FI July 18

A par tnered publication with Dental Sales Pro • www.dentalsalespro.com

For Dental Sales Professionals

A Clean Finish A high quality prophy paste leaves patients with a clean, polished feeling.

July 2018

Saliva Ejectors and Valves

Sharing isn’t always caring.

© 2018 Crosstex International, Inc. 0618 DADV00124

Put a stop to evacuation line backflow.

In a dental practice, sharing often isn’t caring. In fact, studies show that backflow in low-volume suction lines can occur in 1 out of every 5 patients.1 Avoiding the risk of exposing patients to saliva, blood and other potentially infectious material from previous patients can be easy.

Show your customers how SAFE-FLO is the best choice to protect their patients from backflow.

SAFE-FLO® is available as an all-in-one saliva ejector or as an add-on for your favorite SE or HVE tips.

Request a free sample at Crosstex.com/Safe-Flo 1

Miller C. ‘Back flow’ in low-volume suction lines may lead to potential cross-contamination. RDH. 1996;16(1):30.

Not made with natural rubber latex All product names are trademarks of Crosstex International, Inc., a Cantel Medical company, its affiliates or related companies, unless otherwise noted.

888-276-7783 crosstex.com

SAFE-FLO one-way valve technology provides a physical barrier that prevents evacuation line backflow.

FOR DENTAL SALES PROFESSIONALS

Editorial Staff Editor Laura Thill lthill@sharemovingmedia.com Managing Editor Graham Garrison ggarrison@sharemovingmedia.com Founder Brian Taylor btaylor@sharemovingmedia.com Senior Director of Business Development Diana Craig dcraig@sharemovingmedia.com Director of Business Development Jamie Falasz, RDH jfalasz@sharemovingmedia.com Art Director Brent Cashman bcashman@sharemovingmedia.com Circulation Wai Bun Cheung wcheung@sharemovingmedia.com Associate Editor Alan Cherry acherry@sharemovingmedia.com

4 8 10 12

JULY 2018

A Clean Finish

A high quality prophy paste leaves patients with a clean, polished feeling.

Windshield Time

Automotive-related news

Quickbytes

Technology news

Health news and notes

First Impressions Digital Edition is published monthly by Share Moving Media 1735 N. Brown Rd. Ste. 140 Lawrenceville, GA 30043-8153 Phone: 770/263-5257 Fax: 770/236-8023 www.firstimpressionsmag.com First Impressions (ISSN 1548-4165) is published monthly by Share Moving Media, 1735 N. Brown Rd. Ste. 140, Lawrenceville, GA 30043-8153. Copyright 2018 by Share Moving Media. All rights reserved.

Subscriptions: $48 per year. If you would like to subscribe or notify us of address changes, please contact us at the above numbers or address.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Share Moving Media, 1735 N. Brown Rd. Ste. 140, Lawrenceville, GA 30043-8153.

Please note: The acceptance of advertising or products mentioned by contributing authors does not constitute endorsement by the publisher. Publisher cannot accept responsibility for the correctness of an opinion expressed by contributing authors.

www.firstimpressionsmag.com

First Impressions

July 2018

3

A Clean Finish A high quality prophy paste leaves patients with a clean, polished feeling.

Patients desire the fresh,

clean feel of polished teeth. Indeed, a bitter aftertaste may be all it takes to deter them from returning for their next cleaning! With the right prophy paste, dental professionals can deliver the experience and results their patients expect.

4

July 2018

First Impressions

www.firstimpressionsmag.com

selection, leaving them with a positive feeling about their dental visits for many years to come.

