Does anyone have any thoughts on BoneGen, a new product being marketed by Bio-Lock for bone augmentation? Given the recent concerns surrounding other regeneration materials, do you think BoneGen will make a strong impact on the market? According to the company, BoneGen is new clinically safe, nano-composite, time release calcium sulfate product for bone augmentation.

Bruce L. Hollander, BioLok's President & Chief Executive Officer, "BoneGen-TR is a nano-composite material that
fully resorbs into the body, leaving nothing but newly formed bone, which has significant advantages over many of the other products in the market. Existing natural products used in the bone augmentation and regeneration industry have for the past several months been negatively impacted by a myriad of health concerns. Among natural material sources, freeze dried bone has come under government investigation for unsafe procurement methods, while bovine-based products suggest exposure to the possibility of mad cow disease. Many ceramic substances do not fully resorb and are still questionable in their ability to grow new bone. With this backdrop, BoneGen-TR, a synthetic, should receive rapid adoption by dental professionals." Based on medical grade calcium sulfate, a product proven safe for over 100 years, BioLok's BoneGen-TR has increased the time for resorbsion of calcium sulfate from 4 weeks to 18 weeks, allowing time for full and safe bone growth in large voids.

What do you make of these claims?

Posted by DDSGadget at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Can ozone be used to treat caries (cavities) without the need for drilling and filling? We recently attended a lecture on the uses of ozone in dentistry. It seems that in most of the world, other than the US, ozone is already being used to disinfect cavities by killing bacteria on direct contact. All you do is expose the carious enamel and dentin to ozone. Ozone can also be used to disinfect root canals.

Ozone therapy in dentistry is being marketed by a company called CuroZone (www.curozone.com), under the product name, HealOzone. The company explains on the front page of its website:
"Up to now, dentistry was convinced: Caries can only be eliminated by removing the dental substance thru drilling and filling. A painful and inaccurate treatment method: Residual caries is present in 80% of the cases. But now there is a new therapy that treats caries using ozone. This therapy is highly effective in the painless removal of caries. Hence, you can tell your patients: "No, there are alternatives"."

Clearly, Ozone Therapy will appeal to a large patient target group from young to old throughout all generations, because most people are afraid of the pain involved with caries (cavity) treatment. But the caries (cavity) treatment with ozone puts an end to all this!

This device is not being used in the US yet and is awaiting FDA approval. Have any of you dentists outside of the US been using ozone and what can you tell us about your experiences?

Posted by DDSGadget at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

According to Eric Paley, CEO of Brontes Technologies, an estimated 50% of the roughly 50 million dental impressions taken each year in the U.S. are substandard, and require a second one or lots of finish work by the dentist to get them to fit properly. "Patients and doctors hate them," stated Paley. Is the new 3-D Imaging technology out of Brontes the solution to our impression problems?

The Wall Street Journal profiled Brontes Technologies this week and explained: "Dentists, who are usually sole practitioners, typically average several impressions each day. And dental labs, which create the dental appliances, often find that a wax or plaster-like cast may not be adequate to create a proper denture, and may request a second impression be taken. Another potential pitfall is that the impression, which is usually shipped to the lab, could get damaged or lost in shipping, Mr. Paley said."

Paley explainted that, "The Brontes technology aims to provide a consistently accurate image for the fabricator in order to assure proper fit and comfort of dental appliances. A dentist using the Brontes system scans a wand, about the size and shape of an electric toothbrush, over each arch of a patient's teeth while it captures their images via a camera.

The process, which is painless and conducted in the dentist's office, creates a digital video image that is transmitted to a flat-screen panel. It presents a detailed, life-size image that can be moved and spun for viewing at different angles by simply touching the image on screen. The digital image is forwarded to a dental lab so it can produce a permanent denture or crown.

The dentist can also save the image to access when ready to apply the crown, in order to preview the work when the new item comes in. The dentist can also maintain permanent images of the patient's mouth to track changes in patients' dental health over time, to prevent and diagnose problems. A traditional X-ray is still necessary to determine if there is decay underneath the surface of teeth or gums."

As regards to the technology the Journal qouted two different viewpoints:

"As for Brontes's technology, Mr. Freedman, director of marketing of the Dental Trade Alliance, said that in the short term, dentists using it may find it difficult to find laboratories that use digital images to fabricate appliances. "I think it's still a relatively small universe."

But Dell Dine, vice president of research and development at National Dentex Corp., one of the largest operators of dental laboratories in the U.S., said it is just a matter of time before a support technology is developed for labs."

What are your thoughts? Will this be a standard technology in a few years time?

Source: FRANK BYRT, Wall Street Journal

Posted by DDSGadget at 01:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Dr. Feuerstein asks: Are Intraoral cameras still useful? With the advent of high resolution, low cost digital cameras, many practitioners feel that they do not need intraoral cameras.

These units cost between $1,500 and $8,000 and give lower resolution images than the digital cameras. You can surely take a photo of a full arch and zoom in on a specific tooth close enough to see fractures or other conditions. Why are manufacturers still designing and marketing intraoral cameras? Which models are useful? Have there been any new advances?

Posted by DDSGadget at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

DDSGadget.com is excited to welcome dental technology guru, Paul Feuerstein, DMD to our editorial board.

Paul Feuerstein received his undergraduate degree at SUNY Stony Brook where he majored in Chemistry, engineering and music and learned how to program computers. He received his dental degree at UNJMD in 1972 and has a General Practice in North Billerica, MA. He installed one of dentistry's first "in-office computers" in 1978 and has been teaching dental professionals how to use computers since the late 70’s. He is currently the Technology Editor of Dental Economics Magazine and the High Tech writer for the Journal of the Mass Dental Society as well as contributing author to several national dental journals. He is now one of the ADA technology lecturers, speaking at the annual sessions, has been speaking at Yankee for over 20 years as well as several state and local dental association meetings.

Over the past years he has made an extensive study of the high tech products available to the dental profession and has used many of them in his general practice. He has also been in the forefront of using the internet at both office and home, and has brought many of his colleagues online.

Find out more about Dr. Feuerstein at: www.computersindentistry.com

Posted by DDSGadget at 06:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I have tried a bunch of electronic apex locators, like Foramatron, Root-ZX, Apex NRG, etc.

I can get them to work some of the time but I cannot depend on them. I still am taking measurement radiographs for every case which wastes a lot of time. I would really like to get settled with a reliable apex locator. What apex locators are you using and what are your recommendations?

Posted by DDSGadget at 05:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)