Back to the table of contentsReader's Digest arrived at my office this month. Even though the cover states that 27 million copies in 19 languages are bought monthly, mine comes for free without even asking. I'm deciding whether it should go into the waiting room where they would like it placed. Among articles titled "Dealing With Difficult Neighbors", "Rage on the River Zambezi", and "My Unforgettable Animal Lady" is a Special Report - "How Honest Are Dentists?" The author then tells how his 28 state investigation uncovered disturbing news about the dental profession.
The author, William Ecenbarger visited fifty dentists with his x-rays and insurance forms and told each dentist he was moving to the area. The treatment plans varied from 1 crown at $500.00 to 28 crowns at $29,000.
The investigation is not that special. The public is aware that in any profession people take advantage and if there are doubts, another opinion should be obtained. This article is slanted to its negative conclusion from the beginning. The author states "Dentistry is a stunningly inexact science". When seeing patients at different points in time there will be differences in clinical judgment, but honesty should not be questioned.
It is annoying to know that Reader's Digest is pretty uncontroversial and for their big investigative report they chose dentistry rather than O.J. or Campaign Finance Reform.
The conclusions are inaccurate. By my count, of the 60 dentists visited, 8 dentists had treatment plans and fees far from the others. These 8 were referred to separately in the article for their fee, treatment plan, or even voice, so when reading one would think 3/4 of the dentists visited were demons. To coin a Seinfeld term this is double or even triple dipping. The other 42 dentists were represented by 8 individual positive comments. Mr. Ecenbarger believes that pictures taken by the evil dentist with the intraoral camera for free is to "sell" a case, not for education and records. (Didn't I get this magazine for free?) According to the author, dentists flock to courses and read journals only on subjects to increase profits. He makes no comment on the many scientific journals that are published or continuing education courses taken only to improve patient care. This magazine gets tossed out.
The next meeting is the Sy Symanski lecture and staff night which will be in March.
See you at the next meeting.
- Phil Engel
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Attendance: Bloom, Brunsden, Engel, Fromkin, Huberman, Kahn, Krantz, Leizer, Perlmutter, Rosen, Schambra, Villa, Weiner. Acceptance of Minutes last meeting - Nov. 12, 1996 - vote unanimous.
| Treasurer's Report: | Previous Balance |
$20,726.10 |
| M. Schambra, Treasurer | Income / Expenses |
-3,463.75 |
Current Balance |
17,262.35 |
BOARD OF TRUSTEES - C. Brunsden
See full report in this newsletter.
MEMBERSHIP-N. Villa
Six Middlesex County members were dropped from the NJDA roster. NJDA wants the county to contact these members in an attempt to retain them as members. A letter is being sent to these members outlining the benefits of membership and to invite them back. A follow-up telephone call will be made to these members.
DENTAL BENEFITS - D. Krantz
A new ADA code was requested for post and core restorations when multiple posts are placed.
BC/BS medical requested the dental society to submit CPT codes for procedures that dentists could perform. The society declined, stating that if a dentist submitted a CPT code, then it was within their scope of expertise.
The ADA had a benefits conference attended by employers. Employers stated that they were now seeking value and quality in a dental plan. This could mean a change in trend away from dental managed care.
In a situation with Prudential, it was ruled that benefit overpayments to a dentist should be requested from the subscriber, not the dentist, unless the payment exceeded the total fee for the service.
Managed care plans are being lobbied to consider pediatric dentists a primary care provider in addition to general dentists. Medical plans have already made the move to allow pediatricians to be primary care providers.
Rule making continues to make it mandatory for dental consultants to be licensed. BC/BS lawsuit update: An injunction was placed against BC/BS for arbitrarily dropping six NJ dentists from the plan. BC/BS appealed the injunction but have been unsuccessful thus far and the injunction stands to date.
First Option has been sold to a Texas company.
Orthodontists have been approached by corporations to buy their practice and lease it back to them in exchange for cash and stock in the parent corporation, making them employee managers of their own practice.
