November 2006 Newsletter

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“Oral Lesions Caused By Drugs Your Patients Take”
Featured Speaker: Dr. Scott De Rossi

Dr. DeRossi received his D.M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine and completed his post-doctoral training in Oral Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Oral Medicine and practices at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Oral Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine and is a recipient of the distinguished Earl Bank Hoyt teaching award at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the Director of the Division of Advanced Dental Education and Director of the post-doctoral residency in Oral Medicine. Dr. DeRossi is a co-author of Burket’s Oral Medicine and has published numerous articles, textbook chapters, and monographs and has lectured extensively on TMJ and facial pain, medicine and dentistry and oral mucosal diseases.
Many commonly prescribed medications are capable of causing adverse oral drug reactions although some have greater ability to do so than others.
Little scientific data exists as to the prevalence of the oral side effects of systemic medications, but a majority of Americans take systemic medications on a daily basis. This informative lecture will review some of the common oral lesions caused by medications including an up to date discussion of Bisphosphonate-induced osteonecrosis.

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President's Message - Dr. Robert Silverstein

Procedures, or People?
Are our patients procedures (“The 9:00 crown prep is here”) or people with names (“Mrs. Smith is here for her 9:00 crown prep appointment”)? At first glance, the difference may not appear to be that great, but think about it. We tend to be mostly task oriented or mostly relationship oriented in the way that we practice. If you are task oriented, when working on patients you’ll have such thoughts as, “My goal is to get this procedure done.” Thoughts tend to be more about completing procedures – you are concerned about your need to check off an item on your list to feel a sense of accomplishment. “I feel successful because I saw X numbers of patients today and did X numbers of procedures on them.”
If you are relationship oriented, your thoughts tend to be more focused on the patient’s experience. While treating them you have thoughts about helping them have an experience that is as positive as possible (offering to rinse them out when you see they are uncomfortable, asking them questions about their lives and giving them your undivided attention while they respond, etc.). Your sense of success comes from establishing a connection with the patient and enjoying that relationship.
Of course all of us spend time in both of these “boxes”, but one of these approaches will predominate. Which one is more beneficial to your practice? I’ll make a case for the relationship approach. Here is what has been written on this subject: It has been demonstrated that the effect of a practitioner who is a good listener and who is compassionate can be more effective than the treatment he/she performs or prescribes. This is part of the placebo effect. It is also well known that patients who don’t feel understood are more likely to seek some form of retribution against the dentist. This could look like them leaving your practice, or sometimes this can look like a lawsuit.
What can you do to develop your relationship with your patients? Know a patient for more than his or her pathology or treatment plan. Know and have an interest in a patient’s personal and family activities. Be a good communicator, and in particular, be a good listener. This means letting your patients finish their own sentences, being at their eye level and giving them your undivided attention. Put yourself in their shoes. How would you want to be treated if it was you laying in that chair? Aristotle said about patients, “They will not care how much you know, until they know how much you care.” What do you want to create with your patients?

