Week in Review: Enhanced oral cancer detection can save lives and protect from malpractice

Dear DrBicuspid Member,

Before we get into the week's new and most-read articles, earlier this week we learned of the passing of our former columnist Thomas Climo, PhD.

Mr. Climo always brought a rigor and a willingness to debate to his work and his writing. While his writings on practice valuations may have been controversial, he always pushed for the dental industries to apply economic principles to issues that concerned practice valuation and sales. His concern, first and foremost, was to raise the overall standards applied to dental industries. That he knew his way around a deal and rolled his sleeves up to get the best price for his client should surprise no one.

He'll be missed.

In other news, the California Dental Association's CDA Presents 2015 began in San Francisco on Thursday, August 20. Features Editor Donna Domino spoke with presenter Dr. Jonathan Bregman about how enhanced oral cancer detection can not only help save patients' lives but also protect dentists from malpractice lawsuits.

California legislators took the first step in resolving oral health disparities by hiring the state's first dental director, Dr. Jayanth Kumar. Dr. Kumar, who officially started the position on August 1, will create and implement a statewide oral health plan. Read Theresa Pablos' exclusive interview with Dr. Kumar here.

When he was surgeon general of the U.S., Dr. David Satcher issued the first surgeon general's report on oral health in 2000. He has continued to show that oral health matters, as he is now championing the use of dental therapists as a way to reduce the prevalence of caries and provide oral healthcare to underserved populations. Read our exclusive interview with him here.