medical device.”

“The defendant had negligently broken the instrument she was using, causing its metal tip … to fall into his mouth, as a result of which he aspirated the burr into his left lung,” according to court documents. “The jury [in 2012] found that … the defendant departed from accepted dental practice resulting in that piece going into the plaintiff’s lung, and also departed by failing to monitor or diagnose the plaintiff’s condition or advice him.”

, or the “departure from accepted dental practice,” but instead claimed that it could not be proven that the burr had broken off during a procedure performed by Dr. Amann, and not during prior appointments with a different dentist. Court documents state that “The sole issue is whether the departure occurred while the defendant was treating the plaintiff, or whether the departure occurred while the plaintiff’s previous dental provider … was treating him.”

 Ultimately, the Appellate panel ruled that there was no conclusive evidence that the burr had been inhaled in Dr. Amann’s practice.

. “I’m shocked. [The drill bit] is close to my heart. It’s not something you can take out easily.”

 A New York man was left gnashing his teeth in frustration last week when he lost a malpractice judgment against a local dentist on appeal.

Man who aspirated dental drill bit loses $430K court case

	It’s peak season for dental practices in eight cities, as the Stanley Cup playoffs continue in a quest for more dental casualties.

As dentists watch and cringe, NHL action routinely causes players to

. Hockey sticks, collisions and the ever-so-fun face-to-the-boards experience claim toothy victims regularly. However, one player this year took matters into his own hands (literally) when his tooth was loosened after a crushing blow from 

 returned to the bench after his collision, fiddled in his mouth for a moment, and calmly removed his tooth. He then handed it to a rather surprised trainer for safekeeping. Reaves returned to the game, which the Blues won, 2-1. (Sadly, the Blues were later knocked out of the playoffs by the Minnesota Wild, but the end of the season leaves Reaves with free time to pursue some more traditional dental care.)

More unlicensed dentistry: Office manager arrested after posing as dentist, performing root canals

Check out Reaves’ self tooth removal here:

More weird news: The 7 strangest dental stories of 2014

But Reaves isn’t the only player in need of a dental intervention this year. In January, Minnesota’s 

 (thanks to a puck to the mouth), and February saw Chicago Blackhawks’ 

Kris Versteeg take a stick to the chompers

Reaves also isn’t the only player spending time 

: Searching YouTube for “hockey players pulling out teeth” brings up 

Lesson to be learned? NHL dentists have amazing job security, as there’s never a lack of need (except if the resourceful Reaves and his comrades in home dentistry have anything to say about it!). Read about some of the most ridiculous (and gruesome) things that these rinkside dentists have observed in this awesome 

"Day in the Life" piece from Bleacher Report

 It’s peak season for dental practices in eight cities, as the Stanley Cup playoffs continue in a quest for more dental casualties.

Teams - and teeth - get knocked out of the NHL playoffs

	A man in New Zealand is on trial after his penchant for edentulous ladies allegedly peaked in a series of violent assaults, during which he removed his victims’ teeth with pliers.

 including unlawful sexual connection and wounding with intent to injure four women.

	In her opening statement, Crown prosecutor Sally Carter told the jury that she hoped they weren’t squeamish about dental issues, as they would hear evidence about Hansen’s fascination for women without teeth, saying that he liked 

The prosecution then presented a video in which one of the alleged victims described her experience with Hansen.

More dental crime: Office manager arrested after posing as dentist, performing root canals

	The woman, who was not named, was an ex-girlfriend of Hansen’s. She reported that she and Hansen had gone for a drive, before moving to the backseat of his car to have sex. In a total mood-spoiling move, Hansen then allegedly held her against the car door, brandished a pair of pliers and 

. He threw the teeth out of the car window, and used an oily rag to stop the bleeding in the woman’s mouth.

	Hansen later encouraged the woman to have the rest of her teeth removed by a dentist. She acquiesced and was fitted for 

, but shortly thereafter her wisdom teeth began to come through. At that point, the woman reported, Hansen’s overwhelming disdain for dentition once again reared its head and he removed her wisdom teeth with a screwdriver.

	The woman said that she was too afraid to do or say anything, even after Hansen destroyed several pairs of her dentures - flushing one pair down the toilet, and blaming the destruction of another on the cat.

Trending article: Do people with tooth loss really need dentures? 

	During cross-examination, the defense attorney stated that the woman had asked Hansen to remove her teeth, and that Hansen was just trying to do her a really nice favor. The woman denied this claim and said that Hansen didn’t want her to have any teeth because he wanted oral sex.

