April 2013 Lingual Groove

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April 2013

The Lingual Groove

One of the greatest aspects of attend-ing ASDA Annual Session is that,through the breakout sessions, youcan tailor your experience to yourpersonal interests and goals. For methis meant attending the sessions thatdealt with legislative issues and howto better advocate for them.The first breakout session I attendedwas titled Advocacy for the Next

generation of Dentists. The goal ofthis meeting was to explain the im-portance of the American Dental Po-litical Action Committee (ADPAC).Dr. Gordon Isbell, a Board Memberof ADPAC, spoke to the group aboutthe power of organized dentistry andthe impact that dentistry, as a collec-tive unit, can make in benefiting ourprofession. Dr. Isbell keyed in on therecent impacts ADPAC has made inWashington, DC. Through lobbyingefforts and establishing strong rela-

tionships with the lawmakers inWashington, ADPAC has successful-ly blocked a number of detriments todentistry that fell under the Afforda-ble Care Act. This included blockingMid-Level Providers, as well asblocking the 2.3% tax on fillings,crowns and implants. Other issuesthat ADPAC is currently fighting forinclude student debt, student loanrepayment, insurance reimburse-ments, and tax issues affecting smallbusinesses. Dr. Isbell stressed howimportant being a member of AD-PAC is, even as a dental student. Byjoining ADPAC as a student, you getinvolved and invested early in yourcareer, which may pay dividendsdown the road.The next meeting I attended focusedon building a relationship with yourstate dental association. Organized

dentistry is an amazingentity to be involved won any level, strength innumbers is a powerful

thing. By establishing a relationswith ones state dental association

a student, you are able to gain insfrom more experienced dentists oissues spanning from practice management to what political actions affecting our profession. In turn, being involved as a student membof state dental associations, we caprovide our perspective as studen

Continued on the next page

Inside this issue:

ASDA Annual Ses-

sion continued

2

A Busy Day Capitol 2

ADPAC 3

Legislation Affecting

Dentistry

5

Making a Difference

with Dental Degree

5

Corporate Dentistry 6

GKAS 7

MLPs, State Dental Associations and

Lobbying: ASDAs Annual Session


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The Lingual Groove

MLPs, State Dental Associations and Lobbying: ASDAs Annual

Session continued

A Busy Day at the Capitol

Its a busy day at the capitolRepresentative Heather Carter, theChair of the Committee on Healthbegins during a committee hearing inthe Arizona House of Representa-tives. She continues to introduce usdental students and the dentists who

represent the Arizona Dental Associ-ation supporting several oral healthinitiatives on Dental Lobby Daywhich took place February 13th,2013.It was thrilling to see the process, ifonly for a day. It sparked an evengreater interest in me for dental advo-

cacy. It was inspiring to see localdentists persuasively lobby for Medi-caid expansion for Arizonans and thebill, HB 2513, which would enablethe Board of Dental Examiners totake disciplinary action against busi-ness entities (ie. dental corporations)

that interfere with a dentists clinicaljudgment. Arizona is one of the fewstates in the nation that permit non-licensee ownership of dental practic-es.In fact during our visit, HB 2513

was scheduled for a hearing beforethe House Health Committee. Dr.

Allison House, treasurer of the Arizona Dental Association (AzDA) aKevin Earle, executive director of AzDA, testified sharing their storieand explaining the dental communtys perspective as to why this bill

should pass. This bill would give t

Board of Dental Examiners the abiity to charge a registered businessentity with unethical conduct, an

thus permit disciplinary action to btaken.

