Author: NC Oral Health Collaborative

Dental Hygienists Week – An Interview with CVCC’s Crystal Adams

Post author By NC Oral Health Collaborative
Post date April 14, 2020

Picture of Crystal Adams, Department Heat at Catawba Valley Community College, with quote pulled from text

Last week was National Dental Hygienists Week, so we sat down (virtually) with Crystal Adams, a dental hygienist and dental hygiene program director at Catawba Valley Community College (CVCC), for a conversation about her career path and the importance of hygienists in the dental home.

Adams is a passionate advocate for oral health care with an inspiring drive to improve the lives of those who traditionally cannot access care. She has important insight into the role that hygienists play in the dental home, and she has worked in several capacities to modernize North Carolina’s regulatory framework.

In our interview, we discussed Adams’ path to becoming a dental hygienist, the important services that hygienists provide, and changes that could be made to better allow hygienists to serve their communities.

When did you decide that you wanted to be a dental hygienist?

When I graduated high school, I knew I eventually wanted to be a dental hygienist, but first I went the dental assisting route. I graduated from Wilkes Community College with my dental assisting diploma and then I worked for four years in a private practice as a dental assistant.

I had the urge to continue my education, though, and the dentist I worked for allowed me to leave work early to take prerequisite courses at CVCC to prepare for the dental hygiene program. I attended the Dental Hygiene Program at Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) in Charlotte — I commuted from Alexander County to Charlotte for two years — and graduated in 2001. From there I went back, as a dental hygienist, to the practice I had worked at before my education at CPCC.

What are the education requirements to become a dental hygienist?

A dental hygienist has to take prerequisite courses — they have about a year and a half of prerequisites that they have to take, in addition to the two-year dental hygiene curriculum. Most programs like for students to take those prerequisites prior to starting the dental hygiene curriculum because it is so demanding. It’s a lot of work.

So, it’s a year and a half of prerequisites and then two years of curriculum. It’s very close to being a bachelor’s degree. I think that’s something that is important for people to understand. It’s more than just a two-year program. It’s really closer to three and a half with the prerequisites.

Why did you want to pursue dental hygiene for your career?

I didn’t have dental care when I was young. My parents didn’t have that oral health literacy. So, this was an area where I knew that I could help, especially in my community. There are a lot of people in my community that don’t understand oral health care.

In your view, what is a dental hygienist? What role do they serve in the dental office, and how has that allowed you to serve your community and improve patients’ understanding of oral health care?

I believe a dental hygienist is an educator. We can clean someone’s teeth, but the biggest part of our job is making sure that patients understand what to do at home. We make sure they’re taking care of their needs so that whenever they come in we can focus on preventing things from happening instead of treating something that has already gone wrong. So, I feel like we are prevention specialists, and our number one role is education.

So, education was a big part of your role in private practice. Now you are full-time at Catawba Valley Community College. Is the role of educator what led you to the community college setting?

Once I started practicing as a dental hygienist, I still had that drive to help even more. I started working part time at Catawba Valley Community College and I just loved sharing my knowledge and skills, and I loved seeing the students grow.

Once I started teaching, I decided to continue my education and get my bachelor’s degree and master’s degree. I was able to get a full-time teaching position at CVCC, and eventually I became the director of the program, which has allowed me to serve in several capacities at the state level, as well as serving as the president of the North Carolina Dental Hygienists Association.

Something that we have been putting a lot of thought into at NCOHC is the disparity between dentists and hygienists in terms of volume. There is a growing shortage of dentists as they are aging out and retiring faster than our universities are graduating new dentists. Simultaneously we have a growing surplus of hygienists. How is this impacting the hygienist workforce?

I think this is a big problem, and I think the most important thing here is that hygienists aren’t able to use the skillset in North Carolina that they are taught to use. They could be serving local communities where there aren’t many dentists, and we could be providing care to individuals who don’t normally get care.

I think if we could go to more of a general supervision model and actually use the skills we are taught, then we would be able to serve more of the underserved communities in our state that don’t get care.

The recent change to Rule 16W seems to be a step in that direction, to allow dental hygienists to go into underserved areas and provide care with a written standing order from a dentist, without the dentist being physically present. Could you speak briefly from the hygienist’s perspective about what the rule change means for oral health care in North Carolina?

I think it is a really positive direction for our state. The rule change allows hygienists to get more involved in school settings, nursing homes, and long-term care settings where we can actually use our skills to the full extent of our training. It gives us the ability to serve communities when dentists are not as available to be physically present, and I think it is a step toward allowing us to be the professionals we are intended to be.

Are there other skills that hygienists are taught in school that you are not allowed to practice under North Carolina’s regulatory framework?