	The crimes all took place between 1988 and 2011 in Wellington, New Zealand. The woman was the first alleged victim, to testify. The trial is expected to take two toothache-filled weeks.

Free on-demand webinar: Understanding medical billing and its relationship with 3D

A man in New Zealand is on trial after his penchant for edentulous ladies allegedly peaked in a series of violent assaults, during which he removed his victims’ teeth with pliers.

Weird news: Man charged with using pliers to remove women's teeth during sex

Dentists are an upstanding, honorable bunch ... well, except for a few, apparently! We scoured the web for this year's strangest toothy crime stories, and were shocked (thrilled? amused?) by the number we found. Here are our top five.

Electric toothbrushes gaining popularity ... with thieves

Maybe the folks with sticky fingers want to ensure they don't have sticky teeth, too.

Ex-dentist suspected in bank-robbing spree

The Tooth Fairy wasn't bringing in enough dough for one dentist's tastes, so he decided to take matters into his own hands - to the tune of over $21,000.

Office manager arrested after posing as dentist, performing root canals

A dental office manager learned the hard way that playing pretend can result in some very real consequences - for her patients AND her freedom.

Dental practices in Ventura County kept mysteriously going up in flames - and the investigation turned up a surprising saboteur. 

Nothing says love like a quick tooth extraction in the backseat of a car. Ah, romance...

And just for kicks, here's a bonus article!

The creepiest fish we've ever seen. Seriously, why do these fish have teeth like that? IT'S JUST NOT RIGHT. We will never swim again.

 Dentists are an upstanding, honorable bunch ... well, except for a few, apparently! We scoured the web for this year's strangest toothy crime stories, and were shocked (thrilled? amused?) by the number we found. Here are our top five.

The top 5 weirdest dental crime stories

	We asked Dr. Daniel Etheridge and his assistant, Shannon Pace Brinker, CDA, CDD, of Greenbrier Dental Center in Chesapeake, Va., about their use of 3M™ ESPE™ Imprint™ 4 Preliminary Impression Material, 3M™ ESPE™ Imprint™ 4 VPS Impression Material and 3M™ ESPE™ Protemp™ Plus Temporization Material. 

What the dentist, Dr. Daniel Etheridge, thinks about Imprint 4 VPS Impression Material:

While Shannon is the one who works more often with preliminary impressions and temporization, taking final impressions is a big part of my work, and I’ve found Imprint 4 VPS impression material gives me the ease of use, fast setting time and fine detail reproduction I need. The material has a consistency that is neither too thick nor too runny, so it stays where I put it. This is important for patients who are gaggers or who have a lot of saliva production. The working and set times mean you can get the impression in and out quickly, and the details are excellent. We take a lot of impressions for Invisalign, which has very meticulous requirements for impressions, and the putty and wash materials of Imprint 4 do a great job. 

In my more than 30 years of practice, I’ve found that when I start using a 3M ESPE product, I don’t go back, and this is certainly the case with Imprint 4 impression materials. 

More from Dr. Etheridge: How to use preliminary impression materials in anterior restorations [VIDEO]

What the assistant, Shannon Pace Brinker, says about Imprint 4 impression materials and Protemp Plus Temporization Material:

Dental assistants look for a list of qualities in a preliminary impression material: 

Easy to read so you can see an impression has the proper detail 

Easy to mix and extrude so availability in a gun or cartridge is important

Provides extended stability, which also gives more flexibility when being poured up

Alginate impression materials can be frustrating for assistants for several reasons. There is pressure to pour impressions within 20 minutes or risk distortion. This means that time cannot be wasted in the procedure-the dentist must be very fast at prepping teeth in a multiple-unit case, otherwise you might lose the detail you need. Losing detail means extra time for the assistant on trimming and refining provisionals. Alginates cannot be poured more than once, and its powder-to-liquid ratio adds an extra challenge for time-pressed assistants. 

More from 3M ESPE: A look at 3M ESPE's Imprint 4 Impression Material

Imprint 4 Preliminary Impression Material gives assistants a mix consistency that is very difficult to achieve with hand-mixed alginates and enables more efficiency. Sometimes dentists say it’s “so much more expensive” to use a VPS material versus an alginate, but, when you really look at the numbers, you might spend 40 cents more per impression and in turn have the ability to pour it multiple times without having to worry about hurrying up-and that is well worth it. 

When it comes to the temporization step, I rely on Protemp Plus temporization material. It gives me predictable shading-if it says A1, it is A1. The esthetics of anterior provisionals are important so a reliable match gives the patient confidence that the final restoration will have strong esthetics. Anterior provisionals are really an art and serve as the blueprint for the lab so a material that is esthetic and lifelike is important. Protemp Plus polishes beautifully and has a chameleon effect. I’ve even heard from my lab technician, “Shannon, you make your provisionals look too good. You’re really forcing me to do my best work!” 

