Several press conferences and exhibitors at the annual Chicago Midwinter Meeting last weekend touted new products or enhancements to products of interests to dental hygienists:

I wanted to share a few of those with you today, first day back from the meeting:

* Velscope shared the results of a survey where some of the information pertained to the practice administration of oral cancer screenings. The statistics said that, in three-fourths of dental practices, both the dentist and/or hygienists give the exams. The average practice spends just under three minutes administering the exam. On a more serious note, 210 dental practices reported 655 cases of dysplasia (three cases per practice), and 47 cases of oral cancer emerged from these findings. Velscope, of course, strongly encouraged dental professionals to step up their roles in screening for oral cancer.

* Sunstar Americas announced its ergonomic enhancements to its Eez-Touch disposable prophy angles. Based on feedback from dental hygienists, the company changed the grip to eliminate slipping (while moist) and reduce vibration.

* Oral-B announced a product enhancement too, stating that its CrossAction manual toothbrush now features a tongue-cleaning feature on top of the brushhead.

* CariFree, an Oregon company which has been introducing several professional and home-care products aimed at caries prevention, hosted a press conference to create a greater awareness among members of the media.

* Keep an eye on Discus Dental in the coming months. They are coming out with a really neat product for dental hygienists. A prototype has been developed, and the manufacturing system is being put into place. Maybe by the ADHA in Albuquerque or the RDH Under One Roof in Chicago they'll be releasing more details. If not this summer, Discus is optimistic that the product will be ready to debut at the ADA in San Antonio.

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