Vivos Announces Exclusive Distribution Agreement with GM for North America


Vivos Therapeutics has announced an exclusive distribution agreement with GM Instruments for the distribution of GM Instruments’ NR6 Rhinomanometer. This is the only Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved 4-phase rhinomanometer available in the United States. It’s used to calculate nasal airway resistance through measuring nasal flow and the pressure producing that flow.

Vivos will become the exclusive North American distributor of this specialized diagnostic equipment through this agreement. This aligns with Vivos’s mission which is focused on creating treatment for patients that deal with mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and snoring.

With the ability to measure nasal breathing, Vivos will be better able to determine best breathing and sleep issue treatment pathway and CPAP intolerance/treatment failure, according to Vivos Chairman and CEO, Kirk Huntsman.

“With this new agreement, every U.S. or Canadian dentist who wishes to evaluate the breathing function of a patient will need to engage with Vivos for this diagnostic equipment,” Hunstman said in a press release from the company. “We expect this will provide Vivos an immediate new revenue stream as well as a substantial competitive advantage and opportunity to present Vivos’ proprietary oral appliance technology to a wider audience.”

The NR6 Rhinomanometer from GM Instruments is designed to be a quick test to measure nose function during breathing, and the test results can now be used by Vivos-trained dentists to keep track of pre-, mid-, and post-treatment of patients. Because breathing and flow are so vital to treatment of OSA and snoring, this agreement can be a huge boon according to Vice President of Sales for GM-Instruments, North America, Karen Parker Davidson, RN.

“Many medical problems such as OSA, overall lung function, and even spinal and posture issues are related to nasal resistance and poor breathing, and our breathing is disrupted before our sleep is disrupted,” Dr Parker Davidson said in the press release. “With this strong collaboration with Vivos, we believe we have the opportunity to change the standard of care for OSA to improve patient outcomes and manage their health with better testing and assessments.”

Articles

Vivos has reached an agreement with GM Instruments to better measure nasal breathing in sleep apnea treatment and research. 

Vivos Announces Exclusive Distribution Agreement with GM Instruments for North America

Robert Elsenpeter is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to Dental Products Report and Dental Lab Products. He is also the author of 18 technology books, including the award-winning Green IT: Reduce Your Information System's Environmental Impact While Adding to the Bottom Line. As such, he’s particularly interested in the technological side of dentistry.

Infection control is a multifaceted discipline. That is, it is a war waged on several fronts—personal protective equipment (PPE), hand hygiene, instrument processing, and so forth. Regrettably, not all areas get the necessary attention, and some are often overlooked and neglected. Taking a moment to identify those areas can be helpful to avoid infection risks or even regulatory body fines.

Thanks to the pandemic, PPE got a lot of attention—for both better and worse. On one hand, it shined a spotlight on the necessity and utility of PPE. On the other hand, fluctuating recommendations led to confusion. And as we seem to be coming out of the pandemic, infection prevention speaker, author, and consultant Mary Govoni, CDA, RDH, MBA, notes that some offices seem to be reverting to pre-pandemic practices.

“That’s always a bone of contention with many practices,” Govoni says. “There are a lot of practices that are still reusing their face masks—like they were allowed to do during the pandemic when we had such a shortage of masks and respirators. They don’t understand that we have reverted to the original use of face masks and respirators as disposables. In other words, one patient, 1 mask, or 1 respirator. There also are a lot of practices that are trying to—if they’re wearing respirators—preserve them by putting a face mask over them, and OSHA [Occupational Safety Health Administration] and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have both said that that is not a good idea. Now we don’t have this shortage. In some cases, putting the mask over the respirator interferes with the seal on the respirator, so it might pull a little bit too hard and break the seal.”

Being mindful of safety doesn’t just involve processes and procedures going on chairside. Overall safety measures within the practice can help stave off problems. For instance, safely transporting sharp, dirty instruments from the operatory to the sterilization center is often overlooked.

“Once the procedure is over, anything that can be thrown away in the operatories should be discarded in that location,” Jonathan Rudin, DDS, MS, MPH, observes. Dr Rudin is a safety and infection control consultant at San Diego Healthcare Compliance. “The kinds of things that should be disposed of in the operatory include onetime use items, like suture needles, injection needles, and disposable scalpels — essentially, anything that would not ordinarily be run through the autoclave. Even worn-out burs and those designated as onetime use are supposed to be discarded in the operatory. People need to remember that burs are discarded in sharps containers because they’re sharp enough to go through a plastic bag and stick somebody, causing an exposure incident. Therefore, the only things that are transported to the sterilization area for reprocessing are the instruments actually intended for sterilization. The reason for this practice is to minimize the quantity of biohazardous material that gets transported through the hallway. That way, if there were an unfortunate collision between the person transporting the contaminated instruments and somebody else, the amount of biohazardous instruments and material that could go flying has been minimized.”

