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Snacking ourselves sick
May 20, 2013
Mary Jennings, D.D.S.
A few months ago, I was surprised to find myself assigned to the ADA Task Force on Childhood Nutrition. I was surprised because while I know as much about nutrition as the next dentist, I find it difficult to put my education into practice in my own life. Evidently, I am not alone. Childhood nutrition is a hot issue nationwide. Pink slime and childhood obesity have become prime-time news.
Student shares thoughts on events in Boston
May 6, 2013
Lalita Nekkanti
I watched two airplanes crash into the World Trade Center through my school window. I was only 12 years old. I remember feeling sickened in the pit of my stomach when I smelled the burnt dead bodies being carried into downtown Jersey City, N.J. The same feeling returned on April 15. I was watching the Boston Marathon in honor of Patriots' Day and to support Dustin Bond, a fourth-year dental student at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine. It was getting a bit chilly at Copley Square, so I left the finish line a few hours before the explosions began.
Thinking outside of the city
April 1, 2013
Brenden Moon, D.M.D.
I thought I had an idea of where my life and career were headed when I was about halfway through dental school in 2005. I intended to marry my girlfriend, finish school at the University of Mississippi School of Dentistry and work in Jackson, Miss.; Dallas, Texas; or Atlanta, Ga. My brother lives in Dallas, and my girlfriend/now wife Jessica had family in the Atlanta area.
What an experience: Missouri delegate closes out 14 years in House
March 18, 2013
Kenneth Weinand, D.D.S.
I always love the fall of the year and especially August. You see, that is the time the first set of ADA resolutions appears on ADA Connect, a secure Web-based site for delegates and alternate delegates to go to for ADA House of Delegates information.
Tennessee sealant experience at variance with Pew report
March 4, 2013
James A. Gillcrist, D.D.S.
I am a long-standing member of the ADA, past president of the Nashville Dental Society and current member of ADA Council on Members Insurance and Retirement Programs. I am the TennCare dental director and former state oral health director for Tennessee. I am a diplomate of the American Board of Dental Public Health. My entire career has been devoted to improving the oral health of underserved Tennesseans with an emphasis on children. Although we have made great strides, there is still much work to do. The opinions I express here are based on my own experience and are my own.
Becoming experts at helping our patients quit
February 4, 2013
Todd Beck, D.M.D.
I quit smoking about 12 years ago. In fact, it's almost 12 years to the day. That was a big deal. I had smoked about a pack a day for just over 10 years. Cigarettes had become a large part of my coping mechanism for life. For the first few months, I didn't feel better; in fact, I was emotionally and physically worse. But I kept at it and over time I started to get and feel better. I could exercise without being winded and I could remain calm without an infusion of nicotine. Life was getting better.
Is our image in jeopardy?
January 21, 2013
D. Milton Salzer, D.D.S.
Since the Federal Trade Commission's decision many years ago that prohibitions on advertising were anticompetitive and professionals should be free to advertise without repercussions—and society membership would be open to those who did advertise—it has been like the wide open wild west when our country was settled.
The new AAOS/ADA clinical practice guidelines on Prevention of Orthopaedic Implant Infection in Patients Undergoing Dental Procedures
January 7, 2013
David S. Jevsevar, M.D., M.B.A. and Elliot Abt, D.D.S.
The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and the American Dental Association, along with input from the Infectious Disease Society of America, American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, American Association of Neurological Surgeons, American Society of Plastic Surgeons, Musculoskeletal Infection Society, Scoliosis Research Society, American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons, Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, College of American Pathologists, and The Knee Society, recently published their collaborative clinical practice guideline (CPG) "Prevention of Orthopaedic Implant Infection in Patients Undergoing Dental Procedures."
Letters to the Editor
Why not?
May 20, 2013
Charles M. King, D.M.D., J.D.
I read the article with some consternation concerning the Illinois State Medical Society opposing the measure to allow dentists to give flu shots ("Who Calls the Shots? Illinois Dentists Advocate to Administer Flu and Other Vaccines," April 1 ADA News). It is puzzling as to why they should do so unless it is fear of financial loss as it cannot be out of concern for patients.
Pew responds
May 6, 2013
Shelly Gehshan
Dr. James Gillcrist raised concerns (“My View: Tennessee Sealant Experience at Variance with Pew Report,” March 4, ADA News) about the data and benchmarks to assess state performance in our report, Falling Short: Many States Lag on Dental Sealants. The Pew Charitable Trusts stands by its report, its methodology and conclusions.
Dr. Oz
May 6, 2013
Robert Gherardi, D.M.D.
