Dental Tribune U.S. Edition

Dental Tribune U.S. Edition | February 2012XX XXXXX Dental Tribune U.S. Edition | July 2013A2 NEWS Publisher & Chairman Torsten Oemus t.oemus@dental-tribune.com President & Chief exeCutive OffiCer Eric Seid e.seid@dental-tribune.com GrOuP editOr Kristine Colker k.colker@dental-tribune.com editOr in Chief dental tribune Dr. David L. Hoexter feedback@dental-tribune.com manaGinG editOr u.s. and Canada editiOns Robert Selleck r.selleck@dental-tribune.com manaGinG editOr Fred Michmershuizen f.michmershuizen@dental-tribune.com manaGinG editOr Sierra Rendon s.rendon@dental-tribune.com PrOduCt/aCCOunt manaGer Jan Agostaro j.agostaro@dental-tribune.com marketinG direCtOr Anna Kataoka-Wlodarczyk a.wlodarczyk@dental-tribune.com eduCatiOn direCtOr Christiane Ferret c.ferret@dtstudyclub.com aCCOuntinG COOrdinatOr Nirmala Singh n.singh@dental-tribune.com Tribune America, LLC 116 West 23rd St., Ste. #500 New York, N.Y. 10011 (212) 244-7181 Published by Tribune America © 2013 Tribune America, LLC All rights reserved. Dental Tribune strives to maintain the utmost accu- racy in its news and clinical reports. If you find a fac- tual error or content that requires clarification, please contact Managing Editor Robert Selleck at r.selleck@ dental-tribune.com. Dental Tribune cannot assume responsibility for the validity of product claims or for typographical errors. The publisher also does not assume responsibility for product names or statements made by advertisers. Opinions expressed by authors are their own and may not reflect those of Tribune America. editOrial bOard Dr. Joel Berg Dr. L. Stephen Buchanan Dr. Arnaldo Castellucci Dr. Gorden Christensen Dr. Rella Christensen Dr. William Dickerson Hugh Doherty Dr. James Doundoulakis Dr. David Garber Dr. Fay Goldstep Dr. Howard Glazer Dr. Harold Heymann Dr. Karl Leinfelder Dr. Roger Levin Dr. Carl E. Misch Dr. Dan Nathanson Dr. Chester Redhead Dr. Irwin Smigel Dr. Jon Suzuki Dr. Dennis Tartakow Dr. Dan Ward Tell us what you think! Do you have general comments or criti- cism you would like to share? Is there a particular topic you would like to see articles about in Dental Tribune? Let us know by sending an email to feedback@ dental-tribune.com. We look forward to hearing from you! If you would like to make any change to your subscription (name, address or to opt out) please send us an email at database@dental-tribune.com and be sure to include which publication you are referring to. Also, please note that subscription changes can take up to six weeks to process. DENTAL TRIBUNE The World’s Dental Newspaper · US Edition lenges: the percent of Medicaid-enrolled children not receiving dental care in 2011; the percent of dentists more than 55 years of age as of 2009 (approaching retirement); and the percent of the state’s total population that is classified as be- ing underserved in dental care and resid- ing in areas designated as having a short- age of dental-care services as of 2013. According to the report, more than 14 million children enrolled in Medicaid did not receive dental services in 2011. And in 22 states “fewer than half of Med- icaid-enrolled children received dental care.” By comparison, 2010 data shows that privately insured children were nearly 30 percent more likely to receive dental care than those insured through Medicaid or other government programs. The brief points out that studies show it's the for- mer group that is at far greater risk for developing caries or encountering other oral health problems. Complex problem The Pew report describes the access-to- dental-care issue as a complex problem with numerous contributing factors. It advocates higher Medicaid reimburse- ment rates and streamlined administra- tive processes to make it more financially feasible for dental-service providers to work with Medicaid patients; but the report concludes that such steps alone aren’t enough to address the access-to- care gap. The Pew analysis also downplays the value of an anticipated increase in the number of dental schools opening as having meaningful impact on counter- ing the expected wave of dentists retir- ing. According to the analysis, the expec- tation is that new dentists will continue to open practices in heavily populated areas and primarily serve privately in- sured patients. The report also quotes American Den- tal Association statistics looking at 2010 to 2030 that indicate an increasing num- ber of dental-school graduates won't keep pace with overall population growth to check a continued decline in the overall ratio of dentists to patients. Midlevel care providers supported In the end, the report focuses on the ex- pansion of a midlevel-provider workforce as the most likely access-to-care answer that won’t fall short. “Midlevel providers can extend the reach of the dental team to areas where dentists are scarce,” the brief states. “They can also make it more financially feasible to provide care for Medicaid-enrolled children. Working under the supervi- sion of dentists, these practitioners can improve the ability of safety-net systems to reach low-income communities, save states money on emergency room care and other costly alternatives, and ensure that more children and families get the care they urgently need.” “ SHORTAGE, page A1 The Pew Charitable Trusts Children’s Dental Campaign continues to push for expansion of the dental workforce. It supports creation of trained ‘dental hygiene therapists’ — midlevel-care providers who could perform procedures now under taken by only dentists in most states. Photo/By Johann Helgason, www.dreamstime.com A June “issue brief” from The Pew Charitable Trusts provides several examples of dentists in both business and academia supporting state initia- tives to expand certain capabilities of non-dentist members of the dental services team. But Maine dentists are not listed among the examples. An explanation for that might be found in a recent Bangor Daily News article by Matthew Stone in which the defeat of midlevel-provider legisla- tion in the Maine Senate is attributed to heavy lobbying by Maine dentists. Just days before the Pew issue brief was released in June, the Maine Sen- ate voted down legislation that would have created licensed “dental hygiene therapists” to help address the state's access-to-dental-care gap. Fifty-three countries have similar licensing in place; and in the United States, Alaska and Minnesota have some form of midlevel licensing available to help address access-to- care challenges. The Pew issue brief reports that ap- proximately 15 states have some type of midlevel dental-care provider leg- islation under consideration. But in Maine, it’s back to the drawing board for proponents of such licensing. The Main House had approved the “dental hygiene therapist” legislation by a 95–45 vote, sending it on to the Maine Senate defeats midlevel provider bill Ad Senate, where it was voted down in a 14–21 vote prior to being killed, Stone reported. The proposed legislation was spon- sored by Mark Eves, D-North Berwick, who is the House speaker. It was co- sponsored by more than 40 legisla- tors representing both parties, Stone reported. Much of the legislation’s focus was on serving dental patients participat- ing in MaineCare, the state’s version of Medicaid. Proponents had pre- sented statistics on how many of the state’s residents were living in dental- service shortage areas identified by the federal government. The Maine Dental Association appears to have successfully challenged the accuracy of some of the statistics used to dem- onstrate a need for the bill. One of the main statistics to be challenged was from a legislature- sponsored report on oral health care in Maine that had said 66 percent of the state’s population resided in “ru- ral” areas. The Maine Dental Asso- ciation argued the correct figure was 25 percent, and that the inaccurate figure was based on mixing together different definitions of ”rural” from two different federal agencies. Not in contention was the statistic that 13.5 percent of Main dentists practiced in Maine House had approved the proposed legislation 95-45 ” See MAINE, page A3