- October 10, 2006 -

Attendance: Ashmen, Courey, Galkin, Glickman, Kahn, Patel, Prabhu, Rosen, Schambra, Silverstein, Stein, Vitale, Weiner
Acceptance of Minutes-vote unanimous.
President’s Report-Robert Silverstein
·We are in the process of helping St. Peters go through the articles that they have in their dental library - weeding out articles that are outdated or would no longer be of interest. Once we have done this, they will post the article listing on their web site to make it easier for our members to find what they are looking for.
·I will not be able to attend the NJDA House of Delegates meeting on 11/8 at the Pines. Those Board members who are attending the Adams course can attend the relevant portion of the House of Delegates meeting, as we have done in the past.
Treasurer’s Report-Scott Galkin
See full report on page 3.
Editor’s Report-Mitch Weiner, Bob Silverstein, Constantine Simos
Bob: I have put a system in place to allow people to sign up to receive the newsletter electronically in lieu of by mail. Members can sign up for this immediately.
Website Editor’s Report-Bob Silverstein
I have posted the screening form from the Oral Cancer Screening presentation by Dr. Rosenheck, as well as the PowerPoint presentation that he was not able to show us.
Program Chairperson’s Report-Bob Ashmen
Dr. Howard Fraiman will be speaking this month on creating an environment for anterior esthetic dentistry. The trifold application for the all-day lecture series has been created and is now being mailed to a regional list of NJ dentists outside the local membership.
NJDA Trustee’s report-Nancy Villa
See NJDA Noteworthy News on page 7.
NJDA Council Reports:
Dental Benefits-Mark Vitale
See report on page 9.
Dental Education-Bob Ashmen
Four recipients have been chosen for the $500 scholarships for students currently enrolled in accredited dental assisting programs in NJ.
Membership-Scott Galkin
The NJDA membership council met in September and reviewed the membership initiatives for the upcoming year; including strategies for recruitment in UMDNJ and the statewide residency programs. It was also reported that the new protocol of evaluating all dues waivers at the NJDA level was progressing well. The MCDS New Member Welcoming Program was well received for the September general meeting. It will be continued at future meetings.
Committee Reports:
Corporate Sponsorships-Constantine Simos
3i will be partially sponsoring our next speaker on 10/17. I am also waiting to hear back from Philips (Sonicare) about that same meeting. Sunstar Butler and Smith Barney are very likely to sponsor future meetings
Budget and Finance-Ira Rosen
The 2006 -2007 budget was presented to the Board and unanimously approved.
New Business:
The Board decided to allow staff members to attend all three of the upcoming full day courses.
Good and Welfare:
Congratulations to Marlene - tonight is her birthday.
Respectfully submitted,
Maya Prabhu, Secretary

(9/1/06 - 9/30/06)
Checking 7,217.88 1,325.66
Savings 52,486.18 52,645.36
CD (5.25%) 25,000.00 25,000.00
(matures 3/16/07)
TOTAL: 84,704.06 78,971.02

P&L STATEMENT CHECKING ACCOUNT
(9/1/06 - 9/30/06)
INCOME
INTEREST 1.63
TOTAL INCOME 1.63
EXPENSES
CONT. EDUC.-EXP 2,500.00
DONATIONS 600.00
EXECCOMDINNER 152.00
EXECUTIVE SECRETARY 525.00
MEMBERSHIP EXP 66.29
NEWSLETTER 1,879.04
OFFICE SUPPLIES 11.75
TELEPHONE 159.77
TOTAL EXPENSES 5,893.85