Yes. So, that’s a bit of a tricky question because we are taught the theory of local anesthesia, but since it is not a delegable duty in North Carolina, we don’t teach the skill portion. But we are taught local anesthesia.

Hygienists in other states can administer local anesthesia. If North Carolina began to allow this here, what change would need to happen on the education level? Would beginning to teach the skill portion be a big change?

We already incorporate pretty much all of the education into the dental hygiene program because our students have to test on the national level. Anesthesia is included in that testing because so many states do allow hygienists to administer local anesthesia.

The extra step of teaching the skill portion would not be difficult to incorporate into our programs at all, because the foundation is already there.

If you could snap your fingers and change anything in North Carolina’s regulatory framework, what would it be?

If I could change anything, I would allow hygienists to administer local anesthesia. Additionally, I would expand the change that has already been made to rule 16W for indirect supervision to allow hygienists to use their skills when the dentist is not on the premises in more settings.

I think those changes would allow us to actually perform what we are taught in school and to be the professionals we are meant to be. So, local anesthesia and relaxation on supervision to allow us to treat more people when the dentist is unavailable.

NCOHC is a program of the Foundation for Health Leadership & Innovation. For more information and to stay up to date, subscribe to the NCOHC newsletter. If you are interested in becoming an NCOHC member, you can also fill out our membership form. It’s free!

Should I Be Worried About Vaping?

Post author By NC Oral Health Collaborative
Post date April 7, 2020

With youth-oriented advertising depicting e-cigarettes as not only a cigarette alternative, but a clean, fun, and popular choice to make, an increasing number of teens and young adults are picking up the habit, often without having ever smoked cigarettes in the first place.

The quick adoption of e-cigarettes among young users is especially alarming because experts still don’t know what long-term health outcomes may result. Because of that, no one can say for sure what will happen to young people who habitually smoke e-cigarettes, even though initial research suggests that many negative health impacts are possible.

April is Oral Cancer Awareness Month, so we’re taking a look at e-cigarettes and what existing research suggests about their impact on the mouths and throats of users.

Here are some of the health outcomes discovered so far.

Gum Inflammation

A study in Oncotarget, a peer-reviewed oncology and cancer research journal, found that flavored e-cigarettes induce gum inflammation. The study found that e-cigarette use causes a form of DNA damage that re-enforces chronic inflammation, an important contributor to the spread of oral disease.

Bone Loss, Oral Disease, and Tooth Decay

Several studies (cited below) have found connections between e-cigarette use and bone loss, oral disease, and tooth decay.

One study of 18,289 participants found that those with no history of gum disease who used e-cigarettes regularly for one year had increased odds of being diagnosed with gum disease.

Another study of 456,343 adults found an independent association—meaning the association persisted even when other risk factors were controlled—between e-cigarette use and the likelihood of having at least one permanent tooth removed because of tooth decay.

Sources

Oral Cancer

A study in the International Journal of Molecular Science compared e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes, focusing on their impacts on the mouth at a cellular level. Broadly, this study found similarities between cigarettes and e-cigarettes when it comes to the cellular damage that has the potential to lead to oral cancer.

Additionally, other studies cited below found potent carcinogens and carcinogenic trace metals in e-cigarette vapor and the saliva of e-cigarette users.

Sources

What does all this mean?

What do we know E-cigarettes have been associated with poor oral health outcomes, from tooth decay and gum disease, to a potentially increased risk of oral cancer.

What don’t we know Without further research, oral health care experts cannot say how often poor outcomes will happen, how often an individual must use an e-cigarette to be impacted by negative health outcomes, or how severe the impacts could be.

Long-term studies must be conducted in order to obtain more representative data.

However, what we do know is important: The risk is present, and e-cigarette users must ask themselves,
“Is it worth the risk?”

Uncategorized

Oral Cancer Awareness

Post author By NC Oral Health Collaborative
Post date April 1, 2020

Every year, an average of 53,000 Americans are diagnosed with some form of oral cancer, killing one person every hour.

When detected in its early stages, oral cancer is highly treatable and, in many cases, curable. Unfortunately, oral cancer often goes undiagnosed until late in development, significantly elevating its death rate.

Here are a few steps you can take to make sure you aren’t increasing your chances of developing a form of oral cancer.

Choose a lip balm with sunscreen, and use it whenever you are outside

Lip balm isn’t just for chapped lips. We should shield our lips from the sun just like we protect the rest of our skin, as overexposure increases the chance of oral cancer of the lip. Many brands offer lip balm with SPF that you could add to your sunny day routine.

Eat your fruits and vegetables

It may seem like an urban myth that parents tell their children to make them finish their dinner, but low intake of fruits, vegetables, vitamin C, and fiber has been associated with increased cancer risk. Inversely, high consumption has been shown to cut the risk of oral cancer in half.