Manufacturers have also worked to deliver prophy pastes less prone to splatA box of prophy paste can ter and grit. In the past, excessive splatrange from $15 to $65 for a ter has made for a messier prophylaxis, box of 200 cups – the equivaas well as increased the risk of cross lent of paying just 7 to 37 cents contamination and resulted in longer for a 2-gram cup. But, saving a cleaning and preparation time between few pennies up front may not patients. And, patients have been known benefit the dental practice in to complain of excessive grittiness, which the long run. While all prophy can be deflating for hygienists striving pastes contain the same active to provide the best possible experience. ingredients, the packaging, Indeed, an easy chair experience and functionality, handling and a smiling, satisfied patient can be the flavor quality of lower grade greatest validation of a job well done. products are often less than In recent years, many manufactursatisfactory for both profesers have also placed additives, such as sionals and their patients. xylitol and calcium phosphate, in their One of the last things patients paste to redeposit the building blocks experience before leaving their of the tooth enamel. While many experts dental visit – and scheduling agree these are desirable ingredients, their next appointment – is the clinical studies have yet to support their taste and clean mouth feel of therapeutic benefit. the prophy paste. A pleasant Experts recommend that dental proLess mess, better feel, greater variety taste and a good feeling are fessionals sample products prior to purProphy pastes today are designed to much more likely to bring them chasing them. Experiencing the paste’s enhance the dental experience – both back for a return visit. performance in their hands and taking for hygienists and their patients. Mantime to assess their patients’ reaction to ufacturers, for instance, have added the taste and feel of the paste can be key to providing predicta variety of new flavors in addition to traditional mint and able and desirable clinical outcomes. bubblegum. Younger patients in particular can enjoy the wide Research supports that keeping teeth free of plaque and calculus is one of the best ways to prevent periodontal disease. A regular professional prophylaxis – or cleaning – using a polishing paste containing an abrasive, such as flour or pumice, to remove dental biofilm and extrinsic stains from the coronal surfaces is an important component of a healthy oral hygiene regimen.

But, not all prophy pastes are the same, according to experts. The handling characteristics, consistency and flavor quality of the paste can influence both professional and patient acceptance. Hygienists seek a low-splatter, flash-rinsing paste that leaves a clean surface, while patients look for a fresh, clean, smooth mouth feel, a pleasant taste experience and shiny, stain-free teeth. While most products make these claims, not all deliver, often resulting in a less-than-positive experience for both the clinician and patient.

A good investment

Engage your customers When initiating a discussion about prophy pastes with dental customers, it’s important to discover what brand of paste they currently are using. From there, sales reps should ask several probing questions, such as: • “How long have you been using this particular brand of prophy paste?”

• “How do your patients respond during treatment? Do they remark about their clean, fresh mouth feel or a gritty feel and a bitter aftertaste?”

• “What do you like about it, and what would you like to improve?”

• “How often do you purchase new pastes?” (This will help determine whether your customers would like to take advantage of a quantity discount.)

• “Do you offer flavor choices for both adult and child patients?” (Your customers may wish to purchase more flavor varieties to enhance their patients’ prophy experience.)

Editor’s note: First Impressions Magazine would like to thank Preventive Technologies, Inc. for its assistance with this article. www.firstimpressionsmag.com

First Impressions

July 2018

5

SPONSORED

NORDENT

Looking sharp

A key to productivity, effective treatment and patient comfort in the hygiene department

The hygiene appointment

is the most frequent interaction that dental practices have with their patients. All dental practices, particularly group practices, depend on the hygiene department to provide patients with a good experience and comfortable, effective treatment that will keep them coming back. In order to provide high quality treatment, hygienists must have the tools they need, which includes sharp instruments. Most practices recognize that it is important and cost effective to purchase scalers and curettes from a quality manufacturer, because they will stay sharp, perform better and last longer than off brand and low-end instruments.

All scalers and curettes, of any manufacture and any material, get dull with use and need to be sharpened. Scalers and curettes that are coated with titanium nitride (thin, gold-colored material) cannot be sharpened and must be discarded and replaced when they become dull. Some scalers and curettes are

6

July 2018

First Impressions

www.firstimpressionsmag.com

made from more advanced formulations of stainless steel, such as Hu Friedy EverEdgeÂŽ and Nordent XDURAÂŽ, and stay sharp longer than tradition stainless steels. However, these products will still dull with use and need to be sharpened.

Therefore, keeping the instruments sharp becomes one of the greatest challenges for hygienists in every practice.

