Dental Tribune U.S. Edition

Dental Tribune U.S. Edition | February 2012XX XXXXX Dental Tribune U.S. Edition | February 2014A2 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 a.kataoka@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 © 2014 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 Dental care spending remained flat through 2012 over the prior year, in part because working-age adults are visiting dentists less frequently, with fewer people covered by employer-sponsored dental benefits, according to a new analysis re- leasedbytheAmericanDentalAssociation. The research, conducted by the ADA Health Policy Resources Center, shows that additional factors in the spending patterns include improvements in oral health, the erosion of benefits provided by state Med- icaid programs and fee reductions among many private insurers. National dental care expenditure reached $111 billion in 2012, roughly the same as the previous year when adjusted for inflation. When population growth is taken into account, dental spending has been flat since 2008. The analysis covers three years of post-Great Recession recov- ery — suggesting that dental spending is not rebounding. Overall U.S. health spending during the past four years has grown at the slowest rates ever recorded in the 53-year history of theNationalHealthExpenditureAccounts, reflecting the lagged effects of the recent economicrecession.Dentalspending,how- ever, began to slow in the early 2000s be- fore the onset of the recession. The elderly continue to be the age group with the highest level of dental spending, driven primarily by gains in private dental benefits and higher demand for care. Read the full research brief at www.ada. org/sections/professionalResources/pdfs/ HPRC Brief _0114_1.pdf. The ADA has advocated for the public’s health and promoted the art and science of dentistry since 1859. Its research facilities develop and test dental products and ma- terials that have advanced the practice of dentistry and made the patient experience more positive. The Journal of the American Dental Association is the ADA’s flagship publication and one of the most-read scien- tific journals in dentistry. FormoreinformationabouttheADA,vis- it www.ada.org. For more information on oral health, including prevention, care and treatment of dental disease, visit the ADA’s consumer website www.mouthhealthy.org. (Sources: American Dental Association) Dental spending stays flat tenance and preventative oral health treatments, while medical insurance em- phasizes coverage of unpredictable and urgent health care needs. Consequently, according to the IBISWorld Industry report, dental care costs and industry revenue are typically more stable than medical costs. Duringthepastfiveyears,aconsistentin- creaseinhealthcareexpenditure(i.e.,med- ical cost inflation) boosted industry premi- ums and drove revenue growth. However, lower policy enrollment figures during the recession mitigated the dental insurance industry’s performance during the period. Rising unemployment during the reces- sion directly damaged industry revenue through declines in group coverage and indirectly through lower per-capita dispos- able income. Moreover, mounting com- petition from direct reimbursement and discount dental plans have tempered profit margins in recent years. “Yet, revenue growth is anticipated to (have picked up) a slight 2 percent in 2013, primarily due to in- creases in workforce figures and disposable income levels,” Hoopes said. During the five years to 2018, industry revenue is forecast to increase. While the industry will benefit from an improving economic environment and favorable de- mographic trends, the enactment of health carereformprovisionsisexpectedtobethe primary driver of growth. While 8.7 million children are anticipated to gain dental ben- efits under the PPACA, reducing the num- ber of children without dental benefits by 55 percent, only 5.3 million adults are ex- pected to gain coverage under the law. The dental insurance industry operates with a medium level of market share con- centration.Thetopcompaniesintheindus- try are MetLife Inc, Delta Dental and Aetna. Industry concentration has increased during the five-year period, with industry firms merging or acquiring other firms to expand,cutcostsandimproveprofitability. Moreover, following the PPACA, consolida- tion trends in the dental insurance market have mirrored these trends in the broader health and medical insurance industry, ac- cordingtotheIBISWorldreport(No.52411b). For more information on this and other reports, you can visit www.ibisworld.com. (Source: IBISWorld Inc.) Report: Opportunities for growth within dental insurance industry Dental insurance accounts for 9.1 percent of the broader health and medical insur- ance industry, according to a recently com- pleted IBISWorld Industry report. But there is plenty of room for growth, according to IBISWorld Industry analyst Stephen Hoopes. “An estimated 16 percent of domestic consumers lack medical insur- ance,” Hoopes said. “While estimates of the share of consumers lacking dental insur- ance range from 26 to 42 percent, there exists a drastic difference between the two types of health care coverage.” Traditionally, dental insurance has fo- cused more on covering regular main- Ad Available at pattersondental.com • Universal registrations • High final hardness - Shore-D 40 • Setting time about 60 s • Optional scanable • Perfect physical parameters • 2 Cartridges + 12 Mixing cannulas • Made in Germany R-dental Dentalerzeugnisse GmbH E-mail: info@r-dental.com www.r-dental.com R-SI-LINE METAL-BITE TM® Universal registration material, that’s it! R dental Bite to Perfection R New Price $ 51.95 Anzeige METAL-BITE USA 2013 2_METAL-BITE 2009/10 10.07.13 22:38 Seite 1 Research shows fewer people are covered by employer-sponsored dental benefits, and working- age adults are visiting dentists less frequently. Result: Year-over-year spending on dental care isn’t changing much. Photo/Bentson Vladimir Mucibabic, www.dreamstime.com