I have a soft spot in my heart for funny Engrish. Except when the person writing it has a blatant disrespect for patents, trademarks, and such. Isolite Systems has a slam-dunk product that has been previously featured here on DentalBuzz, and yes, we’ve even suggested that a clever hack was available which still gives the Isolite company a repeat source of income. There’s hacking, and then there’s design forgery.

This introductory email should sufficiently scare you away from even thinking about going to the dark side:

Dear Sir/Madam:

Good day! I am very pleasure to send you an E-mail to introduce our product– ISOlight Shining Suction! Pls check attachment. This product can bring a few of advantage for dentistry:

1. Work Faster, Brighter, Drier

ISOlight Shining Suction is with a continuous, powerful and shadowless illumination. Dentist can see it mach more clearly inside mouth, then they can work accurately and faster. The special design mouthpiece can supply a widely space for dentist. Operation become more convenience. This device can connect with high/low suction. then the water will go throuth mouthpiece and maintain mouth drier. The patient doesn’t need to get up the spit the water.

2. Shining Suction Stop Interruption and save more time, dentst can get more appointment

Base of the advantage, dentst can complete the operation faster and patient become more comfortable. EACH OPERATION WILL BE FAST 25%-30%. In the same working time, dentist can take more appointment and create more profit. In the same time, dentist and patient would not feel tried.

3.  Save Work

Shining Suction supply self-suction. Nurse doesn’t need to stay beside patient and hold high/low suction. She/he will be free to do the other assistance such as: mix the colophony and materail, clean the instrument, do autoclavable, pass and take the instrument etc. Then dentist can do operation more dedicated.

4. Safe

Special Mouthpiece will protect tongue and cheek. Patient will not be easy to get hurt.

5. Better Ergonomics

The ergonomic design of Shining Suction reduces fatigue and repetitive stress associated with retraction, suctioning, eyestrain, and motion spent adjusting headlights, overhead light or otherwise positioning the patient for better access or visibility.

6. Save Cost

The bright shining suction will supply the powerful light in mouth. Dentist doesn’t need to buy expensive fiber optic product, such as: Fiber optic handpice, fiber optic scaler, headlight, etc.

ISOlight Shining Suction is the new revolution dental product with many useful advantage. It will definitely help you increase your efficiency and profit. ISOlight will be your best assistant on your job.

If you have any question, pls feel free to contact me.

Do you still fight in the hard competition of old product? Do you still think about how to increase your business? Do you still warry about the profit reduce of old product? I think it is time to indraught ISOlight Shining Suction to help you.

For more detail and best distributor price, pls send E-mail to reference with your company detail.

Sincerely waitting for your reply. Have a nice day! Best regard

Kevin Guan, Export Manager, Codent Technology Co., Ltd

_________

If you ever see any other dental product knockoffs let us know here at DentalBuzz so we can “out” the dastardly company. SOPA and PIPA censoring isn’t the answer to problems like this on the internet. Awareness can only go so far, too. The real stand today has to be internal, so make sure that you continue to promote good enterprise instead of just free enterprise.

And it’s so hard for me to stand firm on my ethics because they make some REALLY CUTE HERMES BAG knockoffs out there! But I must stand up. For Isolite. And for every innovative company online that does its best to stay honest.

Fellow dental blogger Mike Barr has a new toy in his dental lab and wants you to get one, too.

No, not because he’s going to make any money from your purchase, but because he is a believer in sanity! This pressure-forming machine saves you time and anguish over the heat, droop, and noisy suck-down that you’ve just accepted as “this is just the way it’s done.”

So be sure to follow this link, read his extensive review and product comparisons, and watch the video that he’s produced. And if you’re not convinced that you need to get an Ortho Ministar, then maybe you’re too attached to your vaccum-former.

And we’ve all heard the stories about people who got stuck to their vacuums and had to go to the hospital to become unattached, so don’t get mistaken for one of those.

by Trish Walraven

We know that you want to protect your family from anything that you hear about in the media. Especially radiation. Especially now, with the leaks at the nuclear power plant happening in Japan and with Dr. Oz telling everyone that going to the dentist could endanger their thyroid glands.

Your perception is made reality here at Safe Smiles Dental Care. Are you afraid of the cumulative effects of flying in airplanes, going outdoors, and X-Rays? Good.

