Well – drum roll – we’d like to announce The Dental Landscape, a booklet packed full of handy facts you’ve always wanted to know but just didn’t know who to ask! It’s short but sweet and it could make your life easier.

So if you need a quick summary of the state of the nation’s teeth, if you want info on the various UK dental associations and conferences, or if a roundup of the dental publications you really need to know about – their readership, circulation and publication frequency – sounds useful to you, drop Ed an email at ed@stockdalemartin.co.uk and we’ll make sure you get a copy.

And get in touch if you have any ideas for the next edition!

Few now believe that fluoridation is a Soviet plot, but the practice still has vehement opponents just as it does ardent supporters.

In his Bad Science column in 2008, Ben Goldacre stated that the evidence was poor on both sides of the argument – that studies on both the benefits and potential harms of fluoridated water were of insufficient quality to make a decision one way or another. Today’s widespread use of fluoride toothpaste and accompanying decrease in caries prevalence makes assessing the impact of fluoridation difficult – and might, indeed, make it unnecessary even if it did confer a theoretical benefit.

One argument in favour is that fluoridation might iron out inequalities in dental health – caries rates remain higher in lower socioeconomic groups, and those with inadequate oral hygiene would benefit the most. Many, though, are opposed on principle to what they consider to be the involuntary medication of the general public.

Regardless of the scientific support for fluoridation, a more prosaic problem may yet present itself should fluoridation go ahead on a wider scale in the UK. The proposed Health and Social Care Bill will give local authorities responsibility for fluoridation consultations. In recent debate in the House of Lords it was pointed out that, since local councils don’t bear the cost of dental treatment, there may be little financial incentive for them to carry out costly fluoridation programmes – couple this with a sceptical public and the whole project might well lose its appeal.

While on the topic of adding things to public supplies, did you know that adding iodine to salt may have raised the world’s IQ? The United States and Kazakhstan are both countries which have countered a shortage of dietary iodine with fortified salt – a cheap, simple and effective measure which prevents mental retardation and goitre.

Unsurprisingly, this has also ignited fury amongst sceptics.

More information on the ‘unholy three’ flyer here:

http://www.spectator.co.uk/alexmassie/5851637/the-unholy-three-threaten-america.thtml

on fluoridation’s cost here:

http://www.dentistry.co.uk/news/4695–Oral-health-Cost-may-quash-fluoride-plans

and on the remarkable success of salt iodisation in Kazakhstan here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/16/health/16iodine.html?fta=y

Ben Goldacre’s article on the evidence base for fluoridation, and General Rippers’ opinions, can be found at his Bad Science blog:

http://www.badscience.net/2008/02/foreign-substances-in-your-precious-bodily-fluids/

Happy New Year!

Basically HDR is a technique where you take many different exposures of the same photograph. This in itself is not new, in fact it’s a traditional technique known as “bracketing” which allows the photographer to choose from a variety of different contrast levels before committing to making a print of that image. However, instead of 2-5 different bracketed images, HDR can use many images, even 11 or 13 images are possible.

When these images are processed in the camera, or with computer software such as Adobe Photoshop, the best parts of each image are chosen to augment the correctly exposed image that was taken at the same time. The photographer can then edit the image further, finessing it to an acceptable final photograph.

Previously, if you had an under-exposed picture the shadows would be intense and areas of the image filled in with darkness, conversely over-exposed images were blown out and overly bright. In difficult compositional settings – a sunset over a mountain range for example – a correctly exposed image would be hard to achieve and could even be boring as the shadows may be weak or the highlights not dazzling. HDR changes that by combining the best shadows and best highlights with a well exposed mid-range – enabling you to take pictures that were not possible before.

The colour range is also much greater, and this can result in surreal and otherworldly pictures that simply can’t be achieved with a camera alone.

On a recent walking weekend in Ambleside, Cumbria, I packed my camera and attempted to take a few of these pictures for myself. I have to be honest though that, whilst the weekend was amazing, the photographs were a bit disappointing. I found that a tripod is a must unless you have a camera with built in technology (mine is older), and more turbulent weather (as always) would have been more exciting.

I did make one picture that I was happy with and I’ll share it with you here. You can see that it’s a lot more dramatic than the standard version I took to compare it with and, whilst the actual weather was positively balmy for November, the HDR version at least looks like we are heading to winter!!

If you are interested in this kind of photography then you may like to look at this article at Smashing Magazine which has some exceptional examples.

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/03/10/35-fantastic-hdr-pictures/

André Knott

A friend of Andre’s happened on this little game on the internet last week. The point of the game is to test your spatial awareness – particularly the space in between the letters of words. In typographic parlance this spacing is called kerning, and it’s particularly important in larger type like headings and logos. If done well, the spacing can tell a big story about your content, while poor spacing will affect legibility and generally make a poor impression.

We’ve played it here and I’m pleased to report that our scores were high (phew, design team you can relax). Our highest score was 100%, why not have a go and see if you can match it?

http://type.method.ac/#

Every year, London Luton Airport elects a local charity as their Charity of the Year, and this year they have chosen NOAH Enterprise. Based in Luton, NOAH Enterprise offers hope and support to people struggling against homelessness and exclusion.  As you can imagine the work they carry out is truly amazing, but being a charity they rely very heavily on people’s generosity.

