Mastering the Challenge of Health Data in Dentistry

In the past on this site there has been discussion of using an outcomes data registry for dentistry and a quality data registry in dentistry to help assess complications, outcomes, and treatment effects in dentistry. A data registry is used to monitor what occurs in clinical practice on a regular basis to help with quality of care improvements and more satisfied patients. In recent years, an explosion of data has occurred due to advances in information technology which has led to the area of dental informatics. An interesting article titled “Health Data in Dentistry: An Attempt to Master the Digital Challenge,” written by Tim Joda et al. appears in the 2019 issue of Public Health Genomics (no. 22, pp. 1-7, Published Online Aug. 7, 2019). The article discusses a blueprint to master the challenge of health data collection, sharing and analytics, along with … Read more

Best Website to Ask for Health Insurance

We have a short time or limited time to choose the best health, travel, or any other insurance policy for our family, but the selection of the wrong insurance plan can be costly if you use that insurance plan regularly. Here in this article, we are going to elaborate, what is the best insurance plan for your family. Whether it is from the federal marketplace or through an employer. We are going to discuss the health insurance plan in this article. Here is (Evernote Reviews On US-Reviews). Choose Your Health Plan Marketplace Usually, people get a health plan through employers, and if you are one of those people, you would not need government insurance exchanges or a marketplace. Basically, your company is your marketplace. If you are offered a health plan by your employer the cost is much lower than … Read more

Delivering Sedation in Dentistry

It has become increasing popular to deliver sedation to patients receiving dental work. Sedation is defined as the deliberate drug-induced depression of consciousness used to reduce anxiety and awareness associated with unpleasant medical procedures. Sedation is used to reduce anxiety.  In some cases dentists or oral surgeons deliver both the dental work and the sedation, while in others there is a separate anesthesiologist to do so. One should always verify proper training and license prior to undertaking any sedation from a healthcare professional. Sedation is generally considered very safe as long as it is performed by an appropriately trained practitioner in a monitored environment. Sedation dentistry uses different approaches depending on personal choice and comfort. In the order of increasing anesthesia these are local anesthesia, minimal sedation, nitrous oxide/oxygen, moderate (conscious) sedation, deep sedation, and general anesthesia. A more thorough discussion … Read more

Informed Consent in Dentistry: Can Change Impact Personal Injury Cases?

An excellent article appears in the Spring 2017 edition of the The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics (vol. 45, pp. 77-94) written by Kevin I. Reid titled “Informed Consent in Dentistry.” The article discusses how informed consent is respecting the ethical right of an individual to make decisions about one’s body and only have actions undertaken on their body with authorization without undue influence. In order for informed consent to be considered valid in dentistry the following must occur: (1) the patient is competent and has the ability and capacity to understand and decide, (2) the dentist discloses material information, (3) the patient understands, (4) the patient is voluntarily entering the arrangement, and (5) the patient provides authorization to go ahead. Every patient however comes to a different degree of understanding to authorize treatment based on their prior dental experiences, education, motivation, attention, … Read more

Patient Safety and the Culture of Cover-Up

An interesting article was written by George Lundberg titled “A culture of cover-up has slowed the patient safety movement” on December 1, 2012, on KevinMd.com located at http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2012/12/culture-coverup-slowed-patient-safety-movement.html. In the article Dr. Lundberg says “Promoting patient safety, preventing medical error, preventing physician error, preventing errors in diagnosis, preventing nurse error, preventing surgical error, preventing communication error, preventing health illiteracy error, preventing errors from language barriers, preventing laboratory error, preventing computer error, preventing patient mix-ups, preventing right and left side of body mix-ups, preventing mistakes, since mistakes are the stepping stones to failure. Recognizing human frailty, recognizing physician humanity, recognizing system fallibility, owning up to problems, eliminating cover-up, acting out professionalism, recognizing that professionalism means self governance, individually and as groups. Self criticism, peer criticism, a culture of peer review, honesty, truth, disclosure, fairness, and negotiated settlements. Objective evaluation and commitment … Read more