OVERALL TOTAL -5,892.22

P&L SAVINGS ACCOUNT
(9/1/06 - 9/30/06)
INCOME
INTEREST 159.18
TOTAL INCOME 159.18

NJDA Noteworthy News

One resolution was made-- to give the Editor the right to vote on the board of trustees. This will be voted on at the next House of Delegates meeting.
ANNUAL SESSION
• Amalgam separators – A program will be given on the Wednesday of the Annual Session
• Fingerprinting will be available for members to fulfill the new licensure requirement
• Friday morning courses will be available from 8-10 to avoid overlap with the House of Delegates meeting
• NJDA’s web site has a new upgraded section on the annual session that still needs tweaking. Please review the site and give feedback to Eric Elmore.
• A total profit of $65,000 is expected from this year’s annual session. (this amount would likely cover associated NJDA staff salaries)
• The upcoming board retreat will include a silent auction organizational meeting. Please give feedback on last year’s event.
GKAS The date is set for Friday Feb. 2, 2007.
WEEKEND STUDY CLUB
• Bob Hersh’s program on the perio/systemic link will be repeated in AC because there were more members interested in the course than the room could accommodate. The next program is also sold out.
MEMBERSHIP
• We have had 7 continuous years of increasing membership. At this time we have 4667 members which is 4 more members than year end last year.
• Last week a ¼ year dues mailing was sent to 1400 nonmembers (just the “live” ones) and only 20 had “bad” addresses. Seven dentists have already decided to join from this contact.
• We have to compliment the staff at NJDA for “cleaning up” the nonmember list and for coordinating data with the ADA properly. The membership list is coordinated with the ADA annually and this year there were only 5 discrepancies whereas in the past there were up to 100 discrepancies.
• We have had 116 non-renews this year (usually more than 140) and the names have been distributed to officers for follow-up.
• The Dues Billing Election form was mailed last week, please return this only if you want to have a payment plan.
DENTAL BENEFITS
• Encourage everyone to purchase the new CDT book since it explains the details of the coding and also lists procedures that can be billed separately that are performed in conjunction with certain procedures.
• NJDA is proposing that all claim examiners for insurance companies need to obtain a “limited registration certificate” which would allow for tracking and accountability. (The bill to require a NJ license was vetoed due to the associated increased costs which would have been passed on to patients—Ins. companies have regional claim facilities that may not be in NJ) The NJ Dept. of Banking and Insurance would then be the regulating body that would discipline the “bad” examiners.
RELIEF
• After many hours of debate on changing our bylaws to allow out of state distribution of funds so we could donate to the Katrina Relief Fund through the ADA Foundation---our check was returned since they are no longer accepting donations. DEP
• The dept. of environmental protection has had a requirement (for quite some time) for dentists who have septic systems to pay a registration fee of $5400 plus additional fees for mandatory biannual waste water inspections. (Any business that generates chemical waste has the same registration). There has never been any tracking or enforcement of this regulation in the past. Since Art Meisel has learned of this “requirement” he wanted dentists made aware that it may be enforced in the future. He was concerned that if enforced, this large expense may lead to geographic access issues in the future.
NEW JERSEY DENTAL SCHOOL (presented by Cecile Feldman)
• The issue of “cheating” in the class of 2006 was thoroughly investigated by the administration and one student was expelled, several are repeating their senior year and all are required to take additional ethics courses. The “givers” and the “takers” of credits were equally disciplined. Each student was personally reviewed for past proficiencies.
• The school has amended their system of reviewing clinical requirements and has increased the initial patient load for students in order to give them a better chance of easily obtaining enough procedures.
• Dean Feldman has been approached by deans of other dental schools and complimented for her management of this situation. The administration created a standardization of disciplinary procedures which can be used as a model for other schools in the future.
• UMDNJ has a new board of directors and the administration has been reorganized to include another 23 people in charge of auditing the whole group.
• Due to significant budget cuts, the AEGD program in Sommerdale is on hiatus.
• The dental school is looking into starting a foreign dentist training program with a class of 15. NJDS is one of the only schools in the tri-state area that doesn’t have one of these programs, so in the grand scheme of things this will generate a small number of additional dentists to be added to our ranks. The hope is for some of these foreign dentists to end up practicing in “ethnic” areas. In addition, a degree from the US is highly respected in other countries and dentists who return home have the opportunity to become very successful. All applicants will be required to have passed both parts of the National Boards and need to be proficient in oral and written English. The program will be a minimum of 2 years and is expected to generate a healthy profit to help finance other needs of the dental school.

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Attention:
Volunteers needed for
local MCDS Community
Outreach Oral Cancer
Screenings.
If interested in helping with this
worthwhile cause,
call Marlene at 732-238-1255

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THE ADA RESEARCH AGENDA1

The ADA’s Council on Scientific Affairs has determined that it is imperative that the Association take a leading role in promoting, conducting and critically reviewing research on topics related to dentistry and its relationship to the overall health of the individual. The American Dental Association will serve as a facilitator of the national dental research effort by working closely with the American and International Associations for Dental Research, the American Dental Education Association, professional specialty groups, government agencies and industry.
The RI and the Paffenbarger Research Center (PRC) serve as models of effective public and private collaboration, and should continue their research on technologies and materials of greatest benefit to the public and the profession. With this in mind, the Council has developed this Research Agenda which enumerates priority treatment-oriented issues and emerging issues of importance in the management of oral diseases. The Council acknowledges that the Research Agenda is not exhaustive, but rather enumerates the priority issues concerning the practice of dentistry. The Council will continue to review and forward suggested changes annually to the Board of Trustees.
The Research Agenda is stratified among 4 broad goals and corresponding specific objectives. The broad goals will be consistent for 2-3 years, and the specific objectives will change annually. These topics are selected based on input from members on priority clinical topics and the need to address emerging issues in dentistry.
RESEARCH AGENDA TOPICS
Goal 1: To understand the social, behavioral and biological determinants of oral and dental diseases and their impact on the provision of dental care.
Objective 1-1: Evaluate the application of risk assessment and management strategies on oral health outcomes.
Goal 2: To understand the outcomes of elective dental procedures provided at different ages.
Objective 2-1: To evaluate the outcome of third molar extraction in different age groups.
Goal 3: To understand the scientific basis of emerging issues of interest to the practice of dentistry.
Objective 3-1: Evaluate the scientific reasons, outcomes, and management strategies for complications associated with the use of bisphosphonates.
Objective 3-2: Understand the scientific basis of the relationship between oral health and systemic conditions and evaluate the impact of dental interventions on these systemic conditions.
Goal 4: To conduct research in support of the application of evidence-based dentistry.
Objective 4-1: Determine the most effective methods to facilitate the implementation of scientific information into the practice of dentistry.
Objective 4-2: Develop and utilize practice-based research networks to answer clinically relevant research questions of interest to the profession.
1Adopted by the ADA Board of Trustees (August 2006); Adopted by the ADA Council on Scientific Affairs (July 2006)

