Perio disease, BMI linked to heart disease protein marker
Chapel Hill, NC — Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have found strong new evidence that gum disease affects the entire body and appears to contribute to dangerous hardening of the arteries.
“We found that people with severe gum disease had high levels of C-reactive protein in their blood,” says Dr. Gary D. Slade, professor of oral epidemiology at the University of Adelaide, Australia.
“What is particularly interesting to us is that it looks like the effect of periodontal disease is about the same as being severely obese and that there appears to be a link between these two risk factors for atherosclerosis,” says Dr. Steven Offenbacher, professor at the UNC School of Dentistry’s Dental Research Center.
Researchers found both gum disease and body mass index — a measure of how heavy a person is for how tall he or she is — were linked to increases in C-reactive protein (CRP), Offenbacher said.
Biolase acquires assets of AMT
San Clemente, CA — Biolase Technology, Inc. entered into an agreement to purchase all laser assets, tangible and intangible including patents and the name American Dental Laser, from American Medical Technologies, Inc (AMT). The transaction expands Biolase’s customer base, product offering and will enable it to quickly penetrate the mid-level dental laser market. The purchase includes a portfolio of dental laser patents, intellectual property, products, current and past names (including American Dental and American Dental Laser), trademarks, inventory, customer lists and sales channels.
Winners share charitable history
Toronto–Dentistry Canada Fund (DCF), the charity for oral health in Canada, held its inaugural Celebrating Smiles Gala at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto. The event was a huge success, generating more than $25,000 for the charity and featuring entertainment, a silent and live auction, and the presentation of DCF’s first Service and Philanthropy Awards.
Doug Patrick, Aurum Group of Companies received the Outstanding Service Award — Industry Professional. He is a past president of the Dental Laboratory Conference, a past director of the American Dental Trade Association and a director of DIAC, the Dental Industry Association of Canada.
Ralph & Olga Crawford were presented the Outstanding Service Award — Dentistry. This husband and wife team has had an immeasurable impact on the overall development of DCF, investing countless hours and labor to collect, clean, move and display over 700 artifacts for DCF’s Dentistry Canada Museum. Recently, Ralph developed and wrote A Century of Service, a DCF/CDA collaborative project that traces the evolution of dental practice in Canada, as part of CDA’s 100th anniversary in 2002.
George R. Rhodes, International’s vice-president, Professional Relations and Corporate Communications, accepted the Outstanding Philanthropy Award — Industry on behalf of Dentsply.
Dentsply’s historical support of the charity reaches back to the old CFDE, the Canadian Fund for Dental Education, whose funds were established in the ’60s and are now incorporated as part of DCF’s educational mandate. DCF is the proud custodian of the annual DCF-Henry Thornton Award that is presented to a deserving post-graduate student for their education and research studies. For 33 consecutive years, Dentsply has provided a significant contribution to DCF for the CDA/ Dentsply Student Clinician Awards Program.
The Outstanding Philanthropy Award — Dentistry was awarded to Dr. David Peters, St. John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador. Dr. Peters symbolizes the word philanthropy. His commitment to DCF is reflected in his lengthy donor history and he regularly contributes four figure gifts to the DCF-Dorothy Peters Fund that honors the memory of his late wife.
His contributions to organized dentistry in Canada include terms as president of the Newfoundland Dental Association, president of the Canadian Dental Association, chairman of the Canadian Fund for Dental Education (now part of DCF), a member of the Standards Council of Canada and a recipient of the Queen’s Jubilee Medal and the Outstanding alumnus — Dalhousie University, amongst others.
