Joe Hannan

New Study Supports Expanded Scope of Practice for Dental Hygienists

 The study, which was published in the December edition of Health Affairs, produced results that support more autonomy for dental hygienists in terms of the care they can lawfully administer, particularly in parts of the US where access to oral health care is limited.

Liftopia Awards: Best Skiing and Snowboarding in North America

 To come up with ratings, Liftopia combined survey responses from more than 10,000 of its customers with its dataset on skier and snowboarder visits. 

 Getting Started as an Investor: Young investors in particular, including dentists just entering medical practice, tend to make similar kinds of mistakes.

 “The cruise industry is responding to global demand and we are highly encouraged by both the short-term and long-term outlook,” says Cindy D’Aoust, president and CEO, of the Cruise Lines International Association.

Study Identifies Nationwide Shortage of Minority Dentists

 The study authors found that African Americans, Hispanics or Latinos, and American Indians or Alaska Natives within the country are disproportionately underrepresented in the dental field.

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These 5 stories were the most popular on Dentist's Money Digest last week.

The DMD Top 5 for the Week Ending Dec. 30

A new study shows that expanding the scope of practice for dental hygienists in the U.S. has improved oral health in the years 2001 and 2014.

, which was published in the December edition of 

, produced results that support more autonomy for dental hygienists in terms of the care they can lawfully administer, particularly in parts of the country where access to oral health care is limited.

“One current strategy to improve access to basic oral health services is to allow dental hygienists to provide preventive care in community settings, such as schools and long-term care facilities, without the immediate supervision of a dentist,” the study said, providing an example of scope-of-practice expansion. Independent application of dental sealants to permanent molars would be another beneficial scope-of-practice expansion, the study notes.

Researchers created an index in 2001 to evaluate how much autonomy dental hygienists have under the law within individual states and the District of Columbia. They then compared the scores with the number of tooth extractions in adults that were the result of decay or disease. This process was repeated in 2014 to gauge expansion of the scope of care, as well as its effectiveness.

“We hypothesized that more expansive scopes of practice for dental hygienists would be associated with better population oral health,” the study said.

A committee of dentists, hygienists, a physician, and a state legislator jointly created the index in 2001, assigning weights to each “to reflect that variable’s relative impact on the ability of a dental hygienist to provide preventative services in a community setting.” The variables were broken into 4 general categories, including regulation, supervision by practice setting, tasks permitted under varying levels of supervision, and reimbursement.

In 2001, the study says, the mean composite score was 43.5, climbing to 57.6 in 2014.  The highest possible score was 100 points.

“This increase was attributable to regulatory changes in many states that reduced the direct supervision required for dental hygienists, most notably in public health settings,” the study says, adding that higher composite index scores “had a positive and significant association with having no teeth removed because of decay or disease.”

The study concludes by urging U.S. policy makers to consider how scope of practice can affect oral health when considering ways to improve access to preventive oral health care.  

The study, which was published in the December edition of Health Affairs, produced results that support more autonomy for dental hygienists in terms of the care they can lawfully administer, particularly in parts of the US where access to oral health care is limited.

Dental Practice Shut Down after Potential HIV, Hepatitis Exposure

 The licenses of the three dentists who worked at the Pennsylvania practice are under temporary suspension.

How Dentists' Income Has Fared Since the Recession

 The American Dental Association Health Policy Institute report highlights stable, not growing, dentist earnings in 2015.

Will America See an Influx of Dental Therapists?:

 The Affordable Care Act, as well as the transition in America to corporate dentistry, could lead to an increase in dental therapists practicing in the United States, according to an article in the December edition of Health Affairs.

What the Fed Rate Hike Means for Investors

 In a nutshell, don’t lose sleep over it. The hike and future hikes are a sign that the Fed, which keeps a close eye on economic indicators, believes that the economy is in good health.

Two Top Options for Family-Friendly Skiing, Snowboarding

 The following two resorts foster mountain confidence by creating age-appropriate classes that separate little kids from bigger ones, setting aside ample beginner terrain, and hosting après ski family activities.

The DMD Top 5 for the Week Ending Dec. 23

Life before smartphones seems like a distant memory. How did we even get by in those dark times? The editorial staff here at 

 isn’t really sure. In a time when the world is literally at our fingertips, it’s hard to imagine how made do without such power.

Each year, app developers compete for your attention and your dollars by producing thousands of smartphone apps, all with one simple goal of making it to your device’s home screen. 

  expects the app market to be a $77 billion industry by the time the New Year rolls around. With so much money to be made, it’s no wonder why we’re drowning in app options.

Only a few, however, manage to win us over. These are the five favorites of the editors at 

 this year, judged and ranked by three criteria: They had to be useful, they had to be affordable, and they had to solve a problem. With those factors in mind, here are the top five.