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2007 MCDS Budget
Income
Cont. Educ.-inc 20,000
Corp Spon-c.ed. 14,000
Corp Spon-mentr 1,700
Corp Spon-mtngs 7,000
Corp Spon-newsl 1,300
Dues 50,000
Interest 2,000
Mentor Comm-inc 9,000
Staff Night-inc 9,000
Expense
Accountant Fees -250
Audiovisual Eqp -450
Board Member Expenses -300
Children’s Dental Health Month -1,200
Cont. Educ.-exp -40,000
Dinnermeetings -21,000
Donations -2,000
Execcomdinner. -2,100
Executive Secretary -5,500
Insurance -600
Memorials And Gifts -200
Mentor Comm-exp -4,000
Name Badges -400
Newsletter -5,000
Office Supplies -800
Plaques -500
Postage -1,500
Secretarial -1,000
Staff Night. -20,000
Taxes -50
Telephone -1,000
Total Income: 114,000
Total Expenses: -107,850
Difference: 6,150

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Council on Dental Benefits

-CRP Statistics was reviewed from January 1, 2006 through August 31, 2006. There were 79 complaints submitted to NJDA; 42 were resolved, 14 were for data purposes, 20 are pending and 3 was not resolvable. The vast majority of the complaints in the “other” category are carrier requests for refunds. For the new CRP reports, staff will create a new category specific to refunds.
-Response from DDPNJ re:Bitewings: The council reviewed Delta’s letter to the council acknowledging receipt of its position that bitewing radiographs are an important diagnostic tool for certain patients and further benefit limitations on their frequency should not be imposed.
-Letter to Delta CA re:Periapicals: The council reviewed NJDA’s letter to Delta CA requesting information on how it intends to process future claims on which a single periapical radiograph is billed at the same time as bitewings. This request is further to ADA’s letter to Delta advising that its processing is inconsistent with CDT 2005.
-Local Anesthesia Coding: The council discussed a recommendation to the ADA to “unbundle” local anesthesia from the procedure being performed. The recommendation, which was not approved, came from a former ADA Delegate, using the rationale that not all procedures required local anesthesia.
-Evidence Based Dentistry: The council discussed ADA’s recent release of evidence-based guidelines on the professional application of topical fluoride, and reviewed the background information on the EBD process. Staff reported that this issue is an important one with which dentists should become familiar, as more guidelines are in process and are already impacting benefit coverages. These guidelines are published in the August 2006 issue of JADA.
-Horizon Meeting on Overpayment Recovery: Staff reported on NJDA’s meeting with senior management at Horizon Health Plan, concerning its medical plan’s policy of automatically withholding payments when Horizon has erroneously paid on a prior claim, without regard to the practitioner’s participation status. NJDA relayed legal precedents that establish health care practitioners as “innocent third party creditors” when certain conditions are met, and how Horizon’s practice, in essence, inappropriately denies benefits for an eligible insured to recover monies erroneously paid on behalf of an unrelated patient. As an aside, recent changes to the Health Care Quality Act will require Horizon to give notice to a practitioner before withholding payments. Further, during the course of the meeting, NJDA learned that the State Employee Medical Plan administered by Horizon requires it to honor assignment of benefits to non-participating practitioners. The meeting was very cordial, and Horizon’s attorney promised to review the cases NJDA cited, and to respond to NJDA with its conclusion.
-Dental Benefits Exclusion Under Age 2: The council discussed a recent communication from a Pediatric Dentist, objecting to Delta Dental Plan’s contractual exclusion for treatment provided to children less than 2 years of age. In light of the fact that ADA’s recommendation is that a child visit the dentist within six months of the eruption of the first tooth, and no later than the first birthday, the council directed staff to draft a letter supporting removal of this exclusion.
-CDT 2007 Coding: Dr. Rempell, a member of ADA’s Code Revision Committee presented a detailed overview of the changes in the soon-to-be released CDT-2007.
-Meeting With Commissioners re: Access to Care: Staff reported that NJDA met with the NJ Commissioners of Health, Education, and Children & Family Services, to discuss NJDA’s idea to provide urgently needed dental care to children through the school system on a pilot project basis. Some concerns were raised about the children missing time from school, although NJDA explained that children in pain with dental problems would have limited ability to learn.
-Amalgam Separators: On September 5, 2006 The NJDEP proposed regulation requiring dental facilities that discharge wastewater into publicly owned treatment works to implement Best Management Practices and to install amalgam separators in the facility where amalgam waste is generated. Details of this can be found in the September 2006 issue of the Capsule.
-NPIs Required for Electronic Transactions by May 23, 2007: you can apply at www.npps.cms.hhs.gov. Please note that you must have separate NPI’s for each dentist in a practice along with a separate NPI for a corporation if you are set up as such.