As part of their commitment to NOAH, London Luton Airport are supporting an event called the NOAH Enterprise Big Help Week, and for this London Luton Airport agreed to help with designing a logo and preparing press releases for local newspapers to help promote the event.

Sian from Luton Airport called to ask if we would be happy to come up with some design ideas that encompassed all the necessary messages relating the event, and that NOAH could continue to use over several years.  We were only too happy to help and so set our designers the task of coming up with a few different suggestions, all of which were produced as a goodwill gesture to Luton Airport and NOAH.

Sian and the team at NOAH were really pleased with all the options we gave them and so had difficulty deciding which one to go with, but after some deliberation their decision was made – and hopefully it will strengthen the campaign for all those involved.

NOAH Enterprise Big Help Week runs from 21^st – 27^th November, and they aim to collect over 1,000 donated items of good quality for resale in their stores.  You can find out more information by visiting their website:

www.noahenterprise.org

Rachel earned some new letters – ‘Cert IDM’ – after her name  last Friday as she graduated, in the learned environs of the Royal Geographical Society, from her course in Direct and Digital Marketing from the Institute of Direct Marketing.

The course provides a thorough insight into the principles of direct marketing, and Rachel is excited about putting what she’s learned into practice.

Well done!

Course information for the Certificate in Direct and Digital Marketing:

http://www.theidm.com/qualifications/certificate-in-direct-and-digital-marketing/

Lottie, Tracy’s canine companion, came in for a rather stylish surprise last week in the run up to Bonfire Night. Her new Thundershirt – modelled by Lottie herself above – is not merely a piece of doggy haute couture.

Its snug fit is aimed at preventing anxiety and providing reassurance in stressful situations, such as noisy fireworks or, in Lottie’s case, Tracy leaving the room for more than five minutes (Lottie isn’t our Director of Insecurity for nothing!).

So does it work?

Well, Lottie certainly doesn’t seem to mind wearing her new costume, and we did all think she was a bit happier than normal when Tracy wasn’t around (her absence usually causes great concern!).

But the real test came this weekend, with Bonfire Night and fireworks, and apparently again – while still a bit rattled by the noise – she was more relaxed than usual. Success for the Thundershirt!

A poster was created using bacterial and fungal cultures attached to the stencilled word ‘Contagion’. The poster was erected in an empty store window in Toronto – and left to grow!

Initially the poster was blank and the word “Contagion” grew from these mould cultures over a period of days.

My words do not do this justice, so sit back and watch this amazing YouTube video of the project.

The reason for our trip was not gambling [although we did lose a small amount of money on the roulette], nor to see Elton’s million dollar piano, but to help train our client on some new technology which we had incorporated into their booth.

The brief the client gave to us was to help demonstrate brand leadership by behaving differently, whilst ensuring key messages were landed with delegates – in this instance dental professionals.

To help us achieve these goals we recommended the use of interactive tables, which are an incredibly good way of building exhibition traffic on a stand, whilst enabling representatives to detail to larger groups (of 4-6 at a time). The tables, because they are interactive, encourage discussion and collaborative working, so are a good way to create a sense of “buzz” whilst delivering key messages.

We were slightly nervous that the client representatives would find the use of new technology daunting but we were very pleasantly amazed – they loved it! After some rudimentary training on the content the client reps took turns to familiarise themselves with how the tables worked and then there was no stopping them!

Watching how they interacted with delegates over the next couple of days confirmed our thoughts that these are a brilliant selling tool. The reps were energised using them – even after 5-6 hours – and delegates were captivated and involved. So all in all an excellent result.

I’m off to New York in a couple of weeks to see how they work with that audience at the Greater New York Dental Convention so will report back on that when I return.

And if you would like any more information on how you could use this technology, please let us know – we would be more than happy to show you!!

But should NHS treatment be cheaper? In March an NHS Information Centre poll found that one in 5 had put off treatment due to cost. A previous survey put this figure at over 25%, placing financial concerns above extreme anxiety as a reason to avoid the dentist’s chair.  Exemptions exist for certain groups, and prices are certainly lower than private treatment – but if you were to have crowns fitted, for example, you should expect to be about £200 out of pocket. Surely this is too expensive?

Quite the opposite, said Professor Jimmy Steele of Newcastle University in a 2009 editorial on the BBC news website. His argument is that some of these procedures – crowns included – are not ‘necessary’ in that one could continue to function without them, even if it meant the extraction of a tooth. His suggestion, therefore, is that such procedures should in fact cost more – though still, ideally, less than the equivalent private treatment – in order to make the limited pot of NHS gold go further. The funds this freed up could perhaps be used to progress towards universal access to NHS dentistry.

But ‘necessary’ is a relative and a subjective term – would you be happy for a procedure to be considered optional if you would lose a tooth without it?

BBC announcement of OFT survey: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14934039

An overview of the recent NHS IC report: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8404920/One-in-five-delays-dental-treatment-because-of-cost.html

And details of the older ADH survey: http://www.ic.nhs.uk/news-and-events/news/around-one-in-four-adults-say-that-cost-influences-their-choice-of-dental-treatment-shows-new-survey

Professor Steele’s viewpoint: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8254058.stm