Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

A distinguished list of del- egates from across the dental profession arrived at Mercedes-Benz World in Sur- rey ready for a wild ride over a bumpy track. But it was not all about fast cars as the day began with an exclusive symposium en- titled ‘Driving Innovation in Oral Care’, hosted by Oral-B. The event brought together leading experts in the demographics of oral health in the UK, biofilms and oral dis- ease, and gave delegates the op- portunity to view the very latest in oral care product technology. Attended by more than 70 pro- fessionals, key opinion leaders and the dental press the sympo- sium was chaired by Prof Jimmy Steele, (pictured right), Head of Newcastle School of Dental Sci- ences. He began by asking what technology has done for oral health and listed implants and adhesive dentistry as the subjects usually brought to mind. Pointing out that implants are of benefit to only a very small proportion of the population and that adhesive dentistry is ‘shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted’ (in terms of teeth already having suffered damage) he suggested instead that the technology of fluoride toothpaste for delivery of beneficial oral health ‘here and now’ was a reality that had caused a step change in oral heath in re- cent years. Prof Steele stated that more people are keeping more teeth for longer, and focused on 45-year- olds as representing the key turn- ing point for oral health. People under the age of 45 had received a lifetime of the newest technolo- gies in oral care resulting in them possessing far more healthy teeth than their age equivalents in modern history. He posed the question what was the agent acting as the cata- lyst for this change? Fluoride toothpaste; demonstrating that the capacity of population-wide technologies to make a real con- tribution to oral health should not be underestimated. Prof Ian Needleman from the Unit of Periodontology, Interna- tional Centre for Evidence Based Oral Health at the Eastman Den- tal Institute was next to address the audience. His presentation Use and Efficacy of Antimicrobi- als in Dentistry took the audience through the subjects of biofilms and antimicrobials in the preven- tion of oral diseases, notably peri- odontal disease. Describing that although hu- mans are made up of billions of cells only 10 per cent are mam- malian, Prof Needleman succinct- ly summarised the situation that ‘we are our biofilms’. In relation to oral health this is specifically den- tal plaque and he acknowledged that controlling and manipulating plaque as a biofilm rather than at- tempting to eliminate it was the appropriate strategy. Increased sophistication of biofilm research methods would reap huge ben- efits in developing effective tech- nologies, he predicted. Listing five antimicrobials; chlorhexidine, cetyl pyridinium chloride, triclosan, essential oils and stannous fluoride, Profes- sor Needleman described each of them in terms of their substantiv- ity, clinical efficacy, antimicrobial mode of action and side effects and how several of them have shown clear effects on plaque and to some extent on gingival health. In reviewing these agents he stressed that relatively small changes in the dental plaque of individuals might achieve im- portant benefits for communi- ties. Preventable oral diseases remained prevalent but antimi- crobial oral care products could provide valuable benefits. The symposium also saw the first presentation in the UK of Oral-B’s all-in-one Pro-Expert toothpaste with the background research and evidence support- ing the eight claims made to ben- efit oral health. Pro-Expert tooth- paste is proven to protect against plaque, gum problems, caries and the prevention of erosion, calculus formation, dentine sen- sitivity, staining and bad breath. The newly formulated all-in- one approach, supported by 15 years of clinical development and more than 70 research papers and presentations, was given thor- ough explanation by some of the researchers involved in its devel- opment as well as through a re- search and development exhibit. The accompanying exhibit by the Research and Development Group of Procter and Gamble’s Oral-B brand, located at the Lon- don Innovation Centre (LINC) in Surrey, also introduced those attending the symposium to the newest research technologies. These technologies can be used to measure the therapeutic efficacy of oral health products as well as predicting the oral health status of an individual or group. Del- egates were invited to take a closer look at these technolo- gies, including going through the plaque grading process using dental plaque image analysis ( DPIA) technology. Delegates in the afternoon were then let loose on the driv- ing track in some top of the range Mercedes cars, allow- ing for some frustrated wan- nabe rally drivers to show what they could do with some serious horsepower! This event brought attend- ees up to speed with the latest thinking in oral disease man- agement and perspectives of the oral health of the UK population and it was extremely interesting to see how far our understand- ing of the microbiology of biofilm Fast cars and driven technology Dental Tribune reviews the recent Driving Innovation in Oral Care Symposium held at Mercedes-Benz world in Weybridge, Surrey Paul Warren VP Global Professional and Scientific Relations for P&G January 24-30, 201118 United Kingdom EditionEvent Review