Why do we say good? Because the way we nurture your fear of radiation sets us apart from other dental offices. We won’t say, “Oops, let’s re-take that xray; it didn’t come out right” here. We will get it right the first time, because, gosh darn it, we care. And we spent a lot of money on rectangular collimators with little magnets and beepers that tell you that we’re all lined up. And what about “Sorry, the thyroid collar will obstruct our view so we can’t use it”? You won’t hear that in our office either. We’ll just not worry your pretty little head about that part of your jaw.

This is what we call scratching our niche, baby. Our practice is the ultimate low-radiation dental office, and you won’t find this level of concern down the street at Dr. Happy-go-lucky’s practice. No way. We’ll massage your fears away with our assurance that any cancer you get in your lifetime won’t be from dental radiation.

So give us a call today at (990) 648-2130 to schedule your complimentary screening exam. We also offer just radiological services if you prefer to have your dental x-rays taken at our office and then forwarded to a dentist of your choice. But that’s such a hassle. Come on, you know you’d rather stay here with us. Especially when you start seeing these warning symbols posted all over the signs of our local competition:

Stay safe, and we’ll look forward to seeing you soon!

__________________

Yesterday on his network television show Dr. Mehmet Oz defended his remarks back in September about the necessity of lead thyroid collar use during dental x-rays whenever possible by stating that “there’s no good reason not to protect yourself against radiation.” While this is true, the bottom line is about using radiation in a way that leads to best outcomes in our patients, a point that several guest physicians also tried to make despite the protests of Dr. Oz.

Seriously, when you look at the sources of radiation in the world today, why worry about the miniscule intentional amounts? All radiation is dangerous, and it should be limited as much as possible, but the only way to avoid it totally is to dig a radon-free hole somewhere and live like a makedd roll gnat the rest of your life (ummmm. I mean naked mole rat. So hard to get that one right!). Calm your fears with this Radiation Dose Chart that was recently compiled, complete with facts about the Fukushima Nuclear plant (click on the image for full-size).

Another thing that I whipped up here for all you DentalBuzz readers is a Medical Radiation Dose Chart to download and show to your patients that have no idea how much radiation that they may be getting from the more common diagnostic procedures. I didn’t know a lot of it myself, so originally I created it to use in our office but you may find it helpful too. Did you know that it takes 10,000 PA radiographs to reach the annual limit of x-radiation? How many CT scans does it take to reach the limit? I’m too lazy to do all the math but it looks like 1 CT scan equals about 2,000 bitewings (film, not digital) according to this chart.

Regardless, we all have a responsibility to admit that we don’t know what we don’t know. And perhaps Dr. Oz may be a little right; we should do our best to protect our patients from radiation whenever possible, adapting the ALARA (As Low As Reasonably Achievable) principle with regards to radiation in dentistry.

Enter the media blitz. Interactive Digital Imaging (IDI) is re-introducing its rectangular collimator with a PR campaign targeting consumers. Dental patients will be encouraged to “Look for the Green Ring” at their dental offices, similar to the “Ask Your Doctor About” style of direct-to-consumer advertising used by the pharmaceutical industry. Originally priced at $1295, the newly redesigned Tru-Align collimator will be offered at $795 with improvements that overcome cone-cut errors and enhancements that make the positioner more user-friendly.

My favorite feature of the Tru-Align system is not that it can be used with any typical XCP holders (but still a good thing – this includes sensors, phosphor plates, and film), but that when you bump up the xray cone to the collimation ring, you get a magnetized lock-on and an audible beep to let you know that you will NOT be getting a cone-cut on that image. BAM! ZAP! If nothing else, the precision of this thing should impress our patients. And if they’re the kind that are really concerned about their radiation exposure, you can spew some factoids about reducing the absorbed dose from around 150 microsieverts to 30 microsieverts for an 18-image FMX series.

What it finally comes down to is having the right things to say to your patients when they ask about radiation, and addressing any real problems that you may be having in your office, like the assistant who has to re-take a periapical x-ray three times in order to get the one that you need. Or making sure that your thyroid collars are actually being Velcroed behind your patients’ necks. Or halting the bacteria-fest breeding on your lead aprons. My bet is that’s the biggest offense of all. Ahhh, a problem for another day…..

