📅 Catching gum disease early saves teeth,

In this edition:

• 📅 Catching gum disease saves teeth

• 👵 Majority support Medicare dental coverage

• 👍 Good news for DSO

• 😖 Root Canal pain addressed through technology

• And more!

Catching gum disease saves teeth

Periodontal disease is a common and growing issue. About 40% of adults ages 30 and over have some form of it. That number increases to 70% for people over age 65. Here are some of the symptoms to look for and why it’s so important to catch it early.

Periodontal disease is an infection and inflammation of the gums. If left untreated, advanced stages can lead to underlying bone loss.

Thankam Thyvalikakath, DMD, MDS, PhD, research scientist at Regenstrief Institute and director of the IU School of Dentistry says, “Then you have no other choice but remove the teeth, and then go for replacing teeth.” Dentists stress this can all be prevented with good oral hygiene.

Majority of people support Medicare coverage

A new poll by CareQuest Institute and the Oral Health Progress and Equity Network (OPEN) reveals that, regardless of political orientation, 92% of voters nationwide are in favor of adding dental coverage to Medicare.

9 out of 10 voters also want expanded coverage to include dental services for veterans, and 74% support adding dental benefits for adults to Medicaid, both state-wide and federally.

Overall, dental care ranked the highest on the list of services voters hope to see added to Medicaid. This is a problem because inadequate oral care can exacerbate chronic medical conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease and delay critical diagnoses.

Root Canal pain may be a thing of the past

Root canal therapy is a dental procedure to remove infected pulp tissue and bacteria from the inside of a tooth. In the past, root canals could be painful because the dentist had to manually remove the infected material. However, new technology has made root canals less painful and more effective.

One new technology is the GentleWave procedure. The GentleWave procedure uses a pressure vacuum to remove debris from inside the tooth. This means that the dentist does not have to create as wide of a gap in the tooth, which reduces the likelihood of a fracture.

The GentleWave procedure only costs $100 more than a traditional root canal. However, many dental plans do not yet cover the GentleWave procedure.

Good news for DSOs

There are two main positive trends for DSOs this year.

First, the outlook on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) is improving. The economy is expected to get better in the latter half of 2024, and many DSOs have recently secured funding to fuel future growth through acquisitions and network expansion.

Second, DSOs are continuing to adopt new technologies. For example, Dental Care Alliance became the first large DSO to launch guided biofilm therapy to its network, and Heartland Dental completed the largest dental AI rollout in history. These new technologies can improve patient education and treatment acceptance.