A3 Toothpaste delivery, too Falling a bit outside the “toothbrush- related” theme, but also patented in 2012 are “toothpaste droplets.” Inven- tor Wayne R. Solan of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., came up with the idea as a way of providing people with safe, cor- rectly-measured doses of toothpaste for brushing, minimizing the health threat that can come from accidently swallowing unsafe amounts of tooth- paste, as well as minimizing waste. A summary in the patent application for the droplet concept includes these details about one of the design possi- bilities: “The method can include providing a droplet that can have a dissolvable outer membrane that defines a volume with toothpaste inside the volume. The outer membrane can include a tail por- tion, which is configured to be embed- ded into the bristles of a toothbrush. The provided droplet further can in- clude a plurality of extensions coupled to the outer surface of the outer mem- brane where the plurality of exten- sions can have a triangular shape, a barb shape or the like. In one aspect of Publisher & Chairman Torsten Oemus t.oemus@dental-tribune.com Chief OPerating OffiCer Eric Seid e.seid@dental-tribune.com grOuP editOr Robin Goodman r.goodman@dental-tribune.com editOr in Chief dental tribune Dr. David L. Hoexter feedback@dental-tribune.com managing editOr u.s. and Canada editiOns Robert Selleck r.selleck@dental-tribune.com managing editOr Fred Michmershuizen f.michmershuizen@dental-tribune.com managing editOr Sierra Rendon s.rendon@dental-tribune.com managing editOr shOw dailies Kristine Colker k.colker@dental-tribune.com PrOduCt/aCCOunt manager Mara Zimmerman m.zimmerman@dental-tribune.com PrOduCt/aCCOunt manager Charles Serra c.serra@dental-tribune.com marketing direCtOr Anna Kataoka-Wlodarczyk a.wlodarczyk@dental-tribune.com C.e. direCtOr Christiane Ferret c.ferret@dtstudyclub.com aCCOunting COOrdinatOr Nirmala Singh n.singh@dental-tribune.com Tribune America, LLC 116 West 23rd St., Ste. #500 New York, N.Y. 10011 (212) 244-7181 Published by Tribune America © 2013 Tribune America, LLC All rights reserved. Dental Tribune strives to maintain the utmost accu- racy in its news and clinical reports. If you find a fac- tual error or content that requires clarification, please contact Managing Editor Robert Selleck at r.selleck@ dental-tribune.com. Dental Tribune cannot assume responsibility for the validity of product claims or for typographical errors. The publisher also does not assume responsibility for product names or statements made by advertisers. Opinions expressed by authors are their own and may not reflect those of Tribune America. editOrial bOard Dr. Joel Berg Dr. L. Stephen Buchanan Dr. Arnaldo Castellucci Dr. Gorden Christensen Dr. Rella Christensen Dr. William Dickerson Hugh Doherty Dr. James Doundoulakis Dr. David Garber Dr. Fay Goldstep Dr. Howard Glazer Dr. Harold Heymann Dr. Karl Leinfelder Dr. Roger Levin Dr. Carl E. Misch Dr. Dan Nathanson Dr. Chester Redhead Dr. Irwin Smigel Dr. Jon Suzuki Dr. Dennis Tartakow Dr. Dan Ward Tell us what you think! Do you have general comments or criti- cism you would like to share? Is there a particular topic you would like to see articles about in Dental Tribune? Let us know by e-mailing feedback@dental- tribune.com. We look forward to hear- ing from you! If you would like to make any change to your subscription (name, address or to opt out) please send us an e-mail at database@dental-tribune.com and be sure to include which publica- tion you are referring to. Also, please note that subscription changes can take up to six weeks to process. DENTAL TRIBUNE The World’s Dental Newspaper · US Edition Dental Tribune U.S. Edition | January 2013 NEWS “ PATENTS, page A2 this embodiment, the droplet further can include a logo, a cartoon character, a word or the like printed on the outer membrane.” Few patents become products The odds of any of us soon using freeze-dried balls of toothpaste, lip- stick-style brush-head dispensers and precisely measured droplets of tooth- paste sporting cartoon characters are likely slim. Earning a patent is just one small step in an arduous journey from idea to actual product. “You see far more patents than prod- ucts,” patent attorney John Rizvi said. Rizvi, of Gold & Rizvi (The Idea Attor- neys), based in Fort Lauderdale, has been helping