Millennium Dental Technologies (MDT) is questioning the Academy of General Dentistry's (AGD) priorities after the AGD gave Botox seminars "center stage" at its annual meeting in New Orleans July 8-11, MDT said in a press release.
"It is a strange choice of priorities for a dental healthcare organization when 85% of adult Americans suffer from gum disease, a life-threatening and always treatable infection increasingly associated with various systemic conditions," stated Delwin McCarthy, D.D.S., MDT co-founder and AGD member.
Recently, periodontal disease bacteria were scientifically confirmed in the death of a stillborn baby. Organized dentistry's failure to confront this death and AGD's emphasis on Botox is evidence of a disconnect between "need- and want-based" healthcare treatment emphasis, Millennium said.
"Given that each year more than 100 million Americans go without treatment for periodontal disease -- a condition known to be linked to several life-threatening adult diseases and even preterm or stillbirth of newborns -- I fail to understand how the AGD can justify its emphasis on Botox," said Robert Gregg, D.D.S., MDT co-founder and AGD member.
Dentistry is about treating patients and defeating their diseases, "not about superficial cosmetic procedures that have transient sex appeal," added Dawn Bloore, D.D.S., MDT vice president and also an AGD member.
MDT pioneered the LANAP (laser-assisted new attachment procedure) protocol for the treatment of gum disease and manufactures the PerioLase MVP-7 dental laser.
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