The tools your dentist uses when you’re having cavities filled and the mouthwashes you use to keep your teeth clean are now partially in the hands of a BU professor.
Goldman School of Dental Medicine professor Salomon Amar last week joined the Food and Drug Administration’s Dental Products Panel, which looks at the whole range of dental-related products.
“I am honored and excited to join such esteemed colleagues on this panel,” Amar said in a press release. “The responsibility is awesome, but one I welcome.”
The panel works on “FDA approval of new products for human use,” according to panel Chairman Jon Suzuki.
“The directors of the FDA and the American Dental Association and [The National Institutes of Health] make nominations of professors to serve on the FDA panel,” he said.
The selection process took “about a year, minimum” to pick Amar, Suzuki said, adding that the Dental Products Panel plays a key role in American’s everyday life.
Products approved by the panel have “gone through very rigorous testing,” he said. “Other products on the market cannot make that claim [of having government approval].”
Such products include Listerine, which is the only non-prescription mouthwash with FDA approval, Suzuki said.
“It’s wonderful to have someone on the panel from our own institution,” said Goldman Periodontology and Oral Biology Department Chairman Frank Oppenheim.
Oppenhiem said the appointment will not conflict with Amar’s duties as a BU professor.
“It’s not a full-time occupation to be on the panel,” he said. “It should not interfere with his job and his research at BU.”
Amar was unavailable for comment because he is on vacation in France.
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