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Congratulations in Order
Dr. Thomas Paterniti started his practice on Nov. 3, 1956. He is still practicing and has been in practice for 50 years.

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MCDS member seeking part-time associate position in and around Woodbridge,NJ area.
Please contact:
Sumathi Chandrashekhar, DMD
Phone: 607-341-1172(Cell)
email: [email protected]

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On Feb 7th 2007 PCDS will be running a CE seminar entitled Modern
Pedodontics for the General Practitioner and Staff. The seminar will be
at the Grand Chalet, Route 23S, Wayne and will run from 8am until noon.
The cost is $75pp for NJDA members and $35pp for their staff -
continental breakfast and 4 CE credits included! The brochure can be
obtained by calling PCDS at 973-812-1101 or e-mailing PCDS at
[email protected].

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With civil war looming, President
Abraham Lincoln knew that he might be
called to make the toughest decision in
American history. Even in 1861 he knew
America was the best hope for democracy
and freedom around the world, and
therefore, it could not perish from the
face of the earth. So, he acted decisively
with the hopes of saving the nation—and
he did. Today, dentists all across
America are being called to save the
smiles of millions of underprivileged
children who are in pain because of
severe dental care needs. Duty and honor
now call you, today’s dental professional,
to act decisively and save the youth of
America’s smiles! Will you heed the call?

GIVE KIDS A SMILE!
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2007

NJDA will once again need your help to reach as many children as possible in New Jersey who are in need of dental care. You can either volunteer at one of the many public sites throughout the state, or use your own office as a private site. Dentists, auxiliaries, dental students and staff who wish to volunteer have two easy ways to register to participate:

1. Go to www.njda.org/gkas and download a volunteer registration form
2. Call our Give Kids A Smile Hotline at (888) 576-9278, leave your name and a fax or mail address and we’ll send you a registration form

DENTISTS, HYGIENISTS AND ASSISTANTS
RECEIVE UP TO 3 CE CREDIT HOURS FOR VOLUNTEERING

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New Jersey Dental PAC
2006 Club-Level Contributors from MCDS
EXECUTIVE CLUB ($1,000)
Peter Clemente Joel Leizer
PLATINUM CLUB ($500)
Cavan Brunsden Peter DeSciscio Hugh Habas
Mario Fiorentini Richard Kahn Bruce Roland
Mark Vitale Nancy Villa
DIAMOND CLUB ($350)
Donald Bershtein Charles Bloom James Courey
Kevin Dembinski Joseph Fertig Marshall Fleer
Scott Galkin Mark Heiberger Harmon Katz
Daniel Krantz Stephen Lawson Jamie Leizer
Ira Rosen Arnold Rosenheck Mark Schambra
Robert Silverstein Howard Sorkin Paul Tedeschi
Jason Wasserman Mitchell Weiner Leonard Yee
For information about joining NJDPAC, please contact Jim Schulz at (732) 422-2705