Midwest Dental Partners With OralDNA Labs to Enhance Patient Care Through Diagnostic Testing for Periodontal Disease

January 8, 2009 |

3 min read

NASHVILLE, TN--(Marketwire - January 08, 2009) -

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OralDNA Labs, Inc. (www.OralDNA.com), a specialty diagnostics company focused on bringing advanced laboratory testing to the dental community, today announced it has reached an agreement to provide diagnostic testing for practices within Midwest Dental and its western division, Mountain Dental. Midwest Dental is a dental management company headquartered in Mondovi, WI with over 60 clinics in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa and Colorado.

Under the terms of this multi-year agreement, OralDNA will provide diagnostic laboratory testing to Midwest Dental to enable state-of-the-art diagnosis of periodontal disease. The tests will enable better identification and, consequently, earlier treatment of the bacterial infection that causes periodontal disease. Periodontal disease is estimated to affect three quarters of the adult population in the United States.

“We are pleased to be at the forefront of bringing diagnostic testing to dentistry in order to treat periodontal disease with the same importance as we do inflammatory infections in other areas of the body,” said Dr. Jeff Moos, president and CEO of Midwest Dental. “As we continue to understand and identify the systemic link between oral health and full body health, we feel that providing our patients and clinicians a tool for identifying the cause and severity of their periodontal infection is critical. This technology combined with comprehensive clinical care will enhance our ability to have the most successful treatment outcomes and help their overall health.”

“We could not have asked for a better partner than Midwest Dental to accomplish our first multi-office practice implementation of diagnostic testing for periodontal disease,” said Brian Carr, president and CEO of OralDNA Labs. “This is an important step that will ultimately help patients manage a disease so they can save their teeth and improve their overall health. It is exciting to have the opportunity to deploy in dentistry the laboratory testing already so frequently used by physicians, and to have partners who already use advancing technologies in their practices.”

About Midwest Dental (www.midwest-dental.com):

Midwest Dental is a dental management company headquartered in Mondovi, WI with clinics in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa and Colorado.

About OralDNA Labs, Inc. (www.OralDNA.com):

OralDNA Labs, Inc. is a specialty diagnostic company created to advance clinical testing in the dental community. Our goal is to help the dental profession achieve better clinical outcomes by providing reliable, definitive and cost effective clinical tests that drive the detection and prognosis of disease at an earlier, more treatable stage, with an initial focus on periodontal disease.

Periodontal disease is a bacterial infection that causes an inflammatory response. Periodontal disease is present in an estimated three quarters of the adult population in the United States, with 30-35% of this population having a genetic trait which predisposes these individuals to more serious forms of the disease. If patients are not properly diagnosed and treated at early stages, periodontal disease can lead to bone loss, tooth loss and implant failure. Research now suggests an increased risk to a number of systemic diseases when chronic periodontal infections are left untreated.

OralDNA offers two DNA-PCR tests for periodontal disease diagnosis and genetic susceptibility. MyPerioPath(SM) detects the presence and quantity of specific bacteria associated with periodontal disease. MyPerioID(SM) PST®, licensed through marketing, sales and distribution agreement with Interleukin Genetics, provides a means of assessing an individual’s genetic risk for periodontal disease.

The company is also developing an oral HPV test for use in assessing risks associated with oral cancer. Thereafter, OralDNA intends to develop a broader menu of clinical laboratory tests for use in oral medicine.