A time savings All hygienists know the value of working with sharp scalers and curettes. Sharp instruments provide the patient with a much more comfortable appointment, greatly reduce strain and fatigue for the hygienist, make procedures more efficient and add to

professional sharpening for life. That means that at any time, productivity. Most importantly, hygienists require sharp instruan office can send their XDURA or Relyant scalers to Nordent ments to remove calculus cleanly and reduce burnished calcuand they will be professionally sharpened, free of charge. lus, particularly subgingivally.

Nordent also offers professional sharpening for all brands Maintaining a regular sharpening schedule is challengof instruments, in order to provide offices with a complete, ing for many offices. Many clinicians are not comfortable with hands-off solution. their sharpening technique and put off sharpening because they are concerned they will sharpen the instruments incorrectly. Sometimes multiple hygienists use and maintain the same instruments, each with a different sharpening technique. SomeSales reps can engage their dental customers in a discussion about hygiene times there is disagreement within the instruments by asking a few probing questions: office about how often each instrument should be sharpened.

• “Do you mind sharpening your hygiene instruments?”

For most offices, the biggest chal• “How often does it take for you to thoroughly sharpen each instrument?” lenge is TIME. As hygienists are re• “How would having sharper instruments on hand help you do your job quired to provide a broader spectrum more efficiently?” of treatment options and offices have • “How do you handle replacing your instruments? Do you prefer to become more focused on productivpurchase a couple of instruments at a time, or many all at once?” ity, the demands on hygienists’ time • Have your curettes transformed into scalettes?” have increased and maintaining regularly scheduled instrument sharpening has

Start a discussion

become challenging. When asked, many hygienists will say that they sharpen when they can or when they have a cancellation. However, many dentists and office managers require hygienists to make patient recalls or manage other activities during cancellations. Often, the result is that hygienists begrudgingly get used to working with dull instruments, and patient care and productivity suffers.

Nordent has developed a solution that fits today’s real world of dentistry.

All Nordent XDURA and Relyant® scalers and curettes come with free, unlimited,

Sometimes multiple hygienists use and maintain the same instruments, each with a different sharpening technique. Sometimes there is disagreement within the office about how often each instrument should be sharpened.

In addition, when XDURA or Relyant scalers become too thin to use, they can be traded in for a new instrument at a 40 percent discount; these trade-in instruments also come with free sharpening.

Over the past five years, Nordent has developed a system and materials to make the process fast and easy. They even provide a 24-hour in-house turnaround.

Many offices have found that with the XDURA or Relyant system, they can ensure they are always using sharp instruments, they save time and frustration in the office, and they are able to devote more time to focusing on patient care.

www.firstimpressionsmag.com

First Impressions

July 2018

7

Chances are you spend a lot of time in your car. Here’s some automotive-related news that might help you appreciate your home-away-from-home a little more.

WINDSHIELD TIME

Automotive-related news Amazon in-car delivery More than 7 million owners of eligible Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles in the United States can have their Amazon packages delivered inside their vehicle using Amazon Key. In-Car Delivery comes at no extra cost for Amazon Prime members with an active OnStar account, and is available in 37 U.S. cities and surrounding areas, with more cities to follow. Packages can be delivered to a vehicle when it’s parked in a publicly accessible area, such as on the street in front of an apartment building, at a workplace surface parking lot or in a home driveway. Delivery works with Same Day, Two-Day and Standard Shipping.

10 Best Interiors The WardsAuto 10 Best Interiors list for 2018 recognized outstanding achievement in aesthetics, comfort, ergonomics, materials usage, fit-and-finish and user-friendly electronics. The 10 winners (in alphabetical order) were: Chevrolet Equinox, Hyundai Kona, Infiniti QX50, Kia Stinger, Lexus LS 500, Lincoln Navigator, Porsche Panamera, Ram 1500, Range Rover Velar and Toyota Camry.

