Lucy Hobbs Taylor, the first female dentist in the U.S. (and probably the world) is the focus of today's daily Profile America feature issued by the U.S. Census Bureau (a daily press release aimed at raising awareness about responding to the census, which by the way I sadly filled out in 4 minutes....check a few boxes and that's it....really wanted someone to come to my door with a clipboard so I could relate my life story, but....). Back to Lucy. Here a few fun facts to impress your friends with:

• Lucy originally applied for admission to the ineptly named Eclectic College of Medicine in Cincinnati. She was rejected because of her gender. They suggested she try dentistry.
• Lucy became a private pupil and pursued dentistry under the guidance of the dean of the Ohio College of Dental Surgery, later apprenticeing herself to a graduate of the school. After being refused admission to the dental college -- again because of her gender -- she opened her own practice at the age of 28.
• Receiving credit for her years of professional practice from a small but devoted group of admirers, she earned her degree  in February 1866, at the age of 33. 
• While practicing in Chicago, she met and married Civil War veteran and railway maintenance worker James M. Taylor in April 1867. HERE'S MY FAVORITE PART: Under Lucy's guidance, James too became a dentist. They moved to Lawrence, Kansas, and practiced together for 40 years.

Just an inspiring story for a Thursday. And incidentally, since 1983, the American Association of Women Dentists has recognized outstanding females in the profession by annually bestowing the Lucy Hobbs Taylor Award. The AAWD describes this honor as "the highest and most prestigious award that the AAWD presents to one of its professional members. This award recognizes a woman dentist who has contributed to the advancement, enrichment, and betterment of the role of women in the field of dentistry through her achievements in civic, cultural, humanitarian and academic areas."

The news item has been everywhere....dentists are seeing an increase in severe bruxing caused by the stress of the down economy. A Dubuque Iowa dentist is no excpetion.

"When I began practicing dentistry in the mid-1970s," said Dr. William Kuttler, "the vast majority of people with teeth-grinding injuries were men who lived on farms. They would be riding around on a tractor all day, with grit getting in their mouth and clenching their teeth. Now, the farmers are riding in air-conditioned cabs and the bruxers coming in with jaw problems are Type-A business people."

Dr Kuttler and his wife (and hygienist) Sharon, have teamed up with Sharon's yoga instructor to offer a seminar on on relieving dental stress. They'll use the breathing, alignment, and body awareness components of yoga to reduce or eliminate grinding behavior and its consequent problems.

I'll be asking them how it went after the seminar. Stay tuned.

Evidence continues to grow supporting the value of salivary diagnosics. Just read about this…..There may soon be a new weapon in the battle against the so-called "worst" cancer - cancer of the pancreas. A multidisciplinary group of UCLA investigators demonstrated the usefulness of salivary diagnostics in the effort to find and fight the disease.

Changes in the molecular signatures found in human saliva have been successfully linked to the presence of early-stage pancreatic cancer in a study. Results were published in a recent issue of the journal Gastroenterology (one of my must reads!) and are available online

If this news has peaked your interest in the value of saliva, check out OralDNA Labs and their three offerings. They’re especially timely in light of the quest to cut health care costs, detect disease at it earliest stages, keep intervention to a minimum, and accurately assess risk for certain conditions. The company offers three simple-to-administer non-invasive saliva tests:  MyPerioPath (detects bacteria associated with perio disease), MyPerio ID PST (assesses genetic risk for perio disease), and OraRisk HPV (detects oral human papilloma virus and profiles risk for each type). This type of lab testing is the wave of the future for dentistry…..it's here now.

This last week I got a chance to preview the in my practice. If you haven't heard of this machine, welcome to the new world of digital dentistry. The iTero performs an extremely high resolution 3-D scan of teeth, and from that scan can create models to fabricate study models, inlays, onlays, crowns or bridges. At its heart, it does away with the impression material, and all the problems that go with it: no more gagging, no more bubbles, no more retakes, no more distortion. In coming blog posts, I'll let you know what I think of the process itself.

On the front end, Cadent was very professional with arranging the delivery. My staff was given a heads up so workflow was not affected. The machine arrived in a box just short of the size of a refrigerator since the unit is mostly pre-assembled. There were a few odds and ends to install, like the monitor, and camera. It also comes with a wireless router that they plug into your network. In the future, this will server as an access point to the internet to either the digital impression. It also allows them to connect to your iTero so if you need tech support or help with an impression, they can drive your machine from their home office on the east coast.

Cadent also sent some brochures and a CD with information to help you market your new toy. Our trainer took around 20 minutes total to get the machine up and running before we were able to take our first digital impression. Next blog: Our first case.

You’ve probably noticed that the latest incarnations of diode lasers are smaller and cheaper than ever. Biolase launched it’s iLase at last month’s Chicago Midwinter Meeting. Discus Dental purchased Zap’s Styla, which is undergoing rebranding as the NV Microlaser. AMD introduced Picasso Lite, which carries a suggested price of less than $2,500.

And then there are the established tabletop offerings from Sirona, KaVo, and Ivoclar Vivadent as well as from other laser-only vendors.

What’s going on here? A chicken in every pot, a laser in every practice. Smaller, more affordable, and more versatile are just what most doctors have said they are looking for before they jump into the technology. Well, that appears to be here right now.

Can’t predict what’s going to happen on the industry end. Price wars? Consolidation? Whatever transpires, all this activity and healthy competition can only be good for the practitioners. So check these products out and more in this month's Dentalcompare Presents and see if it’s your time to get a laser.