Dentists testify before U.S. Congress; Florida Medicaid lawsuit moves forward

Dear DrBicuspid Member,

Medicaid dental benefits this week are once again in the spotlight.

On October 7, in a hearing before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, dentists, physicians, and members of Congress took the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to task for not doing enough to stop dental disease among poor children. They also made suggestions on how to improve the situation. Read more.

Meanwhile, a class-action lawsuit filed in 2005 charging the state of Florida with inadequate delivery of Medicaid dental and medical services to more than 1 million children will finally go to trial in December. Could this set a precedent for other parts of the U.S.? Read more.

On the clinical front, the American Academy of Periodontology (AAP) may have endorsed the ADA's cautionary policy on laser use in perio treatment, but that didn't stop one of the leading advocates of laser-assisted new attachment procedure (LANAP) from recommending this technique to hundreds of dental professionals at the recent AAP meeting. And the jury's still out as to whether there's enough clinical research to support the use of LANAP in treating periodontal disease. Read more.