If you don’t have Waze on your smartphone, download it right now. One of our editors who shall remain nameless, but might have the initials J.H., has a notoriously horrible sense of direction. This is bad enough, but especially lethal when combined with a poor sense of just how long it takes to get somewhere. If you have the misfortune of riding with him, you’ll most likely arrive an hour early and horribly disoriented. Waze is a game-changer if you know anybody like this. This turn-by-turn navigation app uses real-time information from other drivers, known as “Wazers,” to calculate the most expedient route. It will also reroute you — again, using real-time data – if it detects a slowdown or accident ahead. Don’t feel like paying tolls? Tell it to avoid toll roads. Want your navigator to speak to you in a British accent? Done. Users can also alert you to speed traps and road hazards. Caution: Data rates apply and traffic laws apply.

Let’s face it, the native weather forecasting software on your phone isn’t so great, and the Weather Channel’s app is an assault on the eyes. Plus, it comes with the Weather Channel’s tendency to hype snow flurries into a blizzard. This is why you need Dark Sky. Anecdotally speaking, it seems far more accurate than any other weather apps we’ve used. It also gives you minute-by-minute forecasts as well as customizable precipitation alerts. The app also features a much cleaner design than anything else we’ve used.

Managing a personal budget is a challenge. It gets even more complex if you’re trying to manage a household budget. That’s where Better Haves really shines. The app uses an envelope-based system. You and your partner have shared envelopes to which a set amount of money is allocated each month. Some common shared envelopes are gas, groceries, and date night. Every time each of you makes a purchase, you deduct it from the corresponding envelope in the app. The app tracks both your and your partner’s purchases. Better Haves also allows you to have individual envelopes for petty-cash spending each month. Consequently, this will help you cut back on your impulse purchases.

Pretty much every album ever at your fingertips? Difficult not to enjoy that. Plus, if you pipe music into your dental practice, you can use your smart phone to control the tunes over your office’s Wi-Fi network. Spotify premium, however, is things go from good to great. A monthly fee similar to Netflix gives you unlimited, commercial-free listening. Not sure what you’re in the mood for? Spotify sends you a weekly Discover playlist based on tracks you’ve previously listened to. It also offers a radio station function, similar to Pandora.

The app itself is free. The premium service is $10 per month.

 How much time do you waste sifting through your email? Inbox will reduce the time you spend tending to that long list of unread items. Its best feature is the way it bundles similar messages. For example, all of those pesky promotional emails you never read can get swept away with one tap. Inbox also offers a solution to the items that you need to address at a later date. You know, the ones that you often forget because they get buried in the constant, fire-hose stream of email. Inbox will enable you to “Snooze” these emails and will remind you about them at the appropriate date and time. It also features Google’s unparalleled search abilities for locating those hard-to-find messages. And if it’s really important, Inbox will allow you to “Pin” items to the top of your inbox so they don’t get lost.

These are the five apps that stood out to the editors at DMD this year. We judged and ranked them on three criteria: They had to be useful, they had to be affordable, and they had to solve a problem.

The 5 Best Smartphone Apps of 2016

Three Pennsylvania dentists have been suspended and their practice shut down after health officials said they failed to follow proper sterilization protocol, potentially exposing patients to Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV.

Illegal Dentist Extracted 10 Teeth Without Anesthesia, Authorities Say

 report, the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the Department of State determined that the Center for Family and Specialty Dentistry, located in Berks County, neglected to “properly clean, disinfect, or sterilize devices.”

As a result, the licenses of Stephen Sulzbach, DDS, Jana Osmolinski, DDS, and Eric Osmolinski, DMD, are under temporary suspension, 

 reports. The state board will rule at a later date on the status of their licenses.

The department said though no infections have been reported so far, patients who saw the doctors between Dec. 19, 2015 and Oct. 19, 2016, should be tested for the viruses.

This infection scare comes on the heels of another, in which a Wisconsin dentist might have 

exposed almost 600 veterans with hepatitis b and c, as well as HIV

. That dentist has since resigned, pending a board hearing.

The fallout from that lapse rocked the already embattled department of Veterans Affairs, 

which has drawn the attention of President-elect Donald Trump

 for recent lapses. Trump promised on the campaign trail to overhaul the troubled agency.

The licenses of the three dentists who worked at the Pennsylvania practice are under temporary suspension.

 might become more prominent in American dentistry as the American health care system continues to change.

Dental therapists, which are more prevalent in other countries, are able to drill and fill cavities, and perform other restorative surgical procedures “under the supervision of dentists,” the article says. In the US, dental therapists are currently only practicing in Alaska, Minnesota, Maine and Vermont. Their licensing and education requirements are determined on a state-by-state basis. According to the article, dental therapists are working in these states to provide care to rural or Native American communities.

