Hello forum;

I may not be in the right forum for what I have to say, and if that is the case I apologize to all and trust I will receive some proper guideance.

Assuming I am in the correct forum, I have a comment following my reading of the opening article found in "Dental Issues", which discusses the need for a heightened awareness for regular cancer screening within the dental community.

I spent almost 25 years as a financial and business consultant specializing in the health professions, and well over 90% of my clients were dental practitioners seeking financial advice.

In recent conversation with my own dentist who has treated me for over 20 years, I understand that routine cancer screening is still not an approved billable procedure on the current fee guide in our neck of the woods.

My dentist has been doing routine cancer screening for the last 15 years, and does so as a value added service for his new and existing patients. Unfortunately, not all dentists are prepared or are financially able to provide such additional service on a pro bono basis, and for those and others, it simply will not happen until they are able to legitimately bill a patient or an insursance company for the procedure.

Consequently, the number of people who are denied the benefit of early detection is astronomical. Part of the solution is political in nature, and public pressure should be brought to bear on the regulatory and governing authorities to expedite whatever changes are necessary to the fee guide so that cancer screening is a billable procedure without further delay.

My dentist also demonstrated a new-to-the-market piece of diagnostic equipment he acquired for his practice that reportedly can identify cancerous tissue within the oral cavity. A very impressive device, about the size and shape of a standard hair dryer, that shouldn't elevate anyone's anxiety in visiting the dentist's office.

However, its "SSDD"; Same Situation, Different Device. Put another way, I found out that the use of this new tool is not a billable procedure as yet, which explains why its use is not more widespread. The approximate $8,000 capital cost was money out of my dentists pocket that he is unable to recover through the current fee guide.

That represents a substantial financial disincentive to any business person, including your dentist !

If many dentists cannot afford to spend 30 seconds or so examining the oral cavity for evidence of cancer using his or her eyes only, then it is arguably less likely that dentists would voluntarily spend the sum of $8,000 to search for evidence of cancer using a fancy new piece of equipment either.

Once again, it needs to be a billable procedure if the public is to derive the ultimate benefit of its use.

The dental profession as a whole has undergone extensive change over the course of the last 20 years particularly in the promotion of "preventive dentistry." In many ways they have worked themselves out of a job. Dentists have also had to improve their business awareness and management skills as the costs of staying in practice have increased at a faster pace than the fee guide in most regions of the country.

In order to survive in a very competitive environment, dentists have had to change their way of thinking from being a "healer" to being a "business-person", as distasteful a thought as that may be. This means the vast majority of dental practitioners today are in the right mindset to accept these new procedures and implement them once they are financially compensated for the time and effort as well as reimbursed through the fee guide for any capital expenditure for new technology.

The public has not been conditioned to associate doctors and dentists with financial motivation, but it is time for anyone at risk of getting oral cancer (any member of the general public, for instance) to become aware of this reality and demand the swiftest action. The sooner cancer screening is made a billable procedure, the sooner cancer screening will be made a routine procedure.

Increasing cancer awareness through dental screening is no more difficult a task than that. Period.

Given that approximately 60% of the population visits a dentist at least once per year, but only an estimated 15% of dentists perform any type of cancer screening on their patients, one doesn't need to be a mathematician to calculate how quickly and where a substantial improvement in early detection could be realized.

How many cancer patients would benefit from early detection than otherwise would be the case ? There is little doubt that the number would almost immediately justify any positive action initiated in that direction.

Just something to think about when contemplating further advances in cancer diagnosis, and in particular, the roles we all can play in its early detection - dentist and member of the public alike. Get the word out and let your feelings be known !

Thanks for listening, and good fortune with any personal battle with the beast called cancer.

Sincerely,
JT2