Avoid tobacco, and use alcohol in moderation

While not as significant as the link between cigarettes and lung cancer, smoking tobacco products has been linked to oral cancer. Additionally, heavy consumption of alcohol—which is generally defined as more than three drinks per day—increases the risk of oral cancer.

According to the Oral Cancer Foundation, cell wall dehydration from alcohol makes it easier for carcinogens from tobacco smoke to penetrate oral tissue cells. When alcohol and tobacco are combined, which is often the case for people who refer to themselves as “social smokers,” the risk of oral cancer skyrockets to more than 15 times that for non-users of the two substances.

Don’t use smokeless tobacco products either

Smokeless tobacco products like chewing tobacco are a major risk factor for oral cancer. Additionally, new research is highlighting risks associated with vape and e-cigarette products. More research still needs to be done in this area, but initial studies suggest that e-cigarette use increases risk of gum disease, tooth decay, and oral cancer.

Get an HPV Vaccine

Human Papillomavirus (HPV) has been linked to an increased risk of developing oral cancer. Because the sexually transmitted virus goes largely undetected in most carriers, getting an HPV vaccine is a good practice to both avoid the virus and reduce the risk of HPV’s impact on the oral cavity. For further guidance on HPV vaccination, please discuss with your primary care or dental provider.

HPV is the leading cause of the oropharyngeal cancers of the tonsils and base of the tongue. While there are nearly 200 strains of HPV, strain 16 is of concern as it relates to your oral cavity. Please review the Oral Cancer Foundation’s website to learn more.

Visit your dentist

The Oral Cancer Foundation suggests that patients receive an oral cancer screening annually, especially if they fit any of the common risk factors for the disease.

Access Public Health Teledentistry

Teledentistry in North Carolina: Lessons from COVID-19

Post author By NC Oral Health Collaborative
Post date March 24, 2020

Depending on how long it takes to effectively respond to COVID-19, NCOHC is planning to host its annual Oral Health Day on June 3, 2020. This year, the theme of our signature advocacy event at the North Carolina General Assembly is teledentistry, with a focus on its use as a tool to increase access and equity in oral health care.

Our primary focus has been on how teledentistry can allow dentists to provide assessments and diagnostic care remotely, allowing them to reach patients in underserved communities

The North Carolina Board of Dental Examiners and the American Dental Association have both recommended that dental offices postpone all elective procedures for two and three weeks, respectively. While dentists and hygienists obviously won’t be doing oral cleanings or other routine, elective procedures virtually—education, assessments, and other diagnostic care and consultation could be provided remotely while waiting to resume in-person care delivery.

Simultaneously, hospitals and doctors’ offices across the country are struggling to meet demand, and we are seeing medical professionals forced to isolate after coming in contact with patients who have COVID-19.

Last week, the Telehealth Resource Center hosted a webinar about how health care organizations can use telehealth in response to COVID-19. You can watch the recorded webinar here.

For health care organizations, telehealth technology offers the ability to remotely monitor potential COVID-19 patients. Through phone screenings, virtual visits, and remote patient monitoring (RPM), providers can keep track of patients’ health and symptoms without any person-to-person contact. The same applications could be used in oral health care delivery as well.

Additionally, providers can use live video and RPM to care for inpatients, reducing points of contact.

To learn more about telehealth and how it can be used in response to COVID-19, you can access TRC’s COVID-19 Telehealth Toolkit here.

And to find out more about Oral Health Day and the steps North Carolina can take to help teledentistry become a viable option for remote oral health care, visit the NCOHC Oral Health Day 2020 page.

Access Public Health

Oral Health Around the World

Post author By NC Oral Health Collaborative
Post date March 17, 2020

This Friday, March 20, is World Oral Health Day. So, we decided to take a look at some of the oral health issues people face in a few countries and regions around the globe.

In 2016, 3.58 billion people worldwide were affected by oral diseases. In the U.S. and around the world, gum disease and tooth decay consistently rank among the most prevalent conditions impacting people’s health.

Oral Health on the African Continent

Residents of countries across Africa face a few unique oral health challenges. While common oral disease rates are fairly low compared to other regions—only 14 percent of 35- to 44-year-olds and 22 percent of 60- to 69-year-olds experience gum disease—other, sometimes fatal, issues are more prevalent.

Oral and Facial Trauma

Due in large part to political instability and conflict across the continent, oral and facial trauma—broken or chipped teeth and jaw injuries impact as many as one in five children in Africa.

