Inclusion of Dental Services in Medicare to Improve Oral and General Health for Older Americans.

Poor oral health negatively impacts overall health, quality of life, and well-being. Increasing evidence suggests that provision of basic dental care for elderly Americans would improve outcomes for a variety of systemic diseases and reduce the overall cost of healthcare. As a result, recent changes have been implemented to include some dental benefits in the Medicare program.

Spending on emergency care due to nontraumatic dental conditions in the United States, 1996 through 2016.

Background: Emergency department (ED) use for oral health care is a growing problem in the United States. The objective of the study was to describe spending on ED visits due to nontraumatic dental conditions (NTDCs) in the United States and to quantify changes in spending and its drivers.

Methods: Spending estimates for ED visits due to NTDCs according to type of payer were analyzed for the period from 1996 through 2016 and estimates about the drivers of change were analyzed for the period from 1996 through 2013.

The dilemma of different dental degrees: DDS and DMD.

Although the Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) evolved from the surgical and the Doctor of Medicine in Dentistry (DMD) from the medical (DMD) roots of the dental profession, dental schools in the US currently award both degrees, verified as equivalent by finding no differences between them in standards of admissions, accreditation, or state licensure requirements while continuing to be subjectively perceived as different enough to create professional and public confusion. In contrast, Doctors of Osteopathy (DOs) and Doctors of Medicine (MDs) are both objectively and subjectively perceived as different in philosophy and healthcare training while objectively passing similar examinations to be licensed as physicians. Following from the history of both dental degrees and their implications for training and dental practice, the objective of this manuscript is to update the scientific, socio-political, and professional reasons for awarding only the DMD for future graduates while continuing to recognize the contributions of DDS graduates to oral healthcare.