Continued on next page

The session provided such ideas asinviting the state dental associationsto campus to give presentations, andalso attempting to connect out of

state students with their home statedental association (especially if thatstate does not have a dental school).The session concluded by explainingwhat an ideal situation of involve-ment would be with a state dentalassociation as a dental student: hav-ing a voting member on each com-mittee with alternations, votingmembers on house of delegates floorand a student member on the board

of trustees. I look forward to help-

ing our chapter at ASDOH reachthis ideal situation.Finally, I attended a breakout ses-sion on one of the hottest topics indentistry today: Mid-Level Provid-ers. From everything I had been ex-posed to prior on this issue, this wasby far the most complete and wellput together presentation on Mid-Level Providers I have seen. It waswell orchestrated, showed all thedifferent sides of the issue, provided

the audience with significant dataand facilitated a discussion thatspilled into the hallway after the ses-sion had concluded. The presenta-tion examined the different modelsof Mid-Level Providers: AlaskasDental Health Aid Therapists, Min-nesotas Dental Therapists, New

Zealands Dental Therapists and

Community Dental Health Coordi-nators. The point of the session was

to highlight the American Dental

Associations stance on Mid-LevelProviders. The ADA feels thatbreaking down the barriers for allAmericans is the main issue at hanThrough prevention, literacy, eduction and instilling values in oralhealth is how this is accomplished,not by creating a new provider.By attending the various sessionsthat interested me most I received asense of empowerment and enthusiasm for how to make our chapter at

ASDOH better. Attending AnnualSession provided me with educatioideas, energy, and new networkingoutlets. I am confident, that uponutilization of what was gained fromAnnual Session, ourchapter can and willbecome greater than italready is!

~ Jordan Janis ASDOH

2016


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The Lingual Groove

A Busy Day at the Capitol continued

It would help ensure a dentistcan remain autonomous in ones de-

cision making. It is a concern thatsome dental corporations may push

treatment that is unnecessary to gaina profit. HB 2513 also eliminates theage restriction in the Dental PracticeAct for a dentist to obtain a retiredlicense, which had been arbitrarilyset at 65 years of age. Lets examinethe first part of this bill in light of the

hearing.

While I was not in person during theentirety of the hearing, I found therecording online and am able to re-port on the proceedings of the hear-ing by using this resource on theState Legislatures website atwww.azleg.gov. First, Mr. Earle pro-vided some background informationabout the necessity of the bill. Then,

Dr. House shared her personal expe-riences from previous work in a cor-

porate office.A year out of dental school, Dr.House worked as an employee den-tist for a corporate entity. One dayshe came to work and found her usu-al assistant assigned to do a full dayof cleanings, although the assistantwas not licensed or qualified to docleanings. Another day, Dr. Housewas met by a treatment plan of toothextractions and a denture delivery.

The chart was very unclear, so sheinvestigated the case. She found thatnot only did an assistant make thedenture, but the patient was nevereven seen by any of the other den-tists working in the office. Dr.House refused to do the work andwas fired later that week. She asksthat the business entities be held tothe same standard as dentists by the

Board of Dental Examiners.

In a unanimous vote, with do passrecommendation the bill was movedout of the house Health Committeeto continue on in the legislative pro-cess. To become a law this bill mustnext pass through the majority and

minority caucuses, then the Housefloor, next to the Senate Health

Committee, get passed by the full thSenate, and finally to the GovernorThe Governor can then sign the bilmaking it law. In Arizona, new lawtake effect 90 days after the Legislature adjourns for the session.Getting engaged in legislative advocacy on behalf of organized dentistis a great way to have a greater im-pact on our profession and our communities. It empowers us to have

influence beyond the patients we seon a day to day basis. It enables us help as many people as we can. Wemust find our voice and engage inpertinent issues to help mold the future of our profession. We need toprevent others from undermining oautonomy as oral health care providers and support laws that improvethe health of our patients. I encourage you to come

out for next yearsDental LobbyDay! It was time

very well spent.