Noma

Noma is a disease most prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa that primarily impacts children suffering from malnutrition. While the gangrenous disease can be stopped and reversed with basic hygiene, antibiotics, and proper nutrition, sadly it is currently fatal in about 90 percent of all cases. When properly treated with antibiotics, noma’s mortality rate decreases to around 8 percent, making the first statistic especially jarring.

HIV

Oral manifestations are some of the earliest visible signs of HIV, making them important indicators of the disease. About 26 million people living in Afria are HIV-positive, accounting for nearly 68 percent of global cases of the disease.

HIV is still uncurable at a large scale, but doctors in London appear to have recently cured the second patient in the world of HIV. The patient received a stem-cell transplant and has been HIV-free for more than 30 months. The first patient to be cured of HIV has been free of the disease since 2011 after receiving a similar treatment.

Healthy China 2030

China is experiencing an ongoing oral health crisis, with tooth decay and gum disease affecting more than half the country’s population. A 2019 study into the oral health status of Chinese residents found that fewer than half of China’s population brush their teeth twice a day.

To respond to its public health crisis, China has launched Healthy China 2030, an initiative to incorporate public health into all of the Chinese government’s policies. Healthy China 2030 includes specific campaigns focused on oral health education, and it aims to shift the focus of health care toward preventive measures. These measures include education, as well as an increased focus on social determinants of health.

Health Care in Brazil

In 1988, Brazil’s government began to implement a government-run healthcare system, making it the only country at the time with more than 200 million residents to implement a plan for universal health care. Funding shortages and other barriers hinder Brazil’s system, and an article in the British Medical Journal of Global Health describes how economic and political instability could reverse the progress made since the 1980s.

Despite the instability of its health care system, Brazil has successfully provided a significantly larger portion of its residents with health care, dramatically improving the overall health of its population.

Brazil’s universal health care system focuses on primary and preventive health care, including oral health. Since 1988, Brazil’s “DMFT” index, or the mean number of decayed, missing, or filled teeth, among its population has decreased considerably. For example, the DMFT index for 12-year-olds has changed from 6.7 to 1.3 since the 1980s.

Unique Challenges In India and Tiawan

Have you heard of the Betel Nut? Chewing a betel nut causes a sense of euphoria and heightened alertness on par with consuming six cups of coffee, and it is incredibly popular in countries like India and Tiawan. A simple tree nut may not seem threatening, but this particular one is a potent carcinogen that has created an oral health crisis among its users.

Betel nut chewing can lead to a variety of oral diseases, including oral cancer and pre-cancerous lesions. In fact, 80 to 90 percent of Tiawanese residents diagnosed with oral cancer or pre-cancer chew betel nuts.

The time it takes for negative effects to develop makes the betel nut especially dangerous. This article from the BBC details the journey of one nut chewer, Qui Zhen-huang, who started chewing betel nut because, “everyone at work did it.”

He chewed for ten years and then quit. Twenty years after quitting, he developed oral cancer in the form of a golf ball-sized tumor and a hole in his left cheek.

The first references to betel nut chewing appeared in ancient Greek, Sanskrit, and Chinese literature. The tradition’s span of two or more millennia makes it a hard one to break, so governments are having a hard time convincing their citizens to quit.

In Tiawan, the government actually pays people to voluntarily cut down betel nut palms. In India, on the other hand, betel nut production has tripled since 1961. Some states and territories in India have implemented bans on specific betel nut products, especially ones that combine the nut with tobacco. However, the bans haven’t seemed to have much of an impact on its production and consumption.

Make A Difference Locally

To learn more and get involved with oral health improvement efforts here in North Carolina, visit our Oral Health Day 2020 page to see what we are planning for our signature advocacy event on June 3rd. If you’d like to receive updates about stories like this directly to your inbox, be sure to sign up for NCOHC news.

NCOHC is a program of the Foundation for Health Leadership & Innovation. For more information and to stay up to date, subscribe to the NCOHC newsletter. If you’re interested in becoming an NCOHC member, you can also fill out our membership form. It’s free!

Teledentistry

Highlights from the UNC Teledentistry Symposium

Post author By NC Oral Health Collaborative
Post date March 11, 2020

Last week, FHLI’s North Carolina Oral Health Collaborative attended the UNC Adams School of Dentistry’s Teledentistry Symposium, co-sponsored by the ECU School of Dental Medicine. Speakers from across the state joined oral health professionals in Chapel Hill to discuss technological innovations in oral health care and how they can be implemented to increase access across North Carolina.

The summit featured keynotes from experts in teledentistry as well as live demonstrations of the technology in action.

Dr. Rob Tempel and Dr. Andres Flores kicked off the demonstrations with a synchronous teledentistry consultation, followed by an example of asynchronous teledentistry from Dr. Shaun Matthews, the director of telehealth at UNC’s Adams School of Dentistry.