 We asked Dr. Daniel Etheridge and his assistant, Shannon Pace Brinker, CDA, CDD, of Greenbrier Dental Center in Chesapeake, Va., about their use of 3M™ ESPE™ Imprint™ 4 Preliminary Impression Material, 3M™ ESPE™ Imprint™ 4 VPS Impression Material and 3M™ ESPE™ Protemp™ Plus Temporization Material. 

How to avoid frustration in your next impressions

	A dental office manager in New York has learned the hard way that playing pretend can result in some very real consequences.

 in Riverdale, N.Y., while the real dentist, Dr. Jeffrey Schoengold, was out of town. Self-dubbed “Dr. Val,” who is not a licensed dentist, made diagnoses, gave 

 and even performed dental extractions on unsuspecting patients who visited the practice. As a bonus, she offered discounts to patients willing to pay cash.

More dental crime: Electric toothbrushes gaining popularity ... with thieves

	“She inspected patients, she diagnosed patients, she took X-rays, she injected patients with anesthetics, she even gave patients root canals,” 

said Bronx Assistant District Attorney Patrick McCadden

 (which took place from November 2012 to August 2013) left one patient combating an infection from a botched root canal and another suffering persistent pain nearly two years after their procedure. Her unauthorized venture might have gone on longer, but Dr. Shoengold discovered the fraudulent care after patients returned to his practice complaining about bungled dental procedures – that he hadn’t performed. He promptly fired Yzeiraj, whom he had hired in 2009 off of Craigslist.

	The drama didn’t end there, however: Prosecutors say that Yzeiraj retaliated to the termination by attempting to steal more than $20,000 from the practice on her way out, adding felony attempted grand larceny to her collection of charges, which included felony assault, misdemeanor reckless endangerment and unauthorized practice.

	Yzeiraj, who justified her actions by claiming she was

 trained as a dentist in her native Albania

, pleaded not guilty, and bail was set at $20,000. She was also ordered to not go near any dental practices during the duration of her case. If convicted, Yzeiraj faces up to seven years in prison. 

A dental office manager in New York has learned the hard way that playing pretend can result in some very real consequences.

	Strong teeth for beavers are a must (you try cutting down a tree with your incisors!), but how do they keep those chompers healthy and tough without access to fluoride or a toothbrush? A 

reports that beavers have natural protection against tooth decay built into the chemical structure of their teeth.

Researchers found that beaver teeth have a high concentration of iron in them. In addition to causing the teeth to be a reddish-brown color, the iron also makes the 

 harder and more resistant to acid erosion, even more than teeth treated with fluoride.

Related reading: Dental caries susceptibility  and enamel strength linked to... your hair

The research team studied the enamel of rabbits, mice, rats and beavers, as rodent enamel is surprisingly similar to human enamel. In a series of experiments, they subjected the teeth to acid and took before and after images.  While layers of hydroxylapatite “nanowires” make up the core structure of enamel, lead author of the study 

, discovered that the enamel’s acid resistance was actually controlled by the iron- and magnesium-rich material surrounding the nanowires. These minerals are the ones that support the enamel’s acid resistance and structural properties. With this discovery, Joester and his team are the first to decipher the exact composition and structure of enamel.

“We have made a really big step forward in understanding the composition and structure of enamel – the tooth’s protective outer layer – at the smallest length scales,” said Joester, a professor of materials science and engineering at the 

McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

. “The unstructured material, which makes up only a small fraction of enamel, likely plays a role in tooth decay. We found it is the minority ions – the ones that provide diversity – that really make the difference in protection. In regular enamel, it’s magnesium, and in the pigmented enamel of beaver and other rodents, it’s iron.”

Related reading: New research finds human tooth enamel development is linked to weaning

In addition to providing a breakthrough in detailing enamel’s composition and structure, the research could have major implications for preventing and treating tooth decay in humans.

“A beaver’s teeth are chemically different from our teeth, not structurally different,” Joester said. “Biology has shown us a way to improve on our enamel. The strategy of what we call ‘grain boundary engineering’ – focusing on the area surrounding the nanowires – lights the way in which we could improve our current treatment with fluoride.”

 Strong teeth for beavers are a must (you try cutting down a tree with your incisors!), but how do they keep those chompers healthy and tough without access to fluoride or a toothbrush? A new study out of Northwestern University reports that beavers have natural protection against tooth decay built into the chemical structure of their teeth.