The AAO has announced the 2023 AAO Ortho Innovator Award will go to Dr. Cosmo Haralambidis (known to many as Dr. Cosmo) of Synapse Dental, LLC for the Dental Pain Eraser. The 2023 Ortho Innovator Award winner is the inventor of the world’s first pen-shaped, portable electronic dental anesthesia solution.

Now in its fifth year, the AAO Ortho Innovator Award program is part of an ongoing effort to support innovation among orthodontists and partners in the industry.

“Our entire team is very excited to receive the AAO Ortho Innovator Award,” said Dr. Cosmo. “The Dental Pain Eraser delivers safe, immediate acting, and sustained pain relief by targeting areas of discomfort in the oral cavity. Patients of all ages can now enjoy pain-free, drug-free, dental care reducing fear and anxiety traditionally associated with visiting a dentist or specialist.”

Through its patented Advanced Pulsewave TechnologyTM, the Dental Pain Eraser sends gentle, subsensory electric pulses to calm the nerves in the mouth and block oral pain. As a result, it provides long-lasting pain relief and enhances  the patient experience, during and after the patient appointment. It is ideal for eliminating the anxiety of discomfort in orthodontics and reducing the pain from pre-needle injection, TMD/TMJ, canker sores, osteoperforation, lingual braces and aligners.

The Dental Pain Eraser also offers the benefit of marketing your practice to referring dental colleagues as patients can now bring practice branded Dental Pain Erasers to their appointments for pre-application for a variety of procedures, ranging from perio, fillings and extractions. In addition, the take-home version of the Dental Pain Eraser gives clinicians the ability to use a teledental platform to help patients alleviate pain at home.

Dr. Cosmo is a pioneer in orthodontics, always at the leading edge of the latest research in the field, and creating several products used in orthodontics today.

The AAO Committee on Technology (CTECH) judges the Ortho Innovator Award competition and this year reviewed 28 entries. Businesses considered eligible to enter the competition are companies offering new products or services for orthodontic treatment or orthodontic practice management. CTECH evaluates each entry by its uniqueness, originality, functionality or feasibility, and value for the orthodontic practice.

In addition to the Dental Pain Eraser, CTECH also announced several other finalists for the 2023 award, including:

1st Runner-Up:

Dr. Luis Carriere

NiTi Frictionless Universal Ligature
NiTi Frictionless Universal Ligature with memory of shape as an alternative to Traditional Silicone O-Rings. This will be a disposable ligature that will have the possibility to be used with any type of twin or single bracket on the market.

Honorable Mentions:

Dr. John Pham, Dr. Hongsheng Tong, Dr. Robert Lee, Dr. Andre Weissheimer, and Dr. Douglas Hom

InBrace Generation 2.0
InBrace Generation 2.0 is now easier to integrate into a busy orthodontic practice making lingual orthodontics more accessible to patients. The new design and features make the system easier to use and significantly reduces the amount of troubleshooting by providers.

Dr. Anthony V. Bonavoglia and Ms. Jill Allen

SmileSuite
SmileSuite is orthodontics’ only new patient concierge system designed exclusively for orthodontic practices. It is the combination of sophisticated technology and a remote, white-glove service coming together to manage the orthodontic new patient process from initial contact through to the signing of contracts.

Dr. Kyle Fagala

All The Best Faces Wear Braces
All the Best Faces Wear Braces is a customizable children’s book that provides orthodontists the opportunity to showcase their practice in a unique way without all the effort, time, and cost of producing a book on their own.

Dr. Daniel Richmond

Super Calculator
The Super Calculator takes the subjectivity out of treatment planning by bringing the mathematics of orthodontics to life. The Super Calculator allows users to plan extraction patterns that address a patient’s unique sagittal discrepancies and arch asymmetries simultaneously.

Learn More at the 2023 Annual Session
The Exhibit Hall Innovation Pavilion at the 2023 Annual Session in Chicago will be the site of an exhibit featuring the 2023 Ortho Innovator Award winner and all finalists in the competition. Dr. Haralambidis will be presented the Ortho Innovator award on Saturday, April 22, at 1 pm in Exhibit Hall Theatre 2.