DrBicuspid.com Practice Management Insider

Dear Practice Management Insider,

Many of us spend more time contemplating the dessert menu at restaurants than choosing the best gloves for critical barrier protection. That's understandable considering the overwhelming number of options and prices available.

Dental practices are slowly following the lead of hospitals in switching from traditional latex gloves to latex-free alternatives due to a dramatic increase in latex hypersensitivity among patients and providers.

So how to decide which are the best gloves for your team? Read more about what's worth the money -- or not -- in our latest Practice Management Insider Exclusive.

In other Practice Management Community news, many dentists shy away from workers' comp cases because of low reimbursement rates and the complicated claims process. Now there's a company that works with insurers and guarantees payment to dentists while also streamlining the paperwork. Click here to see why thousands of dentists have signed up to add these cases to their practice.

And with daily deal websites such as Groupon and Living Social flourishing, the format was sure to come to the dental industry. While Groupon has strayed into the realm of selling dental services with mixed results, a new online firm -- BiteDownDeals -- is offering daily deals on dental supplies. Find out which products are available at discounts up to 40%.

In legislative developments, Medicaid enrollment is on the rise at a time when states across the U.S. are working to contain Medicaid costs by reducing reimbursement rates, limiting prescriptions, and cutting services. Oral health policymakers gathered in Washington, DC, last month for a symposium organized by the Medicaid/SCHIP Dental Association to address the program's shaky future.

And in what is being described as a measure to protect dental practices from being taken over by corporations, North Carolina lawmakers are considering legislation that would give the state dental board the authority to oversee all contracts entered into by dentists.

Meanwhile, a bill passed June 2 by the Alabama Legislature could end a yearlong dispute among the nonprofit Sarrell Dental clinics, the Alabama Dental Association, and the state dental board. And despite opposition from the Missouri Dental Association, the Missouri Dental Board is the first in the U.S. to endorse a proposal for midlevel providers that would allow them to do surgical and irreversible procedures such as tooth extractions.

In public health dentistry news, student loan repayment programs that offer up to $170,000 are attracting dentists and hygienists to the National Health Service Corps, but good salaries and the satisfaction of providing care for the underserved are keeping many at public health clinics long past their initial commitments. Read about the experiences of dentists and hygienists who signed up for these public health jobs, and why many of them choose to stay on.

Meanwhile, children in states with higher Medicaid reimbursements got more dental care than those in states with lower payment rates between 2000 and 2008, according to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. But children covered by Medicaid received dental care less often than children with private insurance.

Finally, a California dentist who filed a defamation case over negative reviews on Yelp.com must pay $80,000 in attorney fees to the parents of a young patient whom she sued. Click here to read about the San Francisco Bay Area dentist's outstanding defamation claims in the continuing lawsuit.