The 2020 Teledentistry Symposium follows UNC’s first ever Teledentistry Summit, which was held in October 2019. During his keynote address, Dr. Matthews reviewed the first summit and its goals, noting that oral health leaders have been successful in reaching those goals, including updating state-level dental hygiene regulations, visiting active teledentistry sites, and convening a statewide workgroup.

Dr. Shaun Matthews, director of telehealth at the UNC Adams School of Dentistry, giving his keynote address at the symposium.

NCOHC Director Dr. Zachary Brian also gave a keynote address, discussing the use of teledentistry as a tool to increase access for underserved communities and the policy changes necessary to make that happen.

Here are some highlights and takeaways from the day:

1. Rural North Carolinians Disproportionately Lack Access to Oral Health Care

Of North Carolina’s 100 counties, 74 are designated Dental Health Provider Shortage Areas (HPSAs). Dr. Brian discussed how this landscape leaves residents in most of the state with limited access to in-person oral health care. This barrier is further compounded when considering the disparities in access between those on Medicaid and those with private insurance.

Dr. Zachary Brian discussing NCOHC’s role in addressing access gaps and barriers during his keynote address.

Dr. Sy Saeed compared oral health care disparities to access gaps and barriers in psychiatry, highlighting legislative efforts to promote telepsychiatry across the state. Compared to the 74-county oral health care shortage, a whopping 90 counties are psychiatric HPSAs. In an effort to combat the access gaps and to reduce emergency department visits, the state legislature passed a law in 2013 to create NCSTeP, a statewide telepsychiatry program.

2. We Have a Growing Shortage of Dentists

Dr. Brian discussed how a decline in our state’s dentist population is compounding the access issues facing rural North Carolinians. Dentists are retiring at a faster rate than they are graduating and beginning to practice. More troubling still, this shortage is only expected to increase through 2025.

Meanwhile, North Carolina’s dental hygiene programs are consistently at or near capacity, so we are simultaneously experiencing a hygienist surplus. This could be a promising trend, but North Carolina’s regulatory landscape restricts hygienists’ ability to practice at the top of their licensure. Additionally, dentists in North Carolina can only supervise two hygienists. So even with the growing number of practicing dental hygienists, the dentist shortage limits the workforce’s ability to expand access to crucial preventive services.

A panel of students discussed their perspective on the dentist shortage, disparities, and the use of technology to bridge coverage gaps. Student groups at UNC and ECU have formed to advocate for curriculum changes to incorporate teledentistry so graduating dentists are better prepared to positively impact oral health outcomes in North Carolina through technology.

3. Teledentistry Can Expand Access

All summit speakers agreed that connecting dentists in central locations with hygienists and patients across the state is an effective path to expanding access to traditionally underserved communities.

With teledentistry, dentists can remotely provide diagnostics measures like exams, assessments, consultations, and direct education to patients. Dr. Brian noted that almost all oral health issues are preventable, so increasing access to preventive care is a high-impact, cost-effective strategy to improving overall oral health outcomes.

In his address to the symposium’s attendees, ECU School of Dental Medicine Dean Greg Chadwick said that, “teledentistry is a tool, not a goal.”

The goal is expanded access, covering North Carolinians equitably. Innovation in teledentistry is a promising way to achieve that goal.

4. Significant Barriers Still Prevent Teledentistry from Expanding

While North Carolina law doesn’t prevent the use of teledentistry, there is currently no reimbursement model for Medicaid patients to receive asynchronous teledental care, and the payment rate for synchronous teledentistry is prohibitively low.

Dr. Mark Casey, NC Medicaid’s dental director, joined a panel of health care providers to discuss payment models to ensure providers are reimbursed for their services. All panelists agreed that payment parity is necessary, and they said that asynchronous reimbursement should be a top priority moving forward.

To get there, Bobby White, the CEO of the North Carolina Board of Dental Examiners (NCBDE), said that the NCSBDE is willing and anxious to move forward with teledentistry, but out-of-date language in the Dental Practice Act needs to be updated by statutory change.

From left to right: Dr. Alec Parker, executive director of the North Carolina Dental Society; Sommer Wisher, past president of the North Carolina Dental Hygienists’ Association; Bobby White, CEO of the North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners and Greg Chadwick, dean of the ECU School of Dental Medicine.

That’s why this year, NCOHC is dedicating its signature advocacy event, Oral Health Day 2020, to teledentistry.

On June 3, oral health professionals, community voices, and other oral health champions will convene at the North Carolina Legislature for a day of action and advocacy. We will engage and educate elected officials about the importance of teledentistry and the necessary legislative changes to allow it to expand into our state’s rural communities.