~ Jessi Giles

ASDOH 2016

The American Dental Political Action Committee: Why Schools Need

to do a Better Job Making Students Aware of Their Importance

Wow, another day of emails uponemails sent to us by our school orpeople that are affiliated with ourschool. Sound familiar? Deep downI know that each and every singleone of these emails is important tome in some way or another, butalas, I do not have the time to readand respond to them all. Does that

also sound familiar? I feel especial-ly helpless reading emails askingfor a sincere donation to whatevercauses a group or individual may beraising money for. Unfortunately,with the heavy burden of studentloans, we dont have much moneyto donate. In response, we prioritizeto whom we give our money to each

year. This year, and every year af-ter, dental schools and studentsacross the country need to do a better job of making sure that theAmerican Dental Political ActionCommittee (ADPAC) is at the topof everyones list.

http://www.azleg.gov/http://www.azleg.gov/http://www.azleg.gov/


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Volume 1, Issue 1

The American Dental Political Action Committee: Why Schools Need to

do a Better Job Making Students Aware of Their Importance continued

I was honored to be a first time at-tendee to the 2013 Annual Sessionhosted by the American Student Den-tal Association in Atlanta, Georgia.Everywhere I looked, the best studentleaders in the country surrounded me.One of the opening presentations thatwe were very fortunate to see wasone on ADPAC. ADPAC is single-handedly the most important political

action committee in the field of den-tistry. Its main goal is to preservethe integrity of our discipline as wellas to educate people about the linkbetween oral care and overall health.This is accomplished by making surethat we lobby our congress to passbills that will help our profession andcommunities as a whole, and opposebills that will not.As someone who considers himself

very politically charged, I was almostembarrassed that I had not taken aninterest in ADPAC earlier. Among somuch more, ADPAC has advocatedand continues to advocate for:

Front line discussions on mid-level providers. Midlevelproviders may put pa-tients and the dental pro-

fession as a whole at seri-

ous risk!Keeping our water fluori-

datedOral health assessments for

school childrenAccess to oral care for un-

derserved populationsOral health ResearchA stop on certain taxes and

fees on dental equipmentI had heard the name AD-

PAC maybe once or twice,and probably received a few emailsabout the groups fundraising events

or learning seminars. Unfortunately,like many students, taking the time tolearn about and eventually making adonation to ADPAC was not high onmy priority list. This type of apathytowards such a crucial organizationthat is fighting for our futures as den-tists is simply unacceptable.

Asking every dental school to make amandatory $5 contribution per stu-dent wont work because this is a po-

litical action committeeand as weall know, anything that deals withpolitics is simply a gray area. Evenmandatory ASDOH membership is-nt at every dental school (somethingthat immediately needs to bechanged!). To offer an analogy, peo-ple dont get to opt out of paying for

services such as having police offic-ers and firefighters if they are quali-fied to pay for it. These services inturn help keep communities safe incase if something goes wrong. AD-PAC also offers a service that helpskeep its members, patients, and thefield of oral health safe. Their actionsare for the wellbeing of all its stu-

dents, whether they know it or not

This is why I feel that we must domore at our schools to educate ourclassmates and incoming students its importance. By increasing awarness about ADPAC we can not onlhelp raise more money, but we canalso inspire individuals in our fieldbecome more in touch with how potics directly affects the field of dentistry. I would ask that Deans of detal schools across the country add

brief but informative presentation their incoming student orientations(when student attention is probablyits highest) explaining ADPACs s

nificance. Current student dentistsand members of ADPAC can takepart in a student led presentation athe beginning of every year whilestudents havent yet used up moneon things they dont really need.

Along with giving students a webs

or shooting them an email remindithem to donate, we should hand oudonation cards/slips which can becollected in a box kept in front of troom. These are only a few ideas!Im aware that the membership in

ADPAC varies at different schoolsjust the same as it does in ASDA.However, just like with ASDA mebership, we should find creative neways to educate students on the im

portance of ADPAC and how theirinvolvement can help make it aneven stronger organ-ization.

~Amol AminASDOH 2016


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The Lingual Groove

Legislation Affecting Dentistry Medicaid Expansion for Low-Income Adults Reinstatement of Adult Emergency Dental Benefit Abolish Use Tax on Clear Aligner products Business Entities: Unethical Conduct

Reinstatement of Adult ER BenefitsReinstatement will put over $20 million

back into dentists offices and com-

munity clinics where patients can get propercare instead of going to hospital emergencyrooms.