Regrettably, too many practices overlook this important safety measure.

“Many dental health care workers seem oblivious to the practice of discarding contaminated, onetime-use items in the operatory,” Dr Rudin says. “They started their incorrect behaviors early on in their careers and have practiced those bad habits through the ensuing years. While it may seem to be more efficient to throw all the sharps into a centralized sharps container, it is considered a safer practice to, instead, place the sharps in individual containers located in each operatory.

“Once the instruments intended for sterilization are brought to the sterilization area, they are placed in the ultrasonic machine,” Dr Rudin says. “The person processing the instruments in that area should be maximally protected. That includes wearing everything that you could possibly think of eye protection; face shield, respirator mask, gown that is liquid-resistant, rubber apron, and utility gloves.”

It’s not enough to simply use a mask and gloves, as is often seen in practices. Gloves must be the right type and size for the operator.

“My recommendation is to always find the thickest correctly sized gloves that provide the dexterity needed to do the job well and safely,” Dr Rudin says. “It seems that manufacturers don’t make utility gloves in small enough sizes for a lot of the people doing the sterilization. It is recommended to search for the correctly sized, thicker, and more protective utility gloves.”

“Anybody wearing utility gloves should recognize that they are still vulnerable to an exposure incident,” Dr Rudin notes. “That is, a sharp, contaminated instrument could go through the thicker, more protective utility glove. The major warning here is that while utility gloves are more protective than typical exam gloves, they are 

 foolproof. You still have to exercise an extreme amount of caution when handling contaminated instruments.”

The term “out of sight, out of mind” is certainly cliché, but it has no place in infection control—to wit, dental unit waterlines. They’re easy to forget, but they provide the opportunity and the environment to harbor dangerous bacteria.

“Many practices are not testing their waterlines on a periodic basis,” Govoni observes. “We don’t really know what ‘periodic’ means. That’s the term the CDC uses in its guidance, but OSAP [the Organization for Safety Asepsis and Prevention] says it should be done quarterly. Practices are using all kinds of products, waterline disinfectants, cleaners, and so forth, but they don’t really know if they’re effective unless they’re testing to see if they meet that 500 CFU quality standard.”

Surface disinfection may seem like a straightforward enough chore, but there are an infinite number of wrong ways, and only 1 right way.

“A lot of times, I see team members taking a wipe, and they’re just going in circles around and back and forth over surfaces, where they may not be doing as good of a job of either removing debris or applying disinfectant,” Govoni says. “They should always use their wipes in 1 direction: from right to left or left to right, but not going around in circles and going back over another surface that they’ve just cleaned, because they may be re-contaminating it.”

Why do practices tend to overlook certain areas? Is it because practices just get into bad habits? Is an area not popular enough to garner the appropriate attention? Is it something else?

“I think it’s a combination of things,” Govoni observes. “One is that many times the dental team members are just unaware that it is a recommendation or that it’s a necessary procedure—if they haven’t been appropriately trained to know what they need to do, or they don’t continue to stay in touch with what the CDC is recommending to us.”

Misunderstanding the CDC vs OSHA requirements can be another component. 

“I emphasize the CDC because those are the guidelines that we need to follow for patient safety,” Govoni says. “OSHA doesn’t so much address decontaminating the treatment rooms in terms of worker safety. It’s really falling under the CDC to recommend what we need to do for patient safety. In some cases, the belief that what the CDC recommends is voluntary. They don’t have to do it because OSHA doesn’t say they have to do it. And so there still remains that misunderstanding that OSHA is all about worker safety. CDC is not only looking at worker safety but patient safety as well. I just finished a research project looking at what state dental boards say about CDC guidelines. Forty out of the 50 states, plus the District of Columbia, say that either all or some of the CDC guidelines must be followed. Otherwise, that’s a violation of the dental license rules in the state.”

Practices can check their work to ensure that they’re providing a safe environment by conducting regular spore testing for their autoclaves.

“One of the best ways to know that they’re having problems is that their autoclave’s spore tests fail,” Dr Rudin says. “If the spores in the test sample are destroyed by running through the autoclave, then we conclude that the autoclave is functioning properly.”

However, he observes that many practices get in the habit of relying to a great extent on the chemical indicators on pouches and tape to validate that sterilization has occurred. Chemical indicators—those spots on pouches and diagonal lines on the tape used to hold cassette wrapping paper closed—are not reliable indicators of sterilization. Instead, these chemical indicators should be interpreted to mean that failure to change color is an indicator that sterilization has not occurred. Assuming that the color change means sterilization has occurred is incorrect.”

