Hygiene Tribune U.S. Edition

HYGIENE TRIBUNE The World’s Dental Hygiene Newspaper ·U.S. Edition November 2012 — vol. 5, No. 6 www.dental-tribune.com the team places a special focus on the underserved population, which is where P&G enters the picture by supporting Levine’s foundation, Glo Good. Glo Good is all about oral health initiatives in underserved populations. Levine has traveled to Rwanda and East Africa to set up clinics to improve the oral health of these communities. Now the Glo Good group is looking to do things with P&G to help improve the underserved population in the United States, which numbers about 47 million. The campaign seeks to challenge Americans to become educated about the importance of oral health, but it also seeks to give back to the community. Dr.VeronicaSanchez,theglobalscientif- ic communications manager for Crest and Oral-B, said Oral-B is donating $75,000 to Glo Good’s efforts. “We are honored to be working with Dr. Levine,” Sanchez said, “and I am fond of how he puts it when he says: ‘You are what you eat, so if you are sick, it means you are not taking care of your mouth.’” To help populations around the globe with this goal, Sanchez shared the other big news of the day, the release of the new Oral-B Deep Sweep™ brush head. De- signed as the result of consumer feedback, the new brush head has all the things con- sumers like about a manual toothbrush but offers the supreme cleaning power only an electric toothbrush can offer. The brush head combines stationary and sweeping bristles, which provides two levels of clean: one that sweeps away plaque on the surface and another that reaches deeply between teeth. Indica- tor® bristles at the power tip remind pa- tients to replace the brush head once the bristles have faded halfway or every three months. In addition, the head’s familiar shape, like that of a manual toothbrush, eases the switch from a manual to a pow- er toothbrush. In addition, the new Deep Sweep brush head is compatible with all Oral-B Professional Series power tooth- brush handles. By Robin Goodman, Dental Tribune Procter & Gamble (P&G) had quite a bit of news to share with the media at the American Dental Association Annual Ses- sion in San Francisco, and Dental Tribune had a chance to sit down with its movers and shakers for a preview before the offi- cial presentation. First, we met with Dr. Jonathan Levine, who runs the advanced esthetics program at NYU. Levine is involved in a campaign with Oral-B® and Dr. Mehmet Oz to chal- lenge America to “get hold of their oral health,” as Levine phrased it. The dynam- ic duo wants to educate people about how important it is to have a healthy mouth. “It’s about the tools that are available today so that people can have healthy mouths in the easiest way possible,” Levine explained. “We all talk about get- ting fit and eating properly, but there is a little bit of a disconnect between how healthy we are in our bodies and how healthy we are in our mouths because people erroneously think there is a wall of separation. Yet, as we know, it’s actually quite connected; there is a partnership between oral health and overall health.” As a result, Oz and Levine are challeng- ing America to have a healthy mouth, and What is a probiotic? ShiRley GuTkowSki, RDh, BSDh, FACe, is an international speaker and award-winning writer. She travels to speak on minimal intervention dental hygiene. Her work is also in nursing journals. She is co-creator of Adopt A Nursing Home, a board member and fellow of ACE and a member of the World Congress of Minimally Invasive Dentistry. Gutkowski is also co-director of CareerFusion, a retreat for clinicians interested in evolving their clinical career. You may contact her at crosslinkpresent@aol.com. Crest Oral-B Global Scientific Communica- tions Manager Dr. Veronica San- chez, left, and Dr. Jonathan Levine at the Procter & Gamble booth just minutes prior to Levine‘s presentation on Oct. 18 at the ADA annual session in San Franscisco. Photo/Robin Goodman, Dental Tribune Dental practice is a likely distribution point for oral health product By Shirley Gutkowski, RDh, BSDh New brush head helps you ‘get hold of oral health’ Oral probiotics are making some news. As probiotics go, oral probiot- ics are in a class all of their own. Most probiotics are for the lower part of the human digestive system, used to man- age health down there. Oral probiotics help manage oral biofilm. According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition: “A probiotic is de- fined classically as a viable microbial dietary supplement that beneficially affects the host through its effects in the intestinal tract.”1 The National Institutes of Health have a website, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medi- cine (NCCAM) at www.nccam.nih.gov, which defines probiotics as: live mi- croorganisms (in most cases, bacteria) that are similar to beneficial microor- ganisms found in the human gut. Probiotics also called "friendly bac- teria" or "good bacteria." Yogurt and other fermented foods are the main sources of naturally occurring probi- otic bacteria in the American diet.2 Probiotics available for oral health are not that prolific. The oral probiotics refer to those bacteria from the mouth that are intended to work in the mouth to al- ter the oral biofilm to be more healthful. One savvy researcher, Dr. Jeffrey D. Hillman,3 noticed people in Europe supplementing their gut bacteria near- ly every day with a little jug of the pro- biotic mixture that they drank after a meal. He wondered if people would supplement their oral flora daily. He collected biofilm samples from people with healthy teeth, isolated three par- ticular bacteria, branded them with a specific number and grouped them to- gether with outstanding results. That bacterial grouping is called Pro- Biora3 and is found in EvoraPro. This is the only probiotic with original strains Considering probiotics in your practice? A patient who is trying everything to manage his or her oral health and not succeeding is an ideal candidate. Photos/Provided by Shirley Gutkowski, RDH, BSDH GNYDM BOOTH NO. 4225 ” See PROBIOTIC, page D2