Business Entities: Unethical Conduct

Give Arizona State Board of Dental Examin-ers (BODEX) the authority to charge a busi-ness entity for interfering in the professionaljudgment of licensed dentists. This addresses

How Can YOU Make a Difference With That Dental Degree?

~ ElizabethRiversASDOH2015

The U.S. Public Health Service isfor those who want to gain life ex-perience living in different placeswhile working as a dentist in under-served communities. Entering theservice offers a massive amount of

career options that are dynamic andfulfilling. The mission of U.S. PHSis simple, but profoundto protect,promote and advance the health ofthe nation. This organization em-phasizes an overallapproach tohealth care. This philosophy surelyresonates with ASDOH students.

The U.S. PHS is made of over 6,500

officers of different health profes-

sions with a total of 300 dentists in

commission corps and about 1000

dentists in civil service. There are

small (1 dentist) or large clinics(~40 dentists!) available to work in.

Other benefits of the U.S. PHS in-

clude: flexibility in where you live,

loan repayment options (when

working with IHS $24,000 a year),

loads of experience in the clinics, 30

days paid vacation + 10 federal holi-

day vacations, housing compensa-

tion, paid maternity leave, free

health & dental care, malpractice

coverage, retirement (after 20 years

service, retire at 50% of base payand after 30 years service, retire at

75% of base pay), savings plans,

humanitarian mission trips, and

more!



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The Lingual Groove

How Can YOU Make a Difference With That

Dental Degree? continued

Another exciting aspect of joiningthe U.S. PHS is to work on manynation-wide projects to improve oralhealth such as surveillance of caries,sealants, tooth retention, implement-ing Health People 2020 and the OralHealth Initiative 2010 and improv-ing health literacy. Your impactwith this organization would be farreaching, needless to say. With onelicense, you can work at any duty

station in the U.S. (except if you area tribal hire, in which case you mustbe licensed in that state). How doyou get your assignment? YouCHOOSE. You FIND a job openingand apply there. The availabilitiesare posted online. And how earlyshould you apply? One year in ad-vance. Its competitive, keep that in

mind! For more information, visitusphs.gov. Please note the infor-

mation in this article was gatheredfrom the ASDA Annual Sessionworkshop presented by WilliamBailey, Chief Dental Officer of theU.S. Public Health Service.To ask:

Whats the yearly in-come?

Would earning an MPHsubstantially increasechances of getting in?

What are the specifics ofthe contract you sign?

Could I do this in Ore-gon?

What are the specific dif-ferences between Com-mission Corps and CivilService?

Can you be ordered toleave a duty station andwork some where else?

How do you get your assignment?You CHOOSE. You FIND a jobopening and apply there. YOU mustlook for it and find it though. Avail-abilities are posted.How early should you apply? 1 yearin advance. Its competitive keep in

mind!

The U.S. PHS has a BROAD VIEWof health.U.S. PHS National Efforts Surveillance of caries, sealants,

tooth retention (aka Collects da-ta about nation-wide health)

Implement Healthy People 2020 For the first time, Oral

health is a leading healt

indicator Improve Health Literacy

U.S. PHS is all aboutserving vulnerable populations. Health Literacyis about the dentist too.And of course about thepatient too.

Means to understand &use the system.

Fed govt has made re-

sources available to professionals

HHS Oral Health Initiative 201 HHS FluoridationFor more info usphs.gov

~ Jessi Giles ASDOH 2016

Whats the profession doing to

work on the access to care is-

sue?asked Dr. Greg Loeben to aclassroom full of ASDOH studentsduring the last monthly Student Pro-fessionalism and Ethics Committee(SPEC) meeting.50% of our na-tions kids depend on Medicaid. Is

corporate dentistry a solution to theaccess to care issue? It is a question

for you to consider.