Cars talk Toyota Motor Corp. plans to start selling U.S. vehicles that can talk to each other using short-range wireless technology in

8

July 2018

First Impressions

www.firstimpressionsmag.com

2021, according to Automotive News. Talking vehicles, which have been tested in pilot projects and by U.S. carmakers for more than a decade, use dedicated short-range communications to transmit data up to 300 meters, including location, direction and speed, to nearby vehicles. The data is broadcast up to 10 times per second to nearby vehicles, which can identify risks and provide warnings to avoid imminent crashes, especially at intersections. Toyota has deployed the technology in Japan in more than 100,000 vehicles since 2015. The U.S. Transportation Department must decide whether to adopt a pending proposal that would require all future vehicles to have the advanced technology.

Congestion pricing: An idea whose time hasn’t come, apparently Some time ago, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo set the stage for an ambitious congestion pricing plan when he declared that it was “an idea whose time has come,” reports the New York Times. But there was little about congestion pricing in the state budget negotiated March 30 by Cuomo and state lawmakers despite months of lobbying by advocates, a sixfigure media campaign, and rallies by transit riders. The most significant development was a new surcharge that would be tacked on to every ride in for-hire vehicles in Manhattan south of 96th Street: $2.50 for yellow taxis; $2.75 for other for-hire

VITAL CARE FOR YOUR CHAIR

Monarch

Vinyl Upholstery Cleaner ● Safely cleans ALL vinyl & artificial leather (incl. Ultraleather®.) ● Removes stubborn stains, spots and discoloration. ● Maintains the integrity of the material for longer life of dental chairs.

Buy 6, Get 3 Canisters of Surface Disinfectant Wipes (7''x9''; 100 ct.)*

* Free goods will ship with the order. For more information and to request samples, please contact the Monarch Support Team at 800-247-8324 or visit www.airtechniques.com

Surface Disinfection

Instrument Cleaning

Skin & Hand Protection

Equipment Maintenance

AT-M Upholstery cleaner ad-FirstImpHalf Pg 7-18.indd 1

6/8/2018 10:56:45 AM

vehicles, including Ubers and Lyfts; and 75 cents for car pool rides such as Via and UberPool.

Your next company car?

Is the leather in your automobile from cows raised at higher elevations, where mosquitoes can’t bite imperfections into hides?

It is, if your car is a Rolls-Royce Phantom, reports the Chicago Tribune. Base price for a new Phantom is a modest $450,000, but with personalized touches, it climbs above $640,000. Example: An owner can commission one of a dozen Rolls-Royce artists to make a 3D-printed metal interpretation of his or her DNA. If that doesn’t make you want to own one of these beauties, the car’s lightweight, aluminum frame will. “The ride is so deadened and soft that even ubiquitous Chicago potholes went unnoticed” in a test drive.

Toyota Motor Corp. plans to start selling U.S. vehicles that can talk to each other using shortrange wireless technology in 2021, according to Automotive News.

Alcohol interlocks for DUI offenders Laws requiring all impaired-driving offenders to install alcohol interlocks reduce the number of impaired drivers in fatal crashes by 16 percent, a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows. If all states without such laws adopted them, more than 500 additional lives could be saved each year. Alcohol interlocks are in-vehicle breath-testing units that require a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) below a certain level, typically somewhere between 0.02 and 0.04 percent, before the vehicle can be started. Forty-five states require interlocks for at least certain impaired-driving offenders. Twenty-eight states, the District of Columbia and four California counties have some type of interlock requirement that applies to first-time offenders.

J.D. Power and NADAguides.com J.D. Power consumer ratings, reviews and scores are now available on NADAguides.com, said to be the largest car-shopping site for vehicle pricing, deals and car-shopping tools. In the last 10 years, J.D. Power has surveyed more than 2 million vehicle owners, provided insights for nearly 2,000 vehicle models and awarded 555 awards. These comparisons are now available directly to car shoppers. NADAguides.com has also integrated Verified Owner Ratings and Reviews and clearly marked model award recipients.

www.firstimpressionsmag.com

First Impressions

July 2018

9

QUICKBYTES

Editor’s Note: Technology is becoming an integral part of the day-to-day business of sales reps. In this department, First Impressions will profile the latest developments in software and gadgets that reps can use for work and play.