___

Thanks to these blogs whose articles have helped shape this one:

The ALARA Principle: Dr. Jeffrey Hoos and Michael Razzano on Dentistry IQ

The Digital Dentist Lorne Lavine

Dr. Oz discusses Dental X-Rays and Thyroid Cancer: Dr. Todd Welch at The Science of Dentistry

by Trish Walraven

Won’t be the first time that a newer technology replaced vinyl, huh? Then again, the heydays of cassette tapes and CDs are long gone as well. Does this mean that vinyl impression material will soon become “wall flair” like restaurant nostalgia record albums? CREEEpy.

So Align Technology has officially agreed to purchase Cadent, makers of the iTero intra-oral scanning system. That means that in a few years, the only offices using impression material will be the same ones that use film and developer for x-rays. A few hours ago this email was sent out to all iTero users. I’d consider this the death knell for polyvinyl impressions:

Dear iTero Partner:

I am writing to share some exciting news that offers tremendous potential for Cadent and our customers. Today, Align Technology, makers of the Invisalign system, announced a definitive agreement to acquire Cadent Holdings, Inc.  Align shares our belief that intra-oral scanning is one of the most exciting technologies available to doctors. Intra-oral scanning systems provide a chair-side platform for accessing valuable digital diagnosis and treatment tools, with tremendous potential for enhancing accuracy of records, treatment efficiency, and the overall patient experience.

While working together on interoperability and Invisalign applications to run on Cadent iTero and iOC scanners, we saw an opportunity to combine our two companies’ capabilities and market-leading technology to bring innovative new diagnosis and treatment tools to our customers, thereby extending the value of intra-oral scanning in dental practices.

After the satisfaction of all legal and regulatory requirements, Cadent will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Align Technology. Align is committed to supporting and investing the technology and scanning systems that are Cadent’s core competencies. They plan to keep the existing family of Cadent products, and will combine their expertise with ours to bring innovative new tools to our customers. This type of integration will take some time; while under way, each company will remain focused on its own customers and service commitments. Once the acquisition closes – which we expect in the second quarter of this year – we will have more information to share with you about the benefits of this integration for our customers.

Finally, you may know that we have been working with Invisalign to establish interoperability, which will allow doctors to submit Cadent intra-oral, scans in place of traditional PVS impressions for Invisalign treatment. We are currently in the final stage of Beta testing and are on track to announce interoperability in the second quarter of this year.

We believe we are only scratching surface of what we can accomplish through 3D imaging and intra-oral scanning. Once we’ve captured an accurate digital impression of a patient’s dentition, the possibilities for how to use that data in all areas of restorative, cosmetic, orthodontic and preventative treatment are endless. Both Cadent and Align see the broader potential this technology has for improving dentistry, and together, we have the resources and expertise to turn those possibilities into valuable tools for your practice and patients. We look forward to sharing more details with you in the coming weeks and months.

Sincerely,

Kerri Sebring
Vice-President of Marketing, Cadent

Is it really the end of goopy gagging? Vinyl impression material (and alginate, for that matter) will probably always have its place, but this is the first step to making digital impressions a standard part of dentistry instead of the hip fringey thing it is now.

And my shoes thank you, Align.

Added March 30th
For all you Invisalign lovers, this parody by the two Dr. Glassmans made me giggle to myself:

by Trish Walraven

Did you really want to see that last pair of centrals in crisp detail? I mean, down to every last craze line and coffee stain?

If not, you’re probably one of those people that like shadows, you’ll want to go back down in your burrow and sleep through the next few months. Nothing uncomfortable or awkward for you, thank you. Please leave now – bye! – because the information below will only lead to spending money on things that you don’t care about.

Are they gone yet? Good. Now we can talk about this shadow business. Do you remember when you first started using loupes, how they made you sit up taller, take notice of things you never saw before, and how it is now that you cannot imagine working without them?

About a month ago I hooked a tiny little light onto my loupes in hopes that it would keep my back straighter. I didn’t really expect any more than that. At first it was nice, the light was whiter and just about the same intensity as the incandescent overhead light. Hmm. Then I realized that I had the power turned all the way down on the battery pack. What happened when I began dialing the light up was nothing short of a knee-trembling-Thank-You-Jesus epiphany moment. THE SHADOWS WERE GONE! I didn’t know that there were shadows in people’s mouths before. I didn’t realize that the shadows were extremely annoying in people’s mouths. I didn’t know that you could visualize the distal of tooth numbers 1 and 16 in full spectrum light and see down into that 4 mm pocket that never gets cleaned and scoop out that little yellow goo like a miner panning ankle-deep in a river of gold.

