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Dentists invited to donate services to veterans
Tammy Hinojos Oral & Dental HealthcareThere is more than one way to serve your country. If you’re a dental professional, you have the opportunity to use your unique skills and training to serve those who served our country. In honor of the Memorial Day holiday, an organization called Dental Lifeline Network announced on May 14 that it is launching a volunteer recruitment campaign encouraging dentists to provide dental care to veterans, specifically those with special needs.
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Patriarchy and healthcare: A dying zeitgeist
Keith Carlson Medical & Allied HealthcareSince time immemorial, men have dominated medicine. Nurses were historically viewed as subservient laborers who followed orders and carried no sense of personal or professional agency; in that same vein, female physicians were less numerous and not readily recognized for their contributions by their male peers. In many aspects of our lives, this paradigm is shifting for the better, and that same change is also underway in the healthcare sphere.
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HHS finalizes rule requiring drug prices in TV ads
Scott E. Rupp PharmaceuticalFrustrated viewers of nearly every television program barraged by advertisements of drug commercials that feature all the medicine’s benefits, the litany of potential side effects, etc. — but who receive no pricing information — are getting a little reprieve. Those ads will soon change slightly, according to the Trump administration, which has finalized a rule that will require pharmaceutical companies to disclose the price of their products in television advertising as soon as summer 2019.
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Orofacial pain could become dentistry’s newest specialty
Tammy Hinojos Oral & Dental HealthcareFor starters, let’s define orofacial pain. It will be helpful in understanding how (and whether) it might become dentistry’s newest specialty as recognized by the National Commission for Recognition of Dental Specialties and Certifying Boards' review committee. Orofacial pain is a broad term used to describe symptoms of pain and/or dysfunction in the head and neck region. Think headaches, jaw pain and much, much more. According to the American Academy of Orofacial Pain, orofacial pain is evolving and the scope of the field is enlarging.
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The mechanism of caries and the anti-caries action of fluoride
Charles Jameson Oral & Dental HealthcareAt present, around two-thirds of U.S. households have fluoridated water in their houses. The CDC has made nationwide fluoridation of drinking water a top priority for the prevention of cavities. In 1945, Grand Rapids, Michigan, became the first U.S. city to implement community fluoridation of the water supply. Fluoride isn't just found in tap water, of course. It’s also found naturally and fortified in certain foods. Additionally, fluoride is a common ingredient in tooth varnish or gels, mouthwashes, prophy paste, and toothpaste, with an aim to reverse tooth decay.
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Despite controversy, HHS releases conscience protection rule for healthcare…
Scott E. Rupp Healthcare AdministrationThe Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office for Civil Rights has released a new final rule designed to protect individuals and healthcare entities in HHS-funded programs from discrimination on the basis of their exercise of conscience. It will take effect in approximately two months. The "conscience rights" rule will allow healthcare workers to refuse care based on religious or moral objections and will grant protections to healthcare workers who refuse to provide services such as abortion or transition care for transgender individuals.
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AI makes its way to dentistry
Tammy Hinojos Oral & Dental HealthcareDentistry is a field that evolves by leaps and bounds. For example, new materials mean fillings last longer, resist decay better and act and feel more like a real tooth. But one advancement is blowing those others out of the water. The field of artificial intelligence (AI) is making its way into the dentistry and may be featured at an office near you in the very near future. Pearl, a Santa Monica, California-based startup applying AI to dentistry, recently announced that it has raised $11 million in funding, led by Craft Ventures and unnamed strategic dental industry partners.
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Oral health improving for most Americans, but economic and ethnic disparities…
Tammy Hinojos Oral & Dental HealthcareThere’s some good news and some bad news from the Centers for Disease Control regarding the oral health of the nation. According to a report, there have been significant improvements in oral health for Americans of all ages. That’s the good news. Yet the report, based on data from the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics — which represents the most comprehensive assessment of oral health data available for the U.S. population to date — reconfirms a hard truth: economic and racial/ethnic disparities in oral health persist.
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Consumers share their top healthcare concerns, but there’s no such…
Scott E. Rupp Medical & Allied HealthcareMany Americans say they are worried about the future of the Affordable Care Act for people with preexisting conditions, according to the most recent Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) Health Tracking Poll. Almost 70 percent (68%) of respondents said they want to keep preexisting condition protections, and the KFF report suggests that a majority of respondents (54%) want to keep the healthcare law entirely as is, even if insurance plan costs increase. Those who responded said they’re all for price increases as long as their healthcare provisions are met. But who should pay for the possible increases is another thing altogether.
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Study: Orthodontic treatment doesn’t guarantee future oral health
Tammy Hinojos Oral & Dental HealthcareOrthodontic treatment can straighten your teeth, but it can’t protect those choppers from developing tooth decay in the future. When polled, many people think that orthodontic treatment will prevent future tooth decay. But new research out of the University of Adelaide in South Australia has found that this is not the case. Published in the journal Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology, the study, conducted by Dr. Esma J. Dogramaci and co-author Professor David Brennan from the University's Adelaide Dental School, assessed the long-term dental health of 448 people from South Australia.
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