Technology News Trio-tracking golf simulator BallFlight™ from OptiShot® Golf is said to be the industry’s first “trio-tracking” simulator, offering detailed data on ball spin, ball and club speed, and launch angle. The $5,995 BallFlight package includes game software, driving range, full video data display, free software upgrades, carrying case, USB connection cable, one-year warranty and customer care.

See-through smartphone DOOGEE TT is said to be an eye-catching smartphone in a seethrough body. It looks like a piece of transparent glass, according to DOOGEE. No circuit or component is visible while the user is able to proceed with operation by touching both the front and rear screen.

Once the liquid crystal molecules inside the transparent touchscreen are stimulated by electric current, they are rearranged to form text, icons and images. The whole view of the background can protect users from tripping and falling on unseen obstacles while walking.

10

July 2018

First Impressions

www.firstimpressionsmag.com

ZEEQ is a smart pillow that can stream music to help users fall asleep, monitor and react to snoring, analyze sleep and intelligently wake the user up, according to the manufacturer, REM-Fit.

World’s smartest toothbrush The world’s “first truly hygienic toothbrush” collects data providing feedback for better technique and connects users to their dentists, according to United Kingdom-based Dentii.

A smartphone app connects to the electric toothbrush and maps the geometry of a patient’s mouth, noting the brushing paths and pressure. Via the app, the data is sent to the user’s dental professional for analysis and then, if necessary, they will inform the patient on how to improve their dental routine. Dentii is being

developed as the world’s first toothbrush that can prompt an individual to go to the dentist at early signs of problems, such as oral cancer. But all this is in the future. The company launched on Kickstarter in February.

World’s smartest pillow ZEEQ is a smart pillow that can stream music to help users fall asleep, monitor and react to snoring, analyze sleep and intelligently wake the user up, according to the manufacturer, REM-Fit. The UK-based company also offers various sleep tech gadgets and three varied tension hybrid cool-gel mattresses, which are designed to keep the sleeper cooler and thus enabling deeper, longer and more regenerative sleep.

Hands-free smartphone mount As smartphones have become society’s primary way of taking and storing pictures, things can get tricky when someone wants to take a family photo or a solo shot that requires them to put the camera down or find someone else to take the picture, according to Fromm Works. Selfie Stick-It™ is a hands-free smartphone mount with Bluetooth remote that can stick anywhere. The remote works with both iOS and Android platforms.

Selfie Stick-It™ fits any smartphone even when in a case, can be used in portrait or landscape mode, is fully reusable (washable gel can be used over and over again), and works on almost any sealed or painted surface, including wood, glass and marble, according to the firm. Weighing less than 1 ounce, the product is said to have a strong yet temporary hold that won’t damage the attached surface when mounted properly.

Dictation software with style Dictation software that transforms spoken words into text formatted with different type styles, subheads and alignments is readily available, reports The New York Times. With some programs, you can even add bullet lists, adjust line spacing and apply highlight colors to text, all through spoken commands. In fact, you may find that programs you already use can handle basic formatting by dictation – as long as you use the right commands.

For example, when used with the Chrome browser and Google’s system of “voice typing,” Google Docs can add quite a bit of text formatting when you tell the program what to do. To compose and edit text this way, you need a microphone connected to your computer; headset microphones from a smartphone may work if the connector is compatible.

www.firstimpressionsmag.com

First Impressions

July 2018

11

HEALTHY REPS

Health news and notes

12

All is not lost

The cost of loneliness

Scientists from Columbia University presented new evidence that our brains continue to make hundreds of new neurons a day, even after we reach our 70s, in a process known as neurogenesis, reports The New York Times. That’s the good news. The not-so-good news? Researchers did uncover some differences in the brains of young people and older people. Specifically, they found that development of new blood vessels in the brain decreases progressively as people get older. They also discovered that a protein associated with helping new neurons to make connections in the brain decreased with age. This might explain why some older people suffer from memory loss or exhibit less emotional resiliency, according to researchers.

