dentistry

Five Benefits of a regular dental visit

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There’s nothing better in this world than a healthy body, yet many people overlook medical checkups which are important. There are many medical checkups which an individual must undergo every year, and a dental checkup is one of them. Teeth are a prominent part of the face and have a direct impact on the personality of an individual. There are many benefits of a regular dental checkup, however in this article you will be guided through some of them. In most countries, doctors recommend patients visit a dentist at least once every 6 months. Some benefits of a regular dental visit are: 1.      Early detection of problems Most people are unaware of their dental problems for a long time. A regular visit to the dentist can help a person getting to know about any chronic issues present. The doctor will … Read more

Quality Data Registry in Dentistry

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Recently on this site there was a discussion of using an outcomes data registry for dentistry to help assess surgical outcomes, complications, and possible gaps in treatment.  The goal with such a data registry is to better monitor what is going on in clinical practice to help improve the quality of care that patients receive. Such efforts have been limited in dentistry although present in other aspects of healthcare for many years. According to the “Quality Measurement in Dentistry A Guidebook” produced by the Dental Quality Alliance in June 2019, retrospective claims data are the only data currently collected in dentistry. In an article titled “Swedish Quality Registry for Caries and Periodontal Diseases – a framework for quality development in dentistry,” by Bultzingslowen et al. appearing in the International Dental Journal in 2019, the authors discuss an automatic data retrieval … Read more

Outcomes Data Registry for Dentistry

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Using large amounts of data from many different dentists or surgeons is a way to improve the quality of healthcare. From such clinical data registries in healthcare many things can be gleaned regarding information about individual surgeries or medical devices. The American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (AAOMS) has recently launched OMS Quality Outcomes Registry or OMSQOR for short which is discussed on pages 7-12 of the March/April 2019 issue of AAOMS Today. The groundwork for OMSQOR actually began in 2014 and OMSQOR officially launched in January 2019. The way OMSQOR works is that treatment data from all members who participate will be collected in a national registry that will be used to help improve the quality of care and patient outcomes. Such quality data will allow for tracking surgical outcomes, complications, and possible gaps in treatment. OMSQOR will … Read more

Difference Between Oral Surgeons and Dentists

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If a patient is in need of dental treatment there are different specialists to consider. Depending on the type of dental treatment being received a patient may be better off seeing a dentist or may be better off seeing an oral surgeon. Thus it is important to better understand the types of treatments a dentist and oral surgeon performs to be able to determine who to seek out. Treatments Performed by Dentists General dentists provide preventative care and maintenance. Preventive care includes performing dental cleanings, taking and interpreting x-rays, performing oral examinations, and monitoring the growth and development of teeth and jaws. Maintenance includes performing fillings of cavities, root canals for teeth that can not be restored, placing crowns, and other surgical procedures of the teeth, bone and soft tissues of the oral cavity. By seeing a dentist patients are … Read more

Delivering Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment in Dental Practices

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An interesting article titled “Dentist-Perceived Barriers and Attractors to Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment Provided by Mental Health Providers in Dental Practices,” written by Heyman et al. appears in Advances in Dental Research (vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 35-41, February 2018). The article discusses how over 20% of dental patients report having dental fear and how over 20 randomized controlled trials have show that Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment (CBT) can help. Even though such CBT treatment has been shown to help it has not been widely used beyond dental fear specialty clinics according to the authors. The authors feel that the treatment is recognized but the way to disseminate it throughout the US health care system is needed. The authors explore enhancing the dental home via an approach known as evidence-based collaborative care where specialized mental health providers work within the dental home to provide … Read more