Why is there an access issue in thefirst place? Simply put, dental careis too expensive for a majority ofpeople. It has been proposed thatcorporate chains of dental officescan offer the much needed care tothose who are presently without ac-cess.


Is Corporate Dentistry the Solution to the Access to Care Issue?


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8th Annual Give Kids a Smile

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The Lingual Groove

Is Corporate Dentistry the Solution to the Access to Care Issue? continued

Corporate dentistry is when an ex-

ternal source of money builds abusiness and then employs dentiststo continue that business. There isnothing wrong with the employment

of a dentist to gain a profit. Thepotential problems of this arrange-

ment begin when the dentist-patient relationship is attacked andtreatment plans become motivatedby increasing profits of the inves-tors and not by the patients bestinterests. For example, Dr. Loebeninformed us Medicaid reimbursestwice as much for a crown over afilling. In too few words, corporatedentistry may result in a conflict of

interests.

When considering which corporatebusiness to join, Dr. Loeben sug-gested reflecting on which structureis one where your morals wont be

compromised. Studies have shownpeople tend to be more compliant to

authority than we think. It is im-portant to note that there are a lot ofpeople who have received excellentcare from corporate offices and the-se people dont speak up about theircare.

SPEC would love to hear yourthoughts on this topic! Feel free toemail me, Sam Bona or Scott How-ell. Please join us for our next SPEC

meeting on April 24th

during thelunch hour in Flagstaff.

~ Jessi Giles ASDOH 2016

This year Arizona School of Dentis-try and Oral Health (ASDOH) heldits 8th annual Give Kids a Smile day(GKAS). The event, held on FridayFebruary 15th, hosted children fromelementary schools throughout thePhoenix area. This years turnout

was the largest Give Kids a Smilesite in the state with alumni, stu-dents and faculty coming together toprovide 364 children with the dentalcare they needed. Every student atASDOH proved an integral part ofthe operation, from loading and un-loading the buses, taking radio-

graphs, providing treatments, help-ing run the clinics, as well as enter-taining children in the waiting roomand post-operatively.

School buses started arriving at 8:30am and by 9:00 the clinics werefilled with young patients waiting to

receive treatmentsranging from clean-ings, extractions, op-erative restorations,endodontic work andstainless steel crowns.Post-treatment, thechildren were led out-side to a fun filled,fair-like arena. There, they were metwith games, music, face-painting,prizes and volunteers ready to quellany dental fears.

The incredible success of this years

event was due to hard-work and

dedication demonstrated from all the

students, volunteers, faculty and

staff. The compassion for communi-

ty healthcare was extremely evident

through the enthusiasm and efforts

set forth by all the participants. Each

year, the

event

grows

stronger

with larger

numbersof volunteers and higher numbers o

children being treated. Therefore, it

is exciting to see what the upcoming

years of GKAS will bring.

~ Masha Raykhman ASDOH 2015


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The Lingual Groove

Who Says Dental School Cant Be Fun???

I haven't seen my dentistIn over four yearsEvery time I doHe brings me to tears

Its not so much the floss

Or the pick or the drill Or the scraper or gasIts usually the bill

He tells me to watch itIll get gum diseaseBrush and floss dailyFor your own sake, please

I do what I canAnd ignore his reminders

Ill go back when the painIs so bad that Im blinder

Hell just complainAnd scrape and cleanAnd give me a new billThe dentist is so mean

~ Rolan Whitt

The dentist pulled my tooth out,and he thought it was such fun,he grabbed his pliersand dental priersand pulled another one.

"Yippee! Hooray! What awesome fun!"he shouted out with glee.

He grinned a grinthen went back inand pulled out number three.

Then number four and number fiveand numbers six and sevenwere followed bya cheerful cryof "Eight! Nine! Ten! Eleven!"

He took a few more from the top

and some from underneath;he yanked them fastuntil at lasthed pulled out all my teeth.

Without my teeth I cannot chew;I just eat soup and mush.But dont be sad.Im kind of gladIll never have to brush!

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April 2013 Lingual Groove