Loneliness can hurt productivity and profits. The share of American adults who say they’re lonely has doubled since the 1980s to 40 percent, according to a report in the Washington Post.

Though the U.S. doesn’t track the financial effect of disconnected workers, researchers in Britain estimate the penalty to businesses can reach $3.5 billion a year, accounting for higher turnover and heftier healthcare burdens. A recent study in the Harvard Business Review found 61 percent of lawyers surveyed ranked “above average” on a loneliness scale from the University of California at Los Angeles. Other particularly lonely groups were engineers (57 percent), followed by research scientists (55 percent), workers in food preparation and serving (51 percent), and those in education and library services (45 percent).

July 2018

First Impressions

www.firstimpressionsmag.com

Go easy on yourself A healthy dose of self-compassion actually helps us form habits that support good health, reports the Washington Post.

A 2017 study published in Health Psychology Open found that people who have higher levels of self-compassion tend to handle stress better – they have less of a physical stress response when they are stuck in traffic, have an argument with their spouse or don’t get that job offer – and they spend less time reactivating stressful events by dwelling on them.

That’s important, because not only does chronic stress directly harm health – the physical responses to stress include spikes in blood pressure and blood sugar, along with suppression of the immune system – but if you also react strongly to stress, you’re more likely to use unhealthy short-term coping mechanisms such as smoking or numbing your feelings with food or alcohol. The study also found that self-compassionate people are more likely to adopt health-promoting behaviors and maintain them even if they don’t appear to be paying off in the short term.

Are you ready, boots?

factors may increase a person’s chance of getting cancer, reports National Institutes of Health. One risk factor is obesity, or having too much body fat. Many studies have found links between obesity and certain types of cancer. That doesn’t mean obesity is the cause of these cancers. People who are obese or overweight may differ from lean people in ways other than their body fat. Yet, studies have consistently linked obesity with an increased risk for several types of cancer.

Researchers are now exploring what biological mechanisms might link obesity and cancer.

Sugar is the driving force behind the diabetes and obesity epidemics.

Health experts recommend that you focus on reducing added sweeteners – like granulated sugar, high fructose corn syrup, honey, maple syrup, stevia and molasses.

Exercise does not have to be prolonged in order to be beneficial, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. It just has to be frequent.

“Despite the historical notion that physical activity needs to be performed for a minimum duration to elicit meaningful health benefits, we provide novel evidence that sporadic and bouted [moderate-to-vigorous physical activity] are similarly associated with substantially reduced mortality,” write the researchers.

“This finding can inform future physical activity guidelines and guide clinical practice when advising individuals about the benefits of physical activity.

Practitioners can promote either long single or multiple shorter episodes of activity in advising adults on how to progress toward 150 minutes-per-week of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity]. This flexibility may be particularly valuable for individuals who are among the least active and likely at greater risk for developing chronic conditions.

Obesity and cancer Doctors can’t always explain why one person gets cancer and another doesn’t. But research has shown that certain risk

No badge of honor Getting insufficient sleep and working while fatigued have become commonplace in the modern 24/7 workforce, with more than 37 percent of workers sleep-deprived, according to the National Healthy Sleep Awareness Project. Overworked and overtired employees experience cognitive declines and present employers with heightened safety risks and increased economic costs. The National Healthy Sleep Awareness Project – including partners the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Sleep Research Society (SRS) and the National Safety Council (NSC) – is launching the “Sleep Works for You” campaign, encouraging employers to help workers avoid fatigue and develop healthy sleep habits for long-term success and well-being.