Why is it that people such as "Dr." Oz (I refuse to acknowledge that he deserves the title of Dr.) can go on TV and spout half-truths and questionable studies that inflame the public just to boost their ratings ("'The Doctor Oz Show' Features Sensationalistic Segment on Dental Amalgam," April 15 ADA News)?
Sealant utilization
April 1, 2013
Mark W. Casey, D.D.S., M.P.H.
I am an ADA member and dental director for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services/Division of Medical Assistance.
Hurricane survivors
March 18, 2013
Kevin Collier, D.M.D.
Michele Brucker-Collier, D.M.D.
We would like to thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for the wonderful article you wrote about our Hurricane Sandy experience ("New Jersey Dentists Lose Office, Gain Hope After Hurricane," Feb. 4 ADA News).
Noncovered services
March 4, 2013
Steven A. Saxe, D.M.D.
Our patients rely on what is covered by their insurance policy, and those of us dentists who take insurance need to be familiar with evolving insurance models. The majority of states have adopted legislation called noncovered services laws, which limit or prevent insurers from dictating fees on services they do not cover.
Kick the habit
March 4, 2013
Nevin Zablotsky, D.M.D.
I found Dr. Todd Beck's piece on the importance of the dental teams' efforts to help their tobacco-using patients quit highly relevant ("Becoming Experts at Helping Our Patients Quit," Feb. 4 ADA News).
Specialties
February 4, 2013
Larry D. Anderson, D.D.S.
I read the article "Council Initiates Study of Criteria, Process for Specialty Recognition" (Jan. 7 ADA News) with some degree of hope that our organization would finally recognize the inevitable: that many practitioners have gone well beyond dental school training without specialty recognition because we have not kept pace with the explosion of knowledge and training available.
Medical device tax
February 4, 2013
Richard F. Worley, D.D.S.
You fail to address the major impact this tax will have upon the private practice dentist ("Medical Device Excise Tax Prompts Questions," Jan. 7 ADA News). The tax will be applied to and paid by the suppliers and labs who will add the cost of the tax to the delivered supplies or equipment and the finished, untaxable prostheses. The tax will ultimately increase the cost of doing business for the dentist who, for fee-for-service patients, may pass this added cost on if it can be accurately and reasonably determined; but for insured patients, the dentist will eat the end use cost of the tax.
Free marketplace?
February 4, 2013
Leo Weinstein, D.D.S.
I read the article "Medical Device Excise Tax Prompts Questions" with great interest. This is in effect an indirect tax to hide the charge from the final consumer.
Read the law
February 4, 2013
Joel L. Strom, D.D.S., M.S.
The medical device tax, along with more than a dozen other revenue raisers was well-documented nearly three years ago in the underlying legislation. Once the unified bill was signed into law by President Obama in March 2010, it was clear that our dental practices would be highly impacted in many ways other than simply higher taxes.
Specialties
January 21, 2013
Arnold Rosenstock, D.D.S.
In an editorial in the journal Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology and Oral Radiology (December 2012), "Medical School-Based Education in Dentistry: An Exciting History and Opportune Future," Dr. Leon Assael closes with the following: "Let us pursue greater ties to medical schools at the undergraduate and graduate program levels, more integrated biomedical education, interprofessional clinical education and experiences, interprofessional practice models, and combined degree education beyond OMS into the additional disciplines represented by OOOO."
Trust
January 21, 2013
Lloyd S. Drucker, D.D.S.
The recent Gallup poll reports "high" trust in dentists ("Dentists Rank High in Gallup Poll," Dec. 10, 2012 ADA News). However, with only less than two-thirds approval seen, is this not misleading?
Library
January 21, 2013
Harvey Jay Mahler, D.D.S.
As we welcome 2013, the American Dental Association Library as I know it has forever changed. For now, the Library will remain open, however, with a reduced staff, budget and access.
Active life members
January 7, 2013
R.P. Lansdowne, D.D.S.
The ADA website encourages dentists to "Join 70 percent of your colleagues—157,000 member dentists and 16,000 student members."
Dr. Brickman
January 7, 2013
Dan Haberman, D.D.S.
I loved your article "Emory Apologizes For History of Anti-Semitism at Dental School" (Nov. 19, 2012 ADA News).
Executive Order 9066
January, 7, 2013
Jerald Satoru Takesono, D.D.S.
I read with great interest the Nov. 19, 2012 article on dental students of the Jewish faith at Emory University.
Greatest nation
January 7, 2013
Carlos A. Sanchez, D.D.S.
The story about Dr. Perry Brickman's experiences at Emory reminded me of a colleague of similar age.