In the U.S., two factors are at play that might lead to more dental therapists working in the industry, the article authors write. The first, they say, is the transition to corporate dentistry. As dental practices begin to move from privately owned to group practices, the demand for higher patient volume to turn a profit increases. “An increase in the number of these large group practices could drive demand for midlevel providers such as dental therapist” to address higher patient volume, the authors write.

The second factor, the authors say, is the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The authors note that while the general health care system has been subject to new regulations under ACA, “dentistry has been largely unaffected by these changes.” Traditionally, they say, dental practices have not been a part of larger health care systems and therefore are “not subject to the same stringent demands for quality and accountability as medical is, and largely isolated form the care delivery efficiencies enjoyed by large group practices.”

However, the article says, dental regulatory groups, such as the American Dental Association’s Dental Quality Alliance (DQA), seems to be following suit. The DQA has developed its own set of quality metrics.

“Large dental practices and private insurers are making similar changes,” the authors write. “For example, Kaiser Permanente of the Northwest is tying dental payments to accessibility and consumer satisfaction benchmarks.”

It’s also reasonable to expect, the authors write, that more private health plans will incorporate dental coverage as research continues to show a link between oral health and overall health.

The expansion of dental therapy has been met with resistance from dental societies in the U.S., the authors note, with critics questioning their training. Critics have also suggested that there are more effective ways of addressing accessibility to care, such as using “outreach mechanisms” to fill empty chair time. They also argue that it would be better to direct efforts at “prevention instead of treatment.”

“Some oral health advocates have voiced a preference for the use of school-based prevention programs and telehealth technologies, in which remotely supervising dentists guide hygienists to treat early decay with noninvasive treatments,” the authors write.

The Affordable Care Act, as well as the transition in America to corporate dentistry, could lead to an increase in dental therapists practicing in the United States, according to an article in the December edition of Health Affairs.

Will America See an Influx of Dental Therapists?

: Authorities were led to the suspect after he improperly extracted a tooth, causing health complications for a patient. He also made dentures for another patient, authorities say.

The Most Annoying Home-for-the-Holidays Behaviors

: A HotelTonight survey reveals the grating behaviors that aggravate parents and their adult children while visiting for the holidays. Use this information as a method of keeping the peace this holiday season.

The Risks and Benefits of a Fee-For-Service Dental Practice

: Why dentistry may begin to shift back toward the fee-for-service model, and what it takes to achieve financial success with it.

Keeping Your Dental Practice's Social Media HIPAA Compliant

: Derek Pearson is the VP of Business Development at Banyan, a company dedicated to improving social media performance for dentists. Here, he explains how to stay HIPAA compliant with your practice’s social media.

Projected 2017 Marketing Trends for Your Dental Practice

: Predictions on the types of marketing efforts that will effectively engage consumers in 2017. They will be looking for personalization, attention to detail, and quick access to services and products.

The DMD Top 5 for the Week Ending Dec. 16

California dentists who participate in the state’s dental program for the poor would receive more compensation for their work under a bill making its way through the state’s legislature.

) reports that the Republican-sponsored legislation would tap into the state’s newly created tobacco tax to provide more funding for the program, called Denti-Cal. According to 

, Calif. dentists currently have some of the lowest reimbursement rates in the nation, and those rates have been stagnant since 2001. The health news agency puts the figure at about a third of what dentists elsewhere in the country bring in for similar work.

The low reimbursement rates have sparked a drop-off in dentist participation in Denti-Cal, according to a report by the Little Hoover Commission, an independent state oversight panel. The shortage has led to an “epidemic of tooth disease in which toddlers by the thousands have mouthfuls of cavities,” the panel’s report reads.

In California, dentists who accept Denti-Cal typically get about $15 for an exam. The nationwide average for exams stands at $45.61, according to data gathered by the state in 2015.

Under the bill, reimbursements rates would be hiked for 15 common procedures, such as cleanings and fillings. 

 says that the legislation would bring the rates in line with what other dentists in the U.S. are making, and it would take effect in 2018.

says, currently serves about 13 million Calif. citizens. In 2014, 

reports, a state auditor’s report found that only 44 percent of children covered under Denti-Cal say a dentist in the previous year.

“The review also found that there were no Denti-Cal providers in five counties and in 11 other counties Denti-Cal providers were not accepting new patients,” the news report says. 

Dentists in California currently are compensated at about a third of what other American dentists make for treating the poor.

Bill Would Boost Pay for California Dentists Who Treat Poor Patients

I am not a dentist. But the same reasons you come to 

 are the same principles by which I operate. I want to be better. You want to be better, too.