Hoarding is a disorder

People don’t choose to be hoarders. And they aren’t being sloppy or lazy. “This is a very real mental disorder,” says hoarding disorder expert Dr. David F. Tolin of Hartford Hospital’s Institute of Living. “It is important to recognize that people with hoarding disorder have lost control of their decision-making abilities,” says Tolin, whose research is funded by the National Institutes of Health. Hoarding disorder can start during a person’s teens or later. It may grow more severe over the decades. There’s no effective medication for hoarding disorder, although studies are in progress. Tolin says, “Right now, cognitive behavioral therapy is the only evidence-based treatment we have for hoarding.” This is a type of talk therapy that teaches people how to change their thinking patterns and react differently to situations.

www.firstimpressionsmag.com

First Impressions

July 2018

13

HEALTHY REPS

Sweet nothings Added sugars are almost everywhere in the modern diet – sandwich bread, chicken stock, pickles, salad dressing, crackers, yogurt and cereal, as well as in the obvious foods and drinks, like soda and desserts, according to a report in the New York Times. The biggest problem with added sweeteners is that they make it easy to overeat. They’re tasty and highly caloric but they often don’t make you feel full. Instead, they can trick you into wanting even more food. Sugar is the driving force behind the diabetes and obesity epidemics. Health experts recommend that you focus on reducing added sweeteners – like granulated sugar, high fructose corn syrup, honey, maple syrup, stevia and molasses. You don’t need to worry so much about the sugars that are a natural part of fruit, vegetables and dairy products. A typical adult should not eat more than 50 grams (or about 12 teaspoons) of added sugars per day, and closer to 25 is healthier. The average American would need to reduce added-sweetener consumption by about 40 percent to get down to even the 50gram threshold.

A healthy look at kids’ sports: Participation over prowess In 2015, New York Times sportswriter Karen Crouse set out to study Norwich, Vermont, a small town that has placed at least one of its own on almost every United States Winter Olympics team since 1984. “What started out as a sports book evolved into what is essentially a parenting guide, as I came to realize that Norwich’s secret to happiness and excellence

14

July 2018

First Impressions

can be traced to the way the town collectively raises its children,” she writes. “It is an approach that stresses participation over prowess, a generosity of spirit over a hoarding of resources, and sportsmanship over one-upmanship. Norwich has sent its kids to the Olympics while largely rejecting the hypercompetitive joy-wringing culture of today’s achievement-oriented parents.

In Norwich, kids don’t specialize in a single sport, and they even root for their rivals. Parents encourage their kids to simply enjoy themselves because they recognize that more than any trophy or record, the life skills sports develop and sharpen are the real payoff.”

“In Norwich, kids don’t specialize in a single sport, and they even root for their rivals. Parents encourage their kids to simply enjoy themselves because they recognize that more than any trophy or record, the life skills sports develop and sharpen are the real payoff.”

– Karen Crouse, New York Times, sportswriter

www.firstimpressionsmag.com

Eye on stroke Research into curious bright spots in the eyes on stroke patients’ brain images could one day alter the way these individuals are assessed and treated. A team of scientists at the National Institutes of Health found that a chemical routinely given to stroke patients undergoing brain scans – gadolinium – can leak into their eyes, highlighting those areas and potentially providing insight into their strokes. Gadolinium is a harmless, transparent chemical often given to patients during magnetic resonance imaging scans to highlight abnormalities in the brain. In healthy individuals, gadolinium remains in the blood stream and is filtered out by the kidneys.

However, when someone has experienced damage to the blood-brain barrier, which controls whether substances in the blood can enter the brain, gadolinium leaks into the brain, creating bright spots that mark the location of brain damage.

Cervitec Plus ®

Chlorhexidine Varnish

Are you leaving a bad taste in your patient’s mouth?

Try Cervitec Plus today and realize all the benefits of chlorhexidine without any of the negative side effects

CERVITEC PLUS IS IDEAL FOR • ORTHODONTICS • PERIODONTICS • RESTORATIVE • GERIATRIC • IMPLANTS • ENDODONTICS • PEDIATRIC

• Quick and easy in-office application eliminates

the worries of patient compliance

• Clear varnish that doesn‘t stain teeth or taste bad • Clinically proven for long-lasting protection

Visit ivoclarvivadent.us/cervitec to learn more.

For more information, call us at 1-800-533-6825 in the U.S., 1-800-263-8182 in Canada. © 2018 Ivoclar Vivadent, Inc. Ivoclar Vivadent and Cervitec are registered trademarks of Ivoclar Vivadent, Inc.