People Watching

Dental hygienist Joins the TePe Team

Debra Friesen, BS, RDH, has joined the Swedish-based TePe Oral Health Care Inc. TePe makes a variety of interdental and special care brushes for the dental industry. Founded in 1965 by Henning Eklund, TePe’s first product was a triangular interdental cleaning stick of linden wood. All of TePe’s products are developed and manufactured at the company’s headquarters in Malmo.

In June 2003, the company decided to expand into the American market. Friesen, who worked in private practice for 10 years and is a part-time instructor at the Department of Dental Hygiene at Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, Calif, will serve as a sales specialist and product consultant and educator. She has a wide range of experience as she has also worked in hospital dentistry and as a relief worker in a dental clinic in Guam.

Hygienist Appointed to Ohio State Dental Board

Ann E. Naber, RDH, was appointed as a full voting board member to the Ohio State Dental Board by Governor Bob Taft in January. Sandra Wise, RDH, was also appointed. They join Lynda Sabat, RDH, the senior dental hygiene member, who was appointed president of the board on March 17. The Ohio Dental Hygienists’ Association submit recommendations to the governor’s office and then the governor, with the consent of the Senate, appoint all dental board members. The board administers and enforces the Ohio Dental Practice Act, promulgates rules, grants licenses, and is responsible for the safety and well-being of the consumers of the state of Ohio.

Naber has long been active in dental hygiene. She served as president, president-elect, and vice president of the American Dental Hygienists’ Association and as president, president-elect, and secretary of the Ohio Dental Hygienists’ Association. She is currently a clinical instructor at the University of Cincinnati/Raymond Walters College and a consultant for Ferrara & Company Marketing and Church & Dwight Oral Care Products, a Division of Arm & Hammer.

Board Member Receives Research Award

Phyllis L. Beemsterboer, RDH, MS, EdD, received the Colgate Oral Health Research Award at the International Association for Dental Research’s (IADR) annual meeting in Honolulu in March. The award is given to recognize a body of meritorious research by a member of the IADR Oral Health Research Group. It must be original research in the field of oral health with preference given to dental hygienists. Beemsterboer received a certificate of recognition and a $2,000 cash award sponsored by the Colgate-Palmolive Company. The award is for travel expenses and other support to encourage participation in the IADR annual meeting and the Oral Health Research Group.

Beemsterboer is associate professor of Periodontology and associate dean for Academic Affairs at Oregon Health and Science University, School of Dentistry, Portland. The co-author of two textbooks on periodontics, she has also published extensively on bioethics and occlusion and temporomandibular research. She is the author of the textbook Ethics and Law in Dental Hygiene. Beemsterboer is also a senior scholar in the Center for Ethics in Health Care.