NEW DENTISTS - M Weiner
NJDA is designing their own "Roadmap to Success" as done by the ADA. It is now a 30-page book packed full of information for the new dentist. This publication will be given to 150-200 new dentists each year. Much of the project's emphasis is being placed on the dental school students and comparatively little on the NJ residents. Middlesex County is considering a motion to the Council to create a Residency Outreach Program to help new dentists who are continuing their education in the residency programs and who will likely remain in New Jersey to practice.
DENTAL HEALTH - B. Huberman
This year's Smile Line will be held on Friday, June 6, 1997. Last year, 47 dentists answered questions from 302 callers. The event was underwritten by Delta Dental which also assisted NJDA in publicizing the program. A subcommittee was appointed for the NJDA web-site to determine additional subject areas and develop additional articles for NJDA on-line. Suggestions for topic areas include tooth brushing tips, plaque, and sealants.
The Medical Committee of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic
Association endorsed NJDA's proposal to mandate wearing mouth protectors
for all high school athletes. NJSIAA anticipates that a decision will be
made in April, 1997.
NJDA continues to conduct the Senior Dent program that affords eligible persons a 15% courtesy reduction for all dental services if they receive treatment from a participating dentist.
LEGISLATION J . Leizer
Assembly Bill No. 1897: This bill would permit the state to suspend professional licenses for nonpayment of student loan debt. NJDA opposes this legislation on the grounds that licensure should be based solely on competency.
Assembly Bill No. 1667: This legislation would legalize denturism by establishing "denture technologists" as a profession. NJDA opposes this legislation and staff has already met with key Senate . leaders to discuss our concerns.
Federal Election Results: There are three new House members representing New Jersey: Steve Rothman (D9th District), Bill Pascreil (D-8th District and Mike Pappas (R-12th District. NJDA has a good relationship with each. Congressman (harlie-Norwood won his bid for reelection and was very appreciative of all the support he had received from New Jersey dentists.
The Council will recommend to the NJDA Board of Trustees that NJDA participate in NJ Breeze, which is an anti-tobacco coalition.
MENTOR COMMITTEE - E. Glickman
An evening seminar on "Computers and the Internet" is being put together.
Bob Silverstein will do a presentation on the MCDS web-site for the general membership.
MEMBERSHIP TASK FORCE N. Villa
The task force has targeted "new" dentists for our marketing campaign. The group includes dentists who have been practicing less than 10 years.
Last month, there were 6 nonmember guests who attended the meeting.
OLD BUSINESS
A donation will be made this month to St. Peter's Medical Center for use of their facility for continuing education programs.
NEW BUSINESS
Dudley & Gramps - A video on dental disease is available to MCDS and is suitable to put on TV. Watch for further information on the February ski trip and the June Trenton Thunder trip!
Respectfully submitted.
Ira S. Rosen DMD
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Previous Balance |
|
| (9/30/96) | $20,726.10 |
Income/Expenses |
|
| (10/1/96-10/31/96) | $-3,463.75 |
Current Balance |
|
| (10/31/96) | $17,262.35 |
| |
| |
| |
| Continuing Education-Inc | 2,025.00 |
| Dinner Payments | 130.00 |
| Dues | 918.30 |
Total Income |
$3,073.30 |
| |
| Audio/Visual Equipment | 166.00 |
| Continuing Education Expense | 508.50 |
| Dinner Meetings | 2,638.35 |
| Executive Committee Dinner | 108.50 |
| Lecture Fees | 500.00 |
| Newsletter | 1,164.38 |
| Plaques | 284.93 |
| Reimbursement | 298.00 |
| Secretarial | 93.00 |
| TVS Insurnance | 775.69 |
Total Expenses |
$6,537.05 |
Total Income/Expense |
$-3,463.75 |
STATE BOARD OF DENTISTRY: Dr. H. Schwartz
DONATED DENTAL SERVICES
| 1988-1996 -Total DonatedServices | $3,399,264.00 |
| 1996 Donated Services | $605,893.00 |
| 1996 Law Services | $158,209.00 |
| Total Patients Treated | 2,863 |
| 1996 Patients Treated | 414 |
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S REPORT: By Phil Cocuzza
LEGAL COUNSEL REPORT: By Art Meisel
UMDNJ REPORT:
NJDA BOARD OF TRUSTEES - COUNCIL ON NOMINATIONS
NOMINATIONS:
| President-Elect | Howard Schwartz | Bergen |
| Vice-President | Harris Colton | Southern |
| Treasurer | Dick Riva | Tri-County |
| Speaker | Walter Chinoy | Central |
| Secretary | Carmine LoMonaco | Essex |
- Respectfully submitted, Cavan Brunsden, D.M.D., State
Trustee
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It has been the goal of the ADA, NJDA, MCDS and the Council on New Dentists to successfully recruit new dentists into organized dentistry. The primary approach taken by the ADA (through ASDA in dental schools) and mimicked by NJDA and the Council on New Dentists (through aggressively marketing NJDA to New Jersey Dental School 3rd and 4th year students) has, in my opinion, not given us a respectable return of new members based on our time and financial investment. It is imperative that we rethink our approach to new dentists membership recruitment in order to make better use of our time and dues dollars..