inventors with the patent process for 16 years and specializes in medical/dental products. He got into the dental niche because his wife, a dentist, kept referring colleagues who had great product idea. Beating out the next-best solution Rizvi’s advice for would-be dental- product inventors: “Cost of the product is critical. You can have a new concept with all sorts of advantages, but if the costs are out of line with alternatives, you’re facing an uphill battle. You’re always up against the next-best solu- tion.” Rizvi also said, “The product needs to be intuitive, something that the user can quickly understand the need for — especially if you don’t have the resources needed to market it.” But even with most intuitive of prod- ucts, marketing is critical in any effort to turn an idea into units sold. That’s why many inventors sell their rights to a deeper-pocket partner. Rizvi advises “garage inventors” to study the market to find out who is selling the closest related product and then contact that business. If it sees your idea as a threat, it might want to buy the concept to control it — or add it to its product line. As with most inventions, the odds of success are stacked against dental- product inventors, with only a minis- cule percentage of patents materializ- ing into widely available products. But a stroll down the dental aisle at the su- per market reveals new oral-care prod- ucts that break through every year, and even more “latest-and-greatest” oral hygiene concepts can be found online, such as the “dissolving tetrahe- dral toothbrush package” (it’s worth a Google search, if you haven’t seen it). W hether mouth-breathing is associated with dental misalignment has long been debated by experts and is not yet understood com- pletely. Now, researchers from In- dia have found new evidence that a compromised airway as found in asthmatic children has an ef- fect on their dentoalveolar mor- phology, as malocclusion was found more frequently in these children. In the study, researchers at the JSS Dental College and Hospital in My- sore took dental impressions of the upper and lower arches of 88 children, aged 6 to 12. Half had been diagnosed with asthma and half were controls. Among the various findings in the study, it was found that the intermo- lar and the inter-incisal widths in both arches were smaller in the asthmatic children. This was most significant for females aged 10 to 12 in particular, especially in the maxillary arch. The arch length in the asthmatic children showed consistently higher mean val- ues in the maxillary and the mandibu- lar arches. Moreover, a deeper palate was observed in this group. In addition, malocclusion was fre- quent in the asthmatic children, the re- searchers said. More than 45 percent of those in the 6-to-8-year-old group had an open bite, 20 percent a crossbite, and another 20 percent were found to have an increased overjet. Among the 10-to-12-year-olds, 15 percent had an open bite, 30 percent a crossbite, and 10 percent had an increased overjet. The findings indicate that increased airway resistance in the respiratory system induced by allergic asthma may cause children to change from na- sal to oral breathing, which can trigger modulations in cranio-facial growth patterns. Mouth-breathing may cause perma- nent changes in the musculoskeletal relationship, the researchers conclud- Asthma can affect dental development in children Researchers in India find higher frequency of malocclusion ed. But they also emphasized that cra- nio-facial development is a multifacto- rial process that involves both genetic and environmental influences. To date, only a few studies have dealt with the question of whether dento- alveolar developmental anomalies in asthmatic children can be attributed to the disease. The results of the current study, however, provide evidence that asthma is one of the factors that could affect cranio-facial development, the researchers concluded. The study was published in the November issue of the Pediatric Dental Journal. New research finds evidence that asthma is one of the factors that could affect cranio-facial develop- ment. Among the findings is that asthmatic children are more likely to have some form of malocclusion. Photos/Inhaler provided by www.sxc.hu; child inset provided by ffoto29/Shutterstock By Dental Tribune International