Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

PUBLISHED IN LONDON Don’t miss out - call now to start saving £££s on 01634 878787 or visit www.kentexpress.co.uk today quoting DT05 • Universal speed film • Adult size 2 periapical • Superior image sharpness • Low background fog • Outstanding clarity • 30mm x 40mm x 150 Code: 60035 Terms and conditions: Offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer, discount scheme, gift promotion or price match. Qualifying order must be placed in one transaction. All prices exclude VAT. E & O E. Product subject to change without prior notice. To qualify, the quote code must be quoted at time of order. For online orders place quote code in comments box. Corrections cannot be made once the order has been placed. This offer is intended for the end user and therefore is not available to resellers. Offer valid 01/05/12 - 31/05/12. Quote Code DT05 To qualify for offer, code must be quoted at time of order. For online orders place quote code in comments box. Corrections are unable to be made after the order has been received. May 7-13, 2012 VOL. 6 NO. 12 Fake booze surge The Local Government As- sociation has warned that if plans to introduce a mini- mum price on alcohol go ahead there could be a surge in counterfeit wine and spir- its. The proposal is to have a 40p minimum price per alcohol unit in England and Wales; however, it’s feared if the government’s plan go ahead then cheap fake brands could contain dan- gerous chemicals such as anti-freeze. Experts from the Health Select Committee say the lever of price can change behaviour. In response to concern over whether mini- mum pricing will encour- age responsible drinking, The proposal is one of the many ideas in the new alco- hol strategy, which has been designed to encourage re- sponsible drinking and help local areas tackle alcohol- related problems. Fresh tips Nova Southeastern Univer- sity (NSU) fourth-year Col- lege of Dental Medicine student Deborah Luis has created and patented a sin- gle use, on-the-go minia- ture toothbrush and breath freshener. The idea for the new product, which is called Fresh-Tips, was devised af- ter Deborah saw a ball with rubber extensions. Fresh- Tips has soft rubber bristles that clean the user’s teeth, gums and tongue and con- tains anti-cavity xylitol mint to freshen breath. It has also been described as “dis- creet”, with the toothpick end resembling a lollipop. Luis entered the product in Wal-Mart’s “Get on the Shelf” contest. For more in- formation, please visit www. freshtips.com. A double take Dental Protection (DPL) continues its long history of providing innovative educa- tional material with the pub- lication of Annual Review 2012. Called “Double Take”, this year’s publication is in- spired by the approach taken in the successful British film “Sliding Doors” (1998) by providing the reader with two or more different visions of how the same scenario might unfold. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and most professionals have experi- enced something in their ca- reer which could easily have turned out very differently, if only they had been able to anticipate the likely conse- quences of some seemingly insignificant decision or ex- ternal event. www.dental-tribune.co.uk Final call for CIC DT previews upcoming conference Keep it safe Dr Armin Nedjat examines the principles of Champions As easy as it looks? Nilesh Parmar discusses dental implants News in Brief Implant Tribune ClinicalEvent PreviewNews Tax unhealthy food! Experts call for ‘food tax’ page 4 pages 8-9 pages 16-18 pages 26-27 Out of the frying pan... ... and into the fire, as agreement is cancelled between DPA and CODE; DPA now looking at rescue options F ollowing recent events surrounding the ‘merg- er’ of CODE and DPA, a new twist in the association’s future development has oc- curred. According to state- ments released by CODE and the DPA, the proposed CODE DPA ‘merger’ has been can- celled. In a statement released by CODE, the ‘rescue plan’, which had been offered by GDPA Ltd with CODE’s support as a long- term solution for the finan- cial stability of DPA, has been turned down by DPA members: “The members decided to keep the DPA as a mutual, primarily because in their opinion CODE wasn’t political enough.’’ Paul Mendlesohn, CODE CE said: “I found the concept of successfully developing a sister association, as I have done with CODE, very excit- ing. I am not politically in- clined myself, but it would have been fascinating to build a new political team that could continue to make an impact in dentistry, and to be the alter- native choice for dental profes- sionals.” Following the wishes of DPA members the DPA Coun- cil cancelled the Associa- tion Management Agreement (AMA) and further withdrew the Transfer Agreement, two days before the Special Gen- eral Meeting in April. Although the AMA had been cancelled, acting Chairman Reginald Short went ahead with the Special General Meet- ing that had previously been arranged to discuss the CODE transfer. In a DPA statement, Mr Short explained that this was: “to enable members to air their views and the Council to explain their decisions.” During the meeting mem- bers accepted that despite the draft figures showing losses in 2011 and the current balance sheet deficit, “they still wanted the association to continue to be independent”. In an email to members, Mr Short stated: “Members have indicated in a survey and by other means that they would not approve the rescue pro- posal from GDPA ltd and that they would like the Association Management Agreement (AMA) to be cancelled. As we are rep- resenting members’ wishes I have arranged to cancel the AMA, but this still leaves us in the situation that we need a way to rescue the DPA. One ex- pression of interest from a new party has already been re- ceived, and I look forward to receiving more.” Dental Tribune spoke to Mr Short shortly after the an- nouncement. He added: “The position in relation to the transfer of DPA to CODE is that, as of today, the associa- tion management agreement is terminated and a new man- agement arrangement is cur- rently being discussed.” Speaking on the recent de- velopment, Mr Mendlesohn said: “I accept the DPA mem- bers’ choice, and whilst I have enjoyed the challenges of run- ning the DPA for eight weeks under the management agree- ment, it is the members’ wish- es that come first. My personal wish is to see the DPA thrive in the coming years and watch its story unfold.” The DPA Council has invit- ed alternative rescue bids and one has already been received. The deadline for this is the 14th June. A new date for the AGM has also been arranged, and will be held July 7th. In- terested parties should send their proposals to Reg Short by email before the 14th June. Members will be able to vote on their chosen rescue solu- tion at the AGM. GDPA Ltd will respect the wishes of members and not make a new rescue offer. For further information or to send a DPA rescue proposal email: rwj.short@virgin.net. DT