The most neglected group of potential new members to NJDA are the dental residents that populate the many GPR, anesthesia and OMFS programs throughout the state. The model example that MCDS has set by sponsoring the residents of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and JFK Hospital at our component dinner/lectures is not being practiced by other components and not being insisted upon by NJDA.. Representatives from the Council on New Dentists and the Council on membership do not devote one second of time or one penny of their line item in the NJDA budget courting dental residents. These residents should be our main target group of new recruits. Undergraduate dental students are far too self-absorbed with graduation requirements to embrace the "camaraderie of organized dentistry" pitch from NJDA representatives. Instead of spending our time and money going after new licensees, we are doing the equivalent of explaining the membership benefits of the AAA to someone who just started taking driving lessons!
Another neglected group of potential new members are the many postdoctoral students at UMDNJ (and Penn, TEMPLE, NYU and COLUMBIA). Although these graduate students are highly likely to assume their specialty practices in NJ, they are missing from the NJDA membership recruitment priority list. I would be interested to find out if they are receiving NJDA journals/literature or if they are invited to Essex County component meetings (subsidized by NJDA).
My introduction to NJDA was as a dental resident at RWJUH, invited and sponsored by MCDS to attend monthly component meetings. The residency/postdoctoral experience breeds camaraderie and is an opportune time to be introduced to organized dentistry. By changing our direction of thinking in membership recruitment, we can bring more members into NJDA and thus stabilize or (if we're very successful) reduce our annual dues investment.
- By MITCH WEINER
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The Middlesex County Dental Society continues to reach out to our community through a series of activities that are intended to educate children about preventive dentistry and about the importance of dentistry in their lives. Our program includes:
Thank you to the MCDS membership for their continued support of this project.
"Uncover the Secrets to a Healthy Smile"
NJDA's "Day at the Circus" is scheduled for Sunday, March 9,
1997. We anticipate another successful turnout for this event. Following
the performance there is an optional party with refreshments and visiting
circus performers and a prize drawing for dentists, guests, and their children
in the Winners Club. Tickets are $18.50 per person for circus only or $35
for circus plus post performance party. Ticket order deadline is February
21, 1997.
WYNDHAM, NY
Wednesday, Feb. 26, 1997
MCDS is organizing an all-day bus trip so that members and their families can enjoy a day of fun, sport, and stress-free re-energization. If interested, please contact Dr. Brian Dubin at 821-7676
25 Year Service Awards - St. Peters Medical Center
Leader of Distinction - Middlesex County Regional Chamber of Commerce
Engaged to be Married March 1997
Dr. Philip Engel Honored
Dr. Philip Engel receives the Presidents Plaque from Dr. Ralph Attanasio. NJDA President, after serving MCDS as its president for the past year.
LIFE MEMBER PIN AWARDED
NJDA President Dr. Ralph Attanasio presents the NJDA Life Member pin
to Dr.. David Schwartz after thirty years of consecutive ADA membership.
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Tuesday, February 4, 1997
Sunday, March 9, 1997
Wednesday, March 19, 1997
Wednesday, March 26, 1997
Sunday, April 6, 1997
Wednesday, May 21, 1997
Friday, June 6-7, 1997