When you have a light attached to your glasses, it always spotlights your focus point exactly. It goes where you go (ouch! just don’t look your patient in the eye through your loupes). It helps you save time because you’re not always reaching up and adjusting the handle of the overhead light. And patients like it when they don’t feel like they’re in an interrogation session. It’s so free and breezy above the chair without all that equipment hanging over their heads.

Now that I’m using a headlamp it really is like a whole new world opened up to my eyes. It’s like the first time I started using loupes all over again. It’s like. Well it’s like something I should have done forever ago. The only two things that were holding me back until now were comfort and cost. I didn’t want to pay over $600 for what is essentially a flashlight. And I didn’t want it to be inconvenient to wear.

After evaluating just about everything offered at the dental meeting booths, one choice has ultimately claimed its place as my new pet: the LumaDent. Don Ton, DDS is the CEO of LumaDent, Inc. and he packs a great story about how his company got started from a DIY project, so I couldn’t resist supporting his business. Okay, I could have resisted if his product was no good, but in my opinion it is the best dental headlight available, for many reasons:

The Price. It is extremely reasonable for a niche market like dentistry. If you find it’s hard to swallow, geez, build it yourself. You’ll still need a battery pack, which you can purchase a la carte from LumaDent.

The Package. Totally turnkey. You get a rechargeable battery pack, a charger, a hip holster, a mount made especially for your type of existing frame, an orange filter, and all sorts of things to help you control your wires. If you have problems along the way, Dr. Don will make it right until you are happy.

The Promise. You hope that it will be comfortable. At 5 grams and a lens no larger than the size of a dime, the LumaDent weighs almost nothing. The headlight is only noticeable because of the wires. If you’re patient and work with the wires to learn how to wear them, they will be no more difficult to put on and take off than a tie. And as I stated before, the quality of the light is exceptional.

If you’re getting the idea that I was somehow coerced into this endorsement with money or discounted product that’s not the case here. I simply love my loupe light, I love juxtapositioning Punxsutawney Phil with shadowless dentistry and I hope to inspire you to see the way you practice in a whole new….

…way. Ha. You thought I was going to say light.

by Trish Walraven

Stanky Moufs, Stanky Moufs, I want to rid the world of Stanky Moufs. When a patient sits down in a chair with a freshly-stanked cigarette mouf, that smell hangs in the operatory longer than their jacket.

Is the American Lung Association with me? NO! Maybe it’s because they’re still getting a part of that $206 billion settlement from Big Tobacco back in 1998. Can’t put their sugar daddy out of bidness.

Well then, is the government with me? Not really. The government wants to tax those stanky moufs for recreational nicotine use, and they want to regulate the patches, gums, and lozenges being sold as medical devices designed for smoking cessation.

How many smoking patients do you have that don’t want to quit? They’re not supposed to admit to you that they really love smoking, now. Especially not to you. But more and more of them are coming into my practice, breaths a-bloomin’, tissues pinkin’, and when I ask them if they quit smoking, they don’t say yes. They say that they’ve switched to e-cigarettes.

RRRrrrRRT ( that record scratch stop noise that’s used too much in media but I can’t help myself). WHAT THE?  WHAT IS AN E-CIGARETTE?

I Gurgled it. Gurgling is kind of like Googling except that you ask your patient an open-ended question while they’ve got a little spit in the back of their throat that they really don’t have but they think they do and they want you to suck it out before they answer the question.

Best answer I got: “Well, everyone in our office either got a supply of E-Cigarettes if they would quit using regular cigarettes, or $200 to use on themselves if they weren’t smokers.” An employer has gone out of their way to get tobacco out of the bodies of their workforce. This sounded BIG.

