Hu-Friedy helps celebrate Dr. Wilkins' 90th birthday
Approximately 100 people celebrated Dr. Esther Wilkins’ 90th birthday at Turner Fisheries in Boston on January 25. The event was co-sponsored by Hu-Friedy. Dr. Wilkins, a well-known author of dental hygiene school educational materials, was also honored at the reception by alumni and faculty at the Forsyth School of Dental Hygiene at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.
Wine and hors d’oeuvres were enjoyed and representatives from Hu-Friedy and Forsyth shared some words about Dr. Wilkins’ shining accomplishments in hygiene. As the party goers departed, they received goodie bags containing a Hu-Friedy commemorative Esther Wilkins Expro and a phone charm from Forsyth.
In honor of her legacy with students, Hu-Friedy continues to endow five Dr. Wilkins Instrument Scholarships each year through the ADHA.
Major news was also made at the event as Delta Dental of Massachusetts announced it has made a $3 million endowment grant to the Forsyth School. The grant will not only fund a new, full-time professorship of community oral health but also support the development of a Master of Science in Dental Hygiene program. The new Master’s program will focus upon the provision and administration of community oral health care programs, as well as the education of future dental hygiene faculty members.
CareCredit donation boosts ADA fund
CareCredit became the Give Kids A Smile Fund’s founding donor with a gift of $100,000 in early February. The American Dental Association fund is designed to focus national attention on the untreated oral disease among disadvantaged children. Give Kids A Smile is an annual one-day event that provides free educational and preventive and restorative services to children from low-income families.
“This year, CareCredit will commemorate its 20th anniversary. Over the past two decades, it has been CareCredit’s goal to make dentistry more accessible to everyone,” states Michael J. Testa, president, CareCredit. “We are honored to support the ADA and dentists’ efforts to bring necessary dental care to children through its Give Kids A Smile program.”
Give Kids A Smile’s fifth annual event was hosted on Feb. 2 at more than 2,150 locations across the United States, ranging from dental offices to dental schools. More than 51,000 dental professionals volunteered their time, providing free dental care to more than 750,000 children.
“CareCredit’s $100,000 gift will help us expand our Give Kids A Smile program beyond the February one-day event,” explains Steven Kess, vice president of professional relations for Henry Schein, Inc., and chair of the newly established Give Kids A Smile National Advisory Board.
Hu-Friedy launches endodontic company
Hu-Friedy, a Chicago-based manufacturer of dental instruments, launched an endodontic products company named EI (Endo Ingenuity) and its first product during the Chicago Midwinter Meeting.
The product, called DownPak, is a cordless obturation device with 3D Precision Technology. The cordless design provides doctors with superior ergonomics and mobility
Hu-Friedy said its 2007 launch of EI has the advantage of providing endodontic practitioners with superior, innovative designs and advanced technologies that will make them more successful in their profession.
LED Medical obtains financing for product marketing
LED Medical Diagnostics Inc., a Vancouver-based medical device company, recently closed $6 million in financing through Integral Wealth Securities Limited. The company will use these funds to aggressively market and distribute its FDA (510k) approved VELscope (Visually Enhanced Lesion Scope) oral mucosal examination device in the United States and Canadian dental markets through its wholly-owned subsidiary, LED Dental Inc.
VELscope is an adjunctive screening device that utilizes a narrow band of blue light and specialized filtering technology to help dental professionals evaluate oral mucosa for abnormal areas of concern, such as potentially cancerous lesions that may not be apparent under white light.
In addition, the funding will enable LED Medical to accelerate its efforts to integrate the use of VELscope into the oral hygiene and oral pathology curricula of leading dental schools throughout North America.
Waterpik tabs "Best of the Best"
Dr. Lisa Spink, a recent graduate of Oregon Health Science University Dental School, was recently selected as the 2006 grand prize winner of the “Best of the Best: Excellence in Prosthodontics” award from Waterpik. Since 1992, Waterpik has been recognizing students for academic knowledge and clinical skills in the field of prosthodontics. As the grand prize winner, Spink was Waterpik’s guest at the recent American College of Prosthodontists meeting in Florida. Spink was nominated by Dr. Charles Mark Malloy, director of prosthodontics at Oregon. She is now in a three-year prosthodontic residency program at the University of Connecticut Dental School.
Briefly ...
Miltex Dental has acquired the assets of the DenLite illuminated mirror from Welch Allyn, Inc. The DenLite system is the only cordless, illuminated dental instrument that can be used as a mirror while also being strong enough to be used as a retractor during an examination. In May 2006, the DenLite Illuminated Mirror System, designed by Welch Allyn, won the prestigious Medical Design Excellence Award, the only awards program that exclusively recognizes contributions and advancements in the design of medical products. ... CEOs across Oregon regard A-dec as one of the state’s most admired companies. This honor was the result of more than 2,500 Oregon CEOs sharing their opinion in the Portland Business Journal’s 2006 Oregon’s Most Admired Companies Survey. A-dec ranked in the top 10 in two categories - Across all Industries and Traditional Manufacturing. ... Onex Corporation recently announced that it will acquire the Health Group of Eastman Kodak Company in a transaction initially valued at approximately $2.35 billion. ... OraPharma, Inc. recently announced that it is acquiring the distribution rights to Ossix Plus (Resorbable Collagen Membrane) effective April 12.
