Week in Review: Sealant awareness | CDT code changes | Unneeded CT scans

Dear DrBicuspid Member,

Dental sealants are one of the most commonly used tools to help prevent dental decay, but more than half of U.S. adults don't know that. A recent survey published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that 46% of adults could not answer a basic question about the nature of dental sealants.

I don't know how the need for further education on the benefits of sealants and other oral healthcare treatments could be made more clear. The survey findings from the CDC make it evident that healthcare organizations need to find a way to inform multiple communities about these important treatments.

Has your office caught up with the updates to the Codes on Dental Procedures and Nomenclature (CDT codes) that happened earlier this year? On DrBicuspid.com this week, Christine Alfano of Vyne details some of the changes to codes that deal with preventive, periodontal, and other treatments to help answer any questions.

Did you know that a recent study found that emergency physicians overuse conventional CT scans to rule out dangerous dental infections in patients? Is a set of standardized guidelines the answer to reducing unnecessary radiation exposure for these patients?

Finally this week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed a rule to limit the allowable level of fluoride in bottled water on April 2. The proposed rule would lower the allowable level of fluoride from 0.8 mg/L parts per million (ppm) to 0.7 mg/L ppm.