In the world of infection control, there a lot of balls to juggle. But, like any juggling act, it’s important to pay equal attention to all the parts so nothing falls through.

Infection control is often overlooked or neglected. Here's how to get back on track.

The Most Overlooked Areas of Infection Control

Productive Dentist Academy Introduces Investment Grade Practices to the Dental Industry


Dental business consulting and marketing firm Productive Dentist Academy (PDA) has announced Investment Grade Practices™ (IGP™). IGP is specifically designed to instruct practice owners on how to create value in the practice so that they can retire without sacrificing their lifestyle, according to a press release from PDA.

IGP will teach practice owners and practice employees how to optimize their earning potential, stabilize growth each year, and create a structured plan for continuous profits and career satisfaction. Co-founder and CEO of PDA, Dr Victoria Peterson, assured that IGP will be a boon for both practice owners and the dental team.

“Building an IGP requires the willingness to allow yourself to dream big, and the discipline to invest in yourself and your team in order to bring the dream to life,” Dr Peterson said in the press release. “Implementing IGP principles brings peace of mind to the practice owner, transforms the team into patient advocates, creates unparalleled patient experiences, builds great team culture and competitive compensations, prepares the practice to be sold at any time for top dollar, and creates continuity and profit after a sale.”

PDA has also announced its IGP Summit from September 22-24, 2022, in Frisco, Texas. This summit will feature a workshop of business coaches to help practice owners attending the event better plan their future in the dental business. The IGP Summit will be available to all PDA clients, while the PDA Productivity Workshop will be available for all independent dentists and their teams.

“We strategically chose to hold the PDA Productivity Workshop at the same location and time as the IGP Summit so dentists and teams can interact and experience in real-time the mindset and behaviors of the productive dentist,” said PDA Chief Strategy Officer Dr David Porritt. “If you have ever wondered why PDA dentists own some of the highest performing and deeply satisfying dental practices in the world, this is your chance to learn first-hand. As the old adage goes, ‘You are the friends you keep,’ and we believe at PDA, every independent dentist deserves to be surrounded by greatness.”

Registration for the workshop is open now.

Productive Dentist Academy has created Investment Grade Practices to instruct practice owners on creating value in their practice for a fruitful retirement. 

Productive Dentist Academy Introduces Investment Grade Practices to the Dental Industry

Amann Girrbach Expands Ceramill Full Denture System for Validated Ivotion Materials


Amann Girrbach has announced that it is expanding its Ceramill Full Denture System (FDS) to include validated Ivotion materials from Ivoclar. Ceramill FDS will offer users the ability to mill dental arches and tooth segments with this new expansion with time and cost efficiency, according to a press release from the company. Ivotion Dent, Ivotion Dent® Multi, and Ivotion Base will now all be usable within Ceramill FDS.

With Ivotion materials now integrated into this digital workflow, users can use then to mill or fabricate denture bases and combine those bases with prefabricated teeth from other manufacturers.

As part of this, Ceramill FDS’s Ceramill Mind Software has been updated to include all components, materials, and stored gap dimensions.

“With the expansion of tooth libraries, fabrication possibilities, and design options, the Ceramill FDS offers maximum flexibility,” Product Manager for Laboratory CAD/CAM Software and 3D Printing at Amann Girrbach Maria Stroppe said in the press release. “Thanks to the update, we are now in an even better position to cover different cost segments, so that individual patient wishes can be optimally addressed.”

The Ceramill Full Denture System will now be expanded and upgraded to use validated Ivotion materials from Ivoclar. 

Amann Girrbach Expands Ceramill Full Denture System for Validated Ivotion Materials

Jenmar VisualDLP Announces FedEx Integration


Cloud-based lab management software VisualDLP has announced an integration with shipping company FedEx. Through this integration, VisualDLP users can create shipments via FedEx as well as send return labels to practices, and shipment tracking. This can all be done via the VisualDLP Dashboard.

The FedEx integration is said to cut down on time by letting users interact directly with shipment planning and tracking without having to go outside the dental lab, according to a press release from EasyRx.

“We are very excited to announce the integration between FedEx and VisualDLP. This integration is a wonderful addition to VisualDLP’s suite of features,” CTO at EasyRx Andy Stark said in the press release. “The ability to ship and track packages directly from VisualDLP will streamline the shipping process for labs using FedEx.”

VisualDLP users can now create ships, send return labels, and track shipments directly through their lab management dashboard. 