And being better isn’t just about the money, is it? Sure, success in dentistry leads to a desirable lifestyle. But that’s not why you got into dentistry, right? Maybe it was an experience you had in someone’s operatory as a child. Maybe you identified the need for dentistry in your community. Or maybe you saw it as a way to make a difference in so many lives on a daily basis.

It’s easy sometimes to lose track of those reasons, those guiding principles. There are so many factors that can snuff them out, whether it’s a crushing student loan debt load, lagging case acceptance, or maybe even the stresses that come along with the holiday season. The stresses and rigors of life can sap our drive and determination. If we let them.

That’s where podcasting comes in. Good podcasts offer the ultimate return on investment. At no cost to you, you can enjoy motivating, enlightening, and entertaining content with a few quick taps on a smartphone screen. You can tune in on your commute to your practice, while crushing your workout, or while you get ready for your day.

These audible doses of inspiration can be your fuel. Use them to remember why you got into this line of work in the first place. Use them to be better.

, this podcast will fuel you when you are at your most unmotivated. Episodes are divided into deep explorations of books, usually about combat, and Q&As. Willink translates the battlefield experiences into lessons on leadership and overcoming adversity in any profession. This podcast has inspired a legion of followers on social media, who call themselves “Troopers,” and wake up each day at 4:30 a.m. They 

“I Fought With Custer”, How Ego Can Kill You, Avoid The Slippery Slope

, is a relentless self-experimenter who has made a career out of finding the best way to do just about anything. His podcast is typically in an interview format where he gets his guests to elaborate on the strategies, tips, and tricks that have led them to success. Ferriss’ podcast is a constant wellspring of knowledge as well as strategies you can implement right now.

Jamie Foxx on Workout Routines, Success Habits, and Untold Hollywood Stories

Click to the next page for podcast picks 3-5.

Hosted by journalist Dan Carlin, hardcore history is a serialized podcast on the events and larger-than-life, real-world characters who shaped them. His series on World War I, titled “Blueprint for Armageddon,” is often cited among leading podcasters as the best. Close examinations of the past help us navigate the present, and looking at world-altering events has a way of putting things in perspective. Maybe that flat tire isn’t such a big deal after all?

It’s a concept as old as oral tradition: “True stories told live.” That’s The Moth’s tagline and methodology. Episodes are assembled from live story-telling events held across the U.S. The best of those events make it to the podcast. The events recounted range from tug-at-your-heartstrings tear-jerkers, to laugh-out-loud funny. Either way, they’ll keep you in a state of rapt attention.

Finding Home and A New Home by Dori Samadzai Bonner

: Startup is an audible, almost real-time autobiography of a start-up podcasting company. So, yes, it’s a podcast about a podcast. It captures, sometimes in agonizing detail, the obstacles and pitfalls of starting any business. Those of you who have started your own practice can relate. And those of you who aspire to start, or are starting your own practice can learn.

Good podcasts offer the ultimate return on investment. At no cost to you, you can enjoy motivating, enlightening, and entertaining content with a few quick taps on a smartphone screen.

The Top 5 Podcasts of 2016

Authorities say a Florida man has been charged with practicing illegal dentistry after he extracted 10 teeth without anesthesia and left another patient with health complications.

Illegal Dentist’s Work Results in $60,000 Worth of Damage, Authorities Say

, an area newspaper, reports that authorities said Robert “Robbie” Rheinlander, of Manatee, Fla. also made dentures and performed exams in his home or at patients’ homes. He convinced patients to pay for his services by telling them he had been a dentist in South Carolina prior to relocating to Florida. The problem, authorities say, is that he never was licensed as a Dentist in South Carolina.

Rheinlander worked there as a licensed dental technician from February 2004 until March 2006, the 

 reports Authorities say that as a dental technician, Rheinlander was disciplined for his work and he did not have any Florida medical or dental licenses.

Authorities were led to Rheinlander, the 

reports, when a husband and wife reported his work to a detective. The couple was referred to Rheinlander by a friend, and Rheinlander informed them that he had been a dentist with a South Carolina practice. The couple paid Rheinlander in cash to extract a tooth for the wife, which he did, leaving a piece of the tooth in place. The resulting health complications prompted the couple to look into Rheinlander’s background and discover that he was, in fact, not a licensed dentist.

Dentist Resigns After Possibly Infecting 592 Veterans with HIV, Hepatitis

The couple led authorities to a second patient, according to the 

This man told authorities that Rheinlander had extracted 10 of his teeth without anesthesia, and also had made him dentures.

Authorities say a detective working undercover was able to arrange treatment with Rheinlander, leading to his arrest on Wednesday. He was released on bail Thursday, according to the 

, after being charged with practicing dentistry without a license.

Authorities were led to the suspect after he improperly extracted a tooth, causing health complications for a patient. He also made dentures for another patient, authorities say.