To learn more, visit our Oral Health Day 2020 page and register today!

To learn more and get involved, visit our Oral Health Day 2020 page to see what we are planning for our signature advocacy event on June 3rd . If you’d like to receive updates on stories like this directly to your inbox, be sure to sign up for NCOHC news.

Equity Public Health Social Determinants of Health

How the World Around Us Impacts Our Oral Health: An Intro to the Social Determinants of Health

Post author By NC Oral Health Collaborative
Post date March 3, 2020

Only 20 percent of a person’s health is the result of clinical care in a medical or dental provider’s office. The other 80 percent comes from a variety of non-medical factors. To reach equity in oral health, our health care system must address that 80 percent, which means accounting for external influences in patients’ lives.

From the food we eat to our housing and transportation options, many aspects of our daily lives can impact our health. Social determinants of health, also known as non-medical drivers of health, refer to the wide variety of influences outside the provider’s office that can directly or indirectly impact health outcomes.

Take food option-driven obesity as an example. If fast food makes up most of our mealtime options, the high-sugar, high-carb food we consume regularly will likely contribute to obesity, risk for heart disease, and increase the risk of tooth decay.

When it comes to oral health specifically, there are clear disparities in access to care and outcomes in North Carolina. Race, economic status, and geographic location are all important oral health determinants. For example, while around 20 percent of all children in our state experience tooth decay, roughly 50 percent of children in low- income families are affected.

Social determinants of health broadly fit into five categories: economic stability, physical environment, education, food, and structural and governmental influences. Each of these categories contains several specific factors. For example, employment, income, insurance, debt, and financial support all fall under the economic stability umbrella.

To better understand social determinants of health and how they can impact oral health outcomes, NCOHC will dive deep into each of these five categories over the coming months. We will discuss how the income an individual earns and the county in which they reside can directly impact their oral health, and we will explore how the state and federal policies cascade down to the local level, affecting health care opportunities among communities that traditionally lack access.

At the end of the day, policy change is a vital step in the process of addressing social determinants of health to create a truly equitable landscape for oral health care in North Carolina. That is why NCOHC engages elected officials and regulatory bodies to enact positive policy changes like that of the recent regulatory amendment to rule 16W .0104.

Education Public Health Teledentistry

Exploring Telehealth in the Other Carolina: Our Visit to MUSC’s State-of-the-Art Center for Telehealth

Post author By NC Oral Health Collaborative
Post date February 25, 2020

Last week, FHLI’s North Carolina Oral Health Collaborative travelled with North Carolina oral health leaders to Charleston, South Carolina, for a tour of the Medical University of South Carolina’s (MUSC) Telehealth Center of Excellence.

Front row, left to right: Shaun Matthews, DDS, MD (UNC Adams School of Dentistry); Crystal Adams, MA, CDA, RDH (Catawba Valley Community College); Nancy St. Onge, RDH (NC State Board of Dental Examiners)
Second row, left to right: Mark Casey, DDS, MPH (North Carolina DMA); Zachary Brian, DMD, MHA (NCOHC)
Third row, left to right: Kelsey Ross Dew, MPH (NCOHC); Lisa Ward, CAE (NC Dental Society).

The MUSC Telehealth Center of Excellence, one of only two HRSA-designated sites in the U.S., is home to state-of-the-art facilities, including an impressive array teledentistry technologies. To help North Carolina’s oral health leaders understand teledentistry and how the technology can benefit patients in our state, the group toured the facility and spoke with leading medical providers and dentists at the forefront of innovations in telehealth.

Dr. Walter Renne demonstrating cutting edge intraoral camera technology to the tour group.

Dr. Walter Renne, Assistant Dean of Innovation and Digital Dentistry at MUSC, demonstrated the process of scanning a patient’s teeth via an intraoral camera, one of the key tools of teledentistry.

The camera that Dr. Renne used can produce a 3D image of the patient’s teeth, and it can even render the gums as well. The scan produced can highlight potential points of decay to help a dental provider decide whether the patient needs further treatment or a more traditional in-person exam.

A 3D model of a patient’s teeth and gums created by an intraoral camera.

Unlike many fields of telehealth, teledentistry is a relatively affordable venture. The equipment required is minimal—primarily limited to a digital x-ray machine, an intraoral camera, and digital patient records (all of which are already used in many dental offices).

The MUSC tour group debriefing with MUSC leadership.

In addition, the telehealth services provided by MUSC extend far beyond just teledentistry. Patients across South Carolina can meet with doctors virtually for a wide variety of health services, from stroke and neurology care to psychiatry, pediatric care, and more.