Jenmar VisualDLP Announces FedEx Integration

Videos

In this quick bite from our Dental Mastermind Series, cybersecurity expert and VP Strategic Alliances at Fortress Security Risk Management Peter Cavrell gives his advice on boosting a practice's cybersecurity. [7 minutes]

Mastermind Quick Tips: Cybersecurity


Visit this link to listen to our previous episode on nutrition: https://bit.ly/Episode3_Nutrition

Podcasts

This month, the Sanders sisters welcome a surprise guest as they focus on family fitness and wellness, and what you can do to keep your family active. 


Floss & Flip-Flops Episode 6: Family Health & Fitness

6 Steps to Cyber Safety from Peter Cavrell

Identifying and understanding cybersecurity vulnerabilities is critical because that awareness will lead to a prioritized list of security gaps and is the first step to planning, budgeting, and remediating weaknesses. A risk assessment will identify the assets that could be impacted by a cyber-attack: critical operational and financial data, consumer and employee data, intellectual property, and where that data resides – servers, laptops, and network hardware. An assessment will reveal the risks unauthorized access to those assets could create for the organization. Having a quality assessment is a critical component of cyber safety.

Training should emphasize the importance of data security and the responsibility of each employee to protect the organization’s data. Cybersecurity must become part of your company’s culture. Remember, both organizations and its employees have legal and regulatory obligations to protect the privacy, integrity, and confidentiality of its data.

Multifactor Authentication (MFA), also known as Two Factor Authentication (2FA), requires a user to confirm their identity. With MFA, a user must verify their identity by providing TWO pieces of information, usually a pin and their password. 

Software patches are a crucial form of protection against cyberattacks because they fix known weaknesses that allow unauthorized access to a company’s devices and network. It’s one of the top attack vectors.

EDR is next generation, AI powered, heuristic software installed on an organization’s devices (such as its laptops, desktops, tablets, smartphones, and IoT devices) that monitors behavioral data to detect and respond to cybersecurity threats.

If a cyber incident happens, it is important to be able to restore affected systems and devices with clean, recent, and uncorrupted backup data. Determine what data should be backed up, how often, and how it will be backed up. Make sure to test your backup to ensure it works properly. 

Join Rick Adelstein, DDS, Jamie Collins, BS, RDH-EA, John Flucke, DDS, and cybersecurity expert Peter Cavrell, in this discussion on how to strengthen cybersecurity in the dental practice, moderated by Lisa Newburger, LISW-S. [35 minutes]

Mastermind - Episode 17 - Strengthening Cybersecurity in the Dental Practice

The Pankey Institute Announces Dr Lee Ann Brady as a Pankey Master


Dental continuing education (CE) provider The Pankey Institute has awarded Dr Lee Ann Brady the designation of Pankey Master with a portrait hanging ceremony in the Institute’s Masters’ Hall.

This role, granted by The Pankey Foundation Board of Advisors, was awarded to Dr Brady due to her mastery in dentistry and education, as well as her service to The Pankey Institute, according to Chair of the Award Committee Dr DeAnne Blazek.

“Dr Brady’s skills as a dentist and educator, combined with her dedication and service to The Pankey Institute, have earned her the unanimous and unequivocal support of the Board of Advisors,” Dr Blazek said in a press release from The Pankey Institute. “We are eternally grateful for the remarkable gifts and talents that she has selflessly shared with our Pankey community.”

Pankey Masters are recognized for their distinction over time, clinical excellence, mentorship, and authorhood of integral content in the field, according to the press release. Dr Brady has been recognized for all of these achievements, as she serves as the Executive Director and Director of Education for the Institute.

This award was announced at a portrait hanging ceremony on June 3, 2022.

The Pankey Institute has awarded Dr Lee Ann Brady as a Pankey Master for her education, excellence, and experience. 

The Pankey Institute Announces Dr Lee Ann Brady as a Pankey Master

Dental and Medical Student Debt Refinancing Platform “Dental Debt Solutions” Live Now


A new dental and medical student debt refinancing platform/marketplace called Dental Debt Solutions is now live. This platform was created by a team of dentists and financing experts for new doctors and dentists who are beginning their professional lives entrenched in student debt, according to a press release from Dental Debt Solutions. It will give graduates the access to an online marketplace to refinance debt in a way that is adjustable to each person’s specific needs.

Refinancing through the affiliate links on Dental Debt Solutions’s website, DDSReFi.com, will qualify users for cashback bonuses, promotional and discounted goods, and access to student loan refinance companies.

The founder of Dental Debt Solutions, Dr Walker, says that the personal element is what sets this refinancing platform apart from others.

“I started this company to help my colleagues and give back to the dental community in a way that other refinance platforms cannot,” Dr Walker said in the press release. “It’s about giving back and developing relationships, not selling products.”

This refinancing platform is designed to help recent dental and medical graduates navigate student debt payments and financing. 