• Investigate financial incentives, such as possible tax abatements and grants, to motivate educational institutions to create or expand existing dental hygiene and dental assisting programs in order to expedite the resolution of the work- force issue.
Resolution 88: ADA’s third-party dental in- surance concierge service was reinstated for a five-year period. This program can directly assist dentists and the state associations in dealing with insurance issues. Dentists can call the ADA to get direct help with address- ing claims, understanding coding matters and all things related to third party payer matters. The Sixth District Missouri delega- tion members were in strong support of hav- ing this reinstated, as these matters are one of the biggest pain points for dentists.
Resolution 46-49: In 2020 the ADA’s Council on Dental Education and Licensure conducted studies on ways to assist with providing oral health care to special needs populations. Along with a focus on the need for continuing education programs focused on special needs dentistry and urging the Special Care Dentistry Association to col- laborate with advanced dental education programs to enhance the current scope and depth of instruction and training related to special needs dentistry, the ADA adopted the following policy: The dental profession’s continued ability to effectively provide dental care for America’s special needs population is dependent on sustaining a strong educational foundation in this area. The ADA encourages efforts to maintain and expand the availability of courses and programs at the predoctoral, advanced and continuing educational levels that support practitioners in providing dental treatment to patients whose medical, physical, psychological, cognitive or social situations make it necessary to consider a wide range of assessment and care options. These individuals include, but are not limited to, people with de- velopmental disabilities, cognitive impairment, complex medical problems, significant physical limitations, and the vulnerable elderly. The ADA encourages dental practitioners to regularly participate in continuing education in this area.
Resolutions 79 & 107: The House discussed the ADA investigating the establishment of a Dental Implant Registry. Although it could be beneficial, manufacturers would likely not comply and it was noted how currently implants are registered by dentists within specific patient records. The ADA did adopt under Resolution 107, to have the appropri- ate agency create a form for patients and dental records that consolidates the data on placed implants and implant restorations to include date of placement, manufacturer, type, size and intraoral location as well as abutment manufacturer, type size and dental laboratory, and to use this form for patient records and to provide copies to patients.
Resolution 80: ADA will explore facilitating a searchable digital archive for tripartite publications, reporting back to the 2022 House of Delegates.
Resolution 96: With dentists seeing more patients using cannabis, the ADA addressed researching and developing best practices for the management of such patients. Several resolutions were defeated related to the ADA
taking on this research and development, as it was determined the medical community is conducting in-depth research and studies that will aid both the medical and dental community. The ADA did adopt a policy that encourages the development of best practices for the management of patients and their caregivers, dentists and dental team mem- bers who are under the influence of cannabis.
Resolution 104RC asked the appropriate ADA agencies to inventory all ADA course and program offerings related to debt man- agement, practice management, financial advisor services and financial literacy for new dentists and students, and from this make a determination as to whether there are any gaps in the current offerings, along with estimated costs to close those gaps, and determine the feasibility and costs of devel- oping an easily accessible electronic catalog. A report on the findings will be provided to the 2022 House of Delegates.
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ISSUE 6 | NOV/DEC 2021 | focus 15
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