Through its telehealth services, MUSC is able to reach patients in non-traditional settings such as schools, nursing homes, and correctional facilities—reducing costs and limiting time burdens on patients and care providers alike.

With 74 of North Carolina’s 100 counties designated as Dental Health Provider Shortage Areas (HPSAs), teledental services could make a significant impact in addressing access gaps. Teledentistry has the potential to increase access to basic oral health screening and diagnostic services in communities that disproportionately lack access to optimal oral health services.

While teledentistry is already used in a variety of settings, North Carolina’s regulatory framework limits its use from expanding into areas where it may be most impactful.

North Carolina’s Dental Practice Act, which regulates the practice of dentistry in the state, was written long before teledentistry was a viable opportunity for care. Additionally, a dentist who currently provides “synchronous” teledental care (i.e. live dental consultation, education, or examination provided in real-time) would be limited in their compensation. Equally as important, there currently is no reimbursement model for asynchronous teledentistry (i.e. “store-and-forward” care in which x-rays and other diagnostic information is taken and later reviewed by a dentist off-site).

That’s why this year, NOCHC’s Oral Health Day 2020 will focus on teledentistry and the opportunities it brings to North Carolina. Visit our Oral Health Day page to find out more about teledentistry’s potential in North Carolina, and register today!

Click here to see the rest of the photos from our trip to MUSC.

Access Blog Equity Public Health Teledentistry

Envisioning Teledentistry in North Carolina

Post author By NC Oral Health Collaborative
Post date February 18, 2020

Let’s take a moment to review an all-too-familiar scenario for many North Carolinians.

Martha lives in rural Tyrrell County, North Carolina, where there are no practicing dentists. She works a full-time job while raising her two children. So, she decides against making the hours-long round trip to the nearest dental office one county over to receive a cleaning and checkup.

Let’s face it: for Martha, the cost of transportation, the dental service itself, and the pay lost while she is away from work make for a steep price for care. On top of that, she knows that she may have to schedule a follow-up visit—and take time off from work again, find someone to pick up her children from school again, pay for gas again—if she has any cavities that need filling.

So Martha waits.

Sadly, what started as a bit of sensitivity develops into an unbearable toothache, which lands her in the emergency department (ED). In the ED, she is prescribed an opiate to deal with the pain and an antibiotic for the infection, and she is told to “follow up with your dentist.”

In a month or so, however, Martha, like so many others, ends up right back in the ED when her infection, which has never been directly treated, flares up again

Martha isn’t alone in this situation.

This story is reality for hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians who, for various reasons, cannot access oral health care.

A Better Way: The Promise of Teledentistry

Teledentistry is a promising innovative tool that could play a critical role in increasing access, especially in rural areas like Tyrrell County.

What is Teledentistry?

The use of telecommunications for dental exams and assessments, consultations between dental providers, and direct education for patients, among other uses. Teledentistry is a treatment tool that has incredible potential for increasing access to quality dental care in communities that traditionally lack access, especially in rural areas without practicing dentists.

Imagine this:

The next time Martha winds up in the hospital for her toothache, she is connected with a dentist in Chapel Hill via a live video feed. A medical professional takes digital x-rays of Marhta’s mouth and uses an intraoral camera to allow the remote dentist to take a look at her teeth. The dentist quickly diagnoses her abscessed tooth, prescribes Martha the correct antibiotic to help fight the infection, and helps her schedule an appointment for treatment.

With her oral health issue resolved, Martha finally breaks the cycle of hospital visits that she would have otherwise endured.

While Martha had never seen a dentist up until this point, she has always kept up a good habit of visiting her local federally qualified health clinic for an annual checkup. The next time she visits, she learns that the clinic now offers asynchronous teledental services in partnership with East Carolina University.

Synchronous and Asynchronous Teledentistry

Synchronous is a fancy word that means “at the same time.” In synchronous teledentistry, a dentist is connected via a live video feed to review material, assess the patient in real time, and provide direct patient counsel, if needed.

Dentists who practice asynchronous teledentistry are sent diagnostic information such as digital x-rays and pictures from intraoral cameras to review at a later date, giving them time to look at all the material and put together a comprehensive treatment plan based on the patient’s unique needs.

Digital x-rays and pictures from an intraoral camera are sent to a dentist who works through East Carolina University. She reviews Martha’s records later that week. Fortunately, this time there is no need for further treatment, but the dental provider does advise that Marhta floss more regularly.

Martha’s children have also never seen a dentist. Luckily for them, a dental clinic was recently established at their school and a dental hygienist provides them the same asynchronous teledental services that their mother received at the medical clinic.

