ADHA Announces 2008-2009 Leadership
Diann Bomkamp, RDH, of St. Louis, Mo., was inaugurated as the 2008-2009 president of the American Dental Hygienists' Association on June 24 at the association's annual session in Albuquerque, NM.
Bomkamp said. "It is a unique opportunity to oversee year two of the ADHA branding initiative as well as the many advancements of the profession just over the horizon. With the recent successes of many states in their access to care efforts, now is the perfect time to continue the search for new and equitable solutions to the access to care crisis which our country faces."
Bomkamp succeeds Jean Connor, RDH, of Cambridge, MA, as president. Connor remains an ADHA officer as immediate past president.
Additional ADHA officers installed at the annual session include Lynn Ramer, LDH, of Logansport, IN, president-elect, and Caryn Solie, RDH, Sparks, NV, vice president. Remaining in their positions are Speaker of the House Kimberly Hickman-Bowen, RDH, Middleton, DE, and Treasurer Hope Garza, RDH, Houston.
The newly installed district trustees for 2008-2009 are as follows: Dinah Auger, RDH, of Norwich, CT, District II; Norine Ryan Dowd, RDH, BHSc, of Ft. Lauderdale, FL, District IV; Victoria Richards, RDH, of Nashville, TN, District VI; Carole Danielson, RDH, of Worth, IL, District VIII.
Re-elected district trustees for 2008-2009 are as follows: Laurie Ghigleri, RDH, of Colorado Springs, CO, District X; and Susan Savage, RDH, of Ellinsburg, WA, District XII.
OSAP Announces New Board Members
The Organization for Safety & Asepsis Procedures (OSAP) selected Lori Paulson in July to serve as chair of its board of directors for the 2008-2009 fiscal year. The organization also announced three new board members: Doug Braendle, Boyd Relac, and Chris Rice.
Lori Paulson, vice president of marketing and dental programs for National Distribution & Contracting, Inc. (NDC), has been managing director of the American Dental Cooperative and United Dental Dealers — two NDC subsidiaries for more than eight years. Paulson has more than 25 years of experience in the dental industry and has been affiliated with OSAP since 1990.
Braendle is a product manager for SciCan Inc. Relac is a director of marketing for Patterson Dental. Rice is an associate professor at the University of Missouri, School of Dentistry in Kansas City.
Sirona Supports AACD Charity
Sirona Dental Systems announced in June that it has become an American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry Charitable Foundation (AACDCF) diamond sponsor and advisory council member. AACDCF's primary program, Give Back A Smile, provides free consultation and dental treatment to restore the smiles of domestic violence survivors.
3M Foundation Donates to NCOHF
The 3M Foundation recently awarded the National Children's Oral Health Foundation a $297,000 grant to pilot innovative health strategies for children in Minnesota's Twin Cities region. The grant will be used to engage pediatric and family medical providers and early childhood educators in the region to support community efforts to break the cycle of oral disease in the youngest at-risk children for whom dental disease is a reality. Pediatrician Dr. Amos Deinard, a recognized pioneer in oral health prevention, will guide the project.
Ultreo Appoints New CEO
Ultreo, Inc., which manufactures the Ultreo ultrasound toothbrush, announced the June appointment of Glenn Bonagura as the company's new CEO and president. The company also announced that they secured an additional round of financing, providing the resources necessary to grow the brand.
Bonagura previously served as executive vice-president of BriteSmile, general manager of The Gillette Company (Oral-B Laboratories), and executive vice president for MicroDental Laboratories. Ultreo is headquartered in Redmond, Wash.
OHA President Retires
Robert Klaus retired in June after 20 years as president and CEO of Oral Health America, the independent advocacy organization. His many accomplishments include launching, with Dr. C. Everett Koop, the Oral Health 2000 Initiative and founding, with baseball Hall of Fame broadcaster Joe Garagiola, the National Spit Tobacco Education Program.
George Rhodes, who recently retired as a vice president of Dentsply, will serve as interim president and CEO of Oral Health America until Dr. Klaus's successor is appointed.
Dr. Klaus's most recent honors include a leadership award from the Dr. Edward B. Shils Entrepreneurial Education Fund and a Special Friend Award from Special Olympics Special Smiles.
A Moment in Dental Science
Bad Boy Bug with New Name: Just as Bad*
A periodontal pathogen has been reclassified into a new genus: Aggregatibacter (previously Actinobacillus) actinomycetemcomitans (Aa) with an updated genome in the Human Oral Microbiome Database (HOMD). It is a gram-negative, non-motile rod and can be associated with chronic periodontitis (but less than Porphyromonas gingivalis or Pg). However, it is mainly associated with aggressive periodontitis — both localized (LAP) and generalized (GAP).
Aa can invade tissue; it has been found along with Treponema denticola (Td) invading ulcerated inner periodontal pocket lining into the lamina propria and has even been found on outer portions of alveolar bone. It possesses certain virulence factors that enable it to invade tissues, such as leukotoxin, which also kills PMNs and monocytes.
Other Aa virulence factors:
- Cytolethal distending toxin
- Immunosuppression factors that inhibit blastogenesis, antibody production and activate T-suppressor cells
- Inhibition of PMN's functions
- Resistant to complement mediated killing
What's in a Name?
Its original name was coined by the German microbiologist Klinger in 1912. He isolated it from a person with a large jaw abscess of Actinomyces israelii, and "commitans" means in common with the other microbe. Now it has picked up a few more syllables with reclassification, but can still be noted as Aa.
Serious Implications!
A recent study analyzed the aortic aneurysms from a large number of patients who had undergone aneurysm repair, and a high percentage of the biopsied heart tissue contained Aa. Moreover, several other studies have found Aa in atherosclerotic plaques or vessel walls.
* From Review of Dental Hygiene, 2nd edition, Saunders/Elsevier, 2009 (Fehrenbach, Weiner), available Dec. 2008.
