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ePaper created 2016-11-30, 09:48:48 | version 1.38.0
By Robert Selleck, today Staff n A recently released publication by Scientific American Custom Media and the Colgate-Palmolive Company, “The Future of Oral Health: Glo- bal Challenges, Advances, and New Technologies,” is adding to an ever- increasing focus on the link between oral health and overall health and the impact that connection may ulti- mately have on how dental care is provided. During a discussion Monday off- site from the 2016 GNYDM, dental professionalsandindustryrepresent- atives used some of the core findings emphasized in the publication to dis- cusshowinadequateoral-health-care challenges might be addressed in the United States and globally. The three panelists leading the discussion were Michael C. Alfano, DMD, PhD, president, Santa Fe Group and professor, dean and executive vice president emeritus, New York University; Marko Vujicic, PhD, chief economist and vice president, Health Policy Institute, American Dental Association; and Sharon Guynup, Scientific American Custom Media editorial director of “The Future of Oral Health.” Moderating was Jeremy Abbate, vice president and publisher ofScientificAmericanandpublishing directorof“TheFutureofOralHeath.” Abbate opened the session by not- ing this was the third time Scientific American had taken on oral health as a topic. “This latest project is far more exciting than any of them,” he said. Abbate and each of the panelists at times noted that findings throughout thepublicationclearlyshowaconnec- tion not just between oral health and physical health but socioeconomic health of individuals and countries as well. “Obviously there is a disparity in care due primarily to cost and access,” Guynup said after sharing several statistics from the report, includingthat51millionschoolhours and 164 million work hours are lost to oral health problems annually in the United States, and 42.2 percent of adults30andolderhaveperiodontitis (64.7 million people). Guynup also noted that for every dollar spent on oral health preventa- tive measures for the under- and uninsured, as much as $50 is saved on restorative and emergency proce- dures. Speaking from an economic per- spective, Vujicic drew on the report’s statisticthat28percentoflow-income Americans say the condition of their mouth and teeth affect their ability to interview for employment. For Vujicic, the report confirms emer- gence of a “new value proposition for oral health that may not have been around even five years ago.” Expanding on a similar point, Alfano said despite overwhelm- ing evidence of savings not just in health-care costs but also across the economic health of the country, the federal government isn’t keeping pace with the industry. “I think it’s an outrage that the federal govern- ment doesn’t know what the private insurance industry (already) knows,” he said. Panelists and attendees shared a number of ideas about the challenges of modifying care-delivery and pay- ment models to better reflect the valuestobegainedthroughimproved access to oral health care. Talk also centeredoneffortstonotjustimprove access but improve patient behavior onceaccesschallengesareaddressed. Among the positive developments noted was the move toward complete digitalization of dentistry and the potentialcloserlinkbetweendentists and patients via strategies such as linking smart-phone technology to brushing and flossing behavior. The conversation repeatedly returned to the need for more effective education strategies across all sectors: dental care providers, health-care provid- ers, educators, government agencies, other organizations and the public — primarily so the high-return value of oral health care isn’t being encour- aged only by dental professionals but by other committed advocates. Scientific American’s “The Future of Oral Health: Global Challenges, Advances, and New Technologies” is freely accessible at www.scientific american.com/products/the-future- of-oral-health/. exhibitors 20 Greater New York Dental Meeting — Nov. 30, 2016 Advocacy outside of dentistry needed for oral health care’s full societal value to be realized Ad