FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEJune 2001
CONTACT:Fred Peterson[email protected]
Leslee Williams[email protected]312/440-2806
DENTAL NEWS BRIEFSThe Tooth Can Tell Tales
CHICAGO--Putting a criminal behind bars or clearing an innocent person through bite-mark analysis is one focus of the 2001 Forensic Dentistry Conference, a three-day program that features workshops by nationally known forensic dental experts.
Scheduled from July 19 to July 21 at the Chicago headquarters of the American Dental Association (ADA), the conference also includes a mass disaster exercise; computer-assisted identification of fatalities; a national missing and unidentified persons workshop; and an expert witness testimony exercise and mock trial.
Keynoting the event will be the assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Donald M. Kerr, Ph.D. Dr. Kerr oversees the FBI's Laboratory Division, with responsibilities that include forensic examinations.
Conference sponsors are the ADA and the American Board of Forensic Odontology.
Television Health Producers and Reporters Please Note: A satellite media tour and video news release on the Forensics in Dentistry Conference will be released on July 18. For more information or follow-up interviews, please contact Leslee Williams or Fred Peterson at 312-440-2806.
ADA Symposium To Tackle Possible Oral and Cardiovascular Disease Connection
CHICAGO--Leading international oral health practitioners, scientists and researchers will explore possible relationships between oral and cardiovascular diseases at the American Dental Association's (ADA) Oral and Systemic Health Symposium, "Taking Oral Health to Heart: Exploring the Interrelationship Between Oral and Cardiovascular Disease."
"While much of the evidence is compelling, there is no consensus on the precise relationship between these two diseases or on its potential clinical implications," said Jeffrey Hutter, D.M.D., M.Ed., vice chairman, ADA Council on Scientific Affairs and chair, Department of Endodontics, Goldman School of Dental Medicine, Boston University. "A number of published studies have suggested an association while other reports have questioned any significant association whatsoever."
Scheduled for July 26-27 at the ADA's Chicago headquarters, the symposium will take participants through epidemiological studies currently available and explore the basis for any possible relationships.
Note: The ADA Symposium On Oral and Systemic Health Interactions has been made possible by the ADA Health Foundation.
HIV Transmission Risk in Dental Offices Practically Undetectable
CHICAGO--In the 20 years since the onset of HIV in the United States, studies continue to demonstrate that the risk of HIV transmission in dental offices is so low as to be almost undetectable, states a report by the American Dental Association (ADA) Board of Trustees to the ADA House of Delegates. This ongoing research continues to support the dental office as a safe place to provide and receive oral health care when proper infection control procedures are followed.
According to the most recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics, as of December 1999:
* there is no documented evidence of patient-to-patient HIV transmission in the dental office,
* other than the Acer case, studies of HIV-infected dental workers have not identified a single instance of HIV transmission from an infected dental worker to a patient, and
* of 136 cases of health care workers with possible occupationally acquired HIV infection, six were associated with dental health care workers. Their positions within the dental office were not reported.
According to the ADA, billions of dental procedures have been performed safely. The rigorous infection control measures and universal precautions dentists take help protect patients from all bloodborne diseases, including AIDS.
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