That’s when the internet got much more handy than Gurgling. Here’s a great description of an E-Cigarette from AlterNet:

The e-cigarette was invented in China in 2004. It’s a cigarette-shaped tube that contains a rechargeable battery, a mini-vaporizer, a small reservoir, sensors and, in most cases, a light on the tip. The sensor notes when you take a drag on the tube and turns on the vaporizer, which more-or-less instantaneously turns the substances in the reservoir into a stream of visible water vapor that mimics the taste and feel of tobacco smoke. The tip glows like the end of a lit cigarette with each drag. It’s infused with the taste of tobacco – or tobacco combined with other flavors for those who are into that sort of thing – and nicotine, in various doses (including none at all). The refill cartridges – which look like the butt of the cigarette–give you about the same number of drags as a pack of cigarettes, but cost around $3 each – a bit more than half the national average and a third of what a pack of smokes go for in places like New York City.

The next question everyone asks is “Is it safer?” (I must stop with the Marathon Man references…this is only my second offense, sorry!). But really. Are e-cigs safer than tobacco? I for one am totally convinced that they will kill you much, much slower than tobacco, and far slower than water (if you’re drowning in it, of course). It’s the combustion that creates the majority of carcinogens found in cigarettes, which is why no real smoke is safe. The vapor ingredients in an e-cigarette – propylene glycol or glycerin – are Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) by the Food and Drug Administration. The problem arises when you don’t know what else is being added to the cartridges. Like Cialis. No joke. You can get some Cialis to smoke in an e-cigarette here. What about a dangerous, banned weight loss drug? They’ve got that too.

These extreme additives are all the excuse that e-cigarette opponents need to try to get them banned in the United States. That’s why no one will touch this issue, especially with the FDA coming down hard on new tobacco products in March. The federal courts are leaving it alone for now, but arising is a vast current of e-cigarette fanboys. They call themselves Vapers, and their recreation? Vaping.

What do you prefer? Stank Mouf or vape mouth? If your patients are committed to their cigarettes, it might not be such a bad idea to turn them on to something that may do less harm than their current habit.

I don’t know about you, but my ops are smelling better already. 

Yes, she’s got a dental supply company backing her, and yes, she’s a little green and looks like she’s trying hard to be obnoxious (which she obviously isn’t), but there’s something about DESIree that is utterly fascinating.

Yesterday brought the unveiling of The DEZIree Show, a “just between us” video blog for dental hygienists. Will she be engaging, relevant, and positively bloom in her fun weekly rants so that her viewers want to share her messages and spirit? Or will this be a failed publicity experiment that a corporation is trying in order to find their place in the social media order?

Currently it could go either way. But you should totally root for DEZIree because she seems worth five minutes of your time per week.

This company knows better than to show what a person looks like wearing cheek retractors. But the bald dude in the tradeshow booth just couldn’t keep his mouth shut, and so has inadvertently revealed the eerie side of DIY whitening treatments.

If the silly little LED lights aren’t bad enough, the company has solved the apparent problem of “what to do” for the hour-long treatment process: built-in music headphones for your MP3 player.

Ahh, the fringes of the ZOOM-persuaded target audience make one smile and wince at the same time.  Thanks to Engadget for the help with next year’s Halloween costume.

If your Dell E6500, E6400 or M6400 has been overheating, and seemingly sluggish then we have good news for you. The folks in Round Rock, TX have released a bios update that should fix all your performance problems.

Head over to dell.com and click on Support to download the latest drivers and bios update for your machine.

Here is a little of the back story

Are the computers in your practice ready for Windows 7?  You are most likely still running Windows XP because  your practice management and digital radiography software/hardware was not compatible with Vista.

Now is a good time to look at some computer upgrades and prepare yourself for Windows 7. A good way to start this process is to look at refurbished equipment. While many of the top manufactures offer refurbished equipment none do it better than Dell. To help you get started we are including a few links and couple of newly minted coupon codes, but you better hurry the deals and codes won’t last forever.

www.delloutlet.com

15% off coupon on all refurbished Precision Workstations
(expires 10/14) ?MWG3ZLB4ST2T6

10% off coupon on all refurbished PowerEdge Servers
(expires 10/14) K10HLL96J1M$WZ

15% off coupon on all refurbished Laser Printers
(expires 10/14) 8XWXWHZHSKW522

15% off coupon on all refurbished Latitude and Tablet laptops
(expires 10/14) 8DVFH307$J?WWD

Just enter these codes in your cart to save your practice some money, and don’t forget that all refurbished equipment comes with the same warranty and support as new equipment. You can also follow them on Twitter.