The hygienist provides Martha’s children with fluoride treatments, dental sealants, and a thorough cleaning. The dentist who reviews their digital x-rays and other diagnostic information determines that they have no cavities, but that they both do have moderate gingivitis. The hygienist learns that the two have had to share a toothbrush, so the clinic provides them with two new toothbrushes and tubes of fluoride toothpaste.

From in-school clinics to emergency departments, teledentistry is a promising asset that could significantly improve access and equity in oral health care across North Carolina. For families like Martha’s, simple diagnostic services completed through teledentistry could drastically increase tangible access points to dental services, and in return prevent significant oral health burdens downstream.

The Tools of Teledentistry

Teledentistry can seem daunting, especially when it comes to modernizing an office to meet the technological needs of remote care. Unlike many variations of telehealth, however, the tools of teledentistry are actually quite simple. The basic necessities are:

A digital x-ray system
An intraoral camera
Electronic patient records

Most dental practices already use digital x-rays and intraoral cameras, and practices across the country are rapidly making the switch to electronic record-keeping. Compared to other telehealth services, the startup cost for teledentistry is relatively low.

By helping break the cycle of emergency department visits for oral health crises, medical costs for patients and the healthcare system as a whole could be significantly reduced. This is especially important in our rural communities. Cutting the uncompensated care costs burdening rural hospitals across the state could go a long way in attaining financial solvency. Additionally, inserting a dental professional into the hospital setting via teledental services could be an important way to combat the opioid crisis, reducing the number of unnecessary opiate prescriptions often given to patients with oral health emergencies.

Want to Know More?

NCOHC is taking a trip later this week to tour the state-of-the-art Center of Excellence for Telehealth at the Medical University of South Carolina. Stay tuned for our report from the trip!

Also, join us on June 3, 2020, for Oral Health Day! Oral Health Day is NCOHC’s annual advocacy event at the North Carolina General Assembly. This year we will focus our discussion on pathways to successful teledentistry in our state. Click here for more information and to register today!

Tags Access, Equity, rural, teledentistry

Blog Public Health Social Determinants of Health

Healthy Mouth, Healthy Body: Oral Health During Pregnancy

Post author By NC Oral Health Collaborative
Post date February 11, 2020

Recap: The Oral-Systemic Connection

Parts one and two of our series, “Healthy Mouth, Healthy Body,” focused on heart disease, diabetes, and how the two are linked to oral disease

Gum disease, or periodontal disease, can allow harmful bacteria to enter the bloodstream and cause chronic inflammation. This inflammation is linked to conditions like atherosclerosis, an artery disease that can lead to heart attacks and strokes.

Diabetes is connected to gum disease in several ways. Dry mouth caused by diabetes can lead to suboptimal oral health, and gum disease itself can increase the prevalence of risk factors for diabetes like elevated blood glucose levels

To catch up, be sure to read parts one and two of this series.

Healthy Mouth, Healthy Pregnancy

Even though this follows posts about heart disease and diabetes, to be perfectly clear, we are NOT calling pregnancy a disease! (And, brushing your teeth, well, cannot prevent pregnancy.)

Pregnant mothers experience significant changes in their bodies during pregnancy, and some of these changes can impact oral health. For example, hormone imbalances can lead to gingivitis in the expecting mother. Increased vomiting from morning sickness, too, can increase the likelihood of developing cavities and tooth erosion (stripping of the tooth’s enamel).

Additionally, the research into the oral-systemic connection during pregnancy draws a connection between gum disease and low birthweight in newborns. Bacteria from gum disease can release toxins in the mother’s body that causes the body to produce chemicals that may stimulate contractions prematurely.

Research also reveals that gum disease may be linked to pre-term birth, but that connection is much less certain for now.

What Does This Mean?

For expecting mothers, it is important to work dental care into the already busy health care routine during pregnancy. For individuals who qualify for Medicaid while pregnant, NCOHC is working to support the extension of dental benefits post-partum to match perinatal health care coverage, which currently lasts 60 days after birth in North Carolina. You guessed it — currently, oral health coverage for the mother ends at time of delivery.

The oral-systemic connection during pregnancy also underscores a notion we have mentioned in all three parts of this series: integrated health care models are key to optimal outcomes. Expecting mothers have a lot do deal with, including a plethora of health care needs, from OB-GYN visits to primary care, birth counseling, and more. This takes time (and time off from work), which is hard to come by for many. We understand that adding oral health care into the mix can be easier said than done.

Integrated health care models, however, offer a way to make care during pregnancy easier on the expecting mother. Clinics and medical practices equipped to serve all the needs of a mother, from oral health care to OB-GYN services, could help ensure that pregnant women receive full-spectrum care to ensure as healthy a pregnancy as possible.

For more on the oral-systemic connection, be sure to read parts one and two of this series, and check out the resources below.