Be part of the Young Dental Change
According to the Oral Cancer Foundation, more than 43,000 people in the United States will be diagnosed with oral cancer this year. Shockingly, only 57% will survive past the five-year mark due to late diagnosis, while 80% to 90% will survive with early detection. Young Dental has partnered with the Oral Cancer Foundation to encourage you to “Be Part of the Change” by adding a little burgundy to your office. Burgundy is the signature color of the oral cancer awareness movement. To support the importance of oral cancer screenings, Young Dental recently launched the Classic Burgundy Petite Web disposable prophy angle.
Oral Cancer Salivary Diagnostic Test by PeriRx
A common concern among dental professionals is unnecessarily alarming the patient during an oral cancer exam. But when there is a suspicious lesion that falls into one or more of the categories below, you can now offer the patient a saliva test for oral cancer risks that yields results within two days.
PeriRx recently introduced SaliMark OSCC, a breakthrough, noninvasive oral (saliva) diagnostic technology that uses proven biochemistry analytics at high sensitivity and specificity to enable early disease risk detection, specifically for squamous cell carcioma. Early detection of treatable diseases translates to enhanced patient wellness and lower medical costs.
SaliMark is PeriRx’s first product, which is a risk stratification test recommended when suspicious non-healing lesions are observed. These discriminatory salivary biomarkers have been clinically validated in multiple large trials. Some of these studies were in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute and included the participation of academic medial centers such as the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, and the Providence Health system in Detroit. These studies may be accessed at perirx.com under the publications tab.
PeriRx is also developing their “product portfolio pipeline” to include painless and non-invasive early disease detection tests based upon licensed technology from UCLA. These tests will aid in the detection and diagnosis of lung cancer, Sjogren’s syndrome, pre-diabetes, diabetes types 1 & 2, and periodontal disease.
The company said it was “committed to the ongoing development of … oral diagnostic technology to help clinical professionals detect and treat diseases sooner and enhance the practice of wellness management.”
Wow! Wellness management — now that’s a paradigm shifter! I hope that hygienists reading this column would think of themselves as a wellness manager. We would be much happier delivering care and have much healthier patients as a result!
The JawDropper by Awestruck Dental
It has been reported in the Journal of the American Dental Association that 48 million people are not going to the dentist. Key issues include jaw pain, fluid evacuation, and dental fear. Plagued with severe jaw and muscle pain during a dental procedure, Dick Fulton, MD, hooked his index finger over his lower incisors and gently pulled down, allowing his fatigued and cramping jaw muscles to relax. With that, the concept and vision of the JawDropper was born.
The JawDropper received a 93% approval rating from the 200 patients who tried it. The JawDropper retails for $1.25 each and can be purchased in bulk.
Keep your eye on this product line. Awestruck plans to release a version 2.0 that will attach to the high-speed suction specifically designed for use during treatment with ultrasonic scaling.
Visit thejawdropper.com to watch videos of the product in action, read testimonials, and order the product. You’ll also be interested in the white paper on dental fear, located under the “studies” tab on their website. The next time you have a patient who has jaw and muscle pain during a procedure offer them the JawDropper.
As always, email me at [email protected] regarding your comments and suggestions for products you’d like to see featured here. RDH
Kim Miller, RDH, BSDH, is the co-founder of PerioFrogz.com, an information-based website providing free current oral-systemic research summaries and patient education downloads. Kim is also a coach with Inspired Hygiene, delivering customized hands-on training. She speaks internationally, writes articles and webinars, and enjoys clinical dental hygiene. Kim lives in Arizona and welcomes you to contact her at [email protected].
