Dental firm to pay $24M in fraud claim; election jeopardizes dental legislation

Dear DrBicuspid Member,

The management company that operates 69 Small Smiles dental clinics across the U.S. has agreed to a $24 million settlement with state and federal agencies following three "whistleblower" lawsuits that alleged the company caused bills to be submitted to Medicaid for unnecessary dental services performed on children insured by Medicaid. Read more.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Barack Obama is pushing Congress to pass a healthcare reform bill he can sign before his State of the Union speech on January 27. But yesterday's election of Republican Scott Brown to a U.S. Senate seat from Massachusetts could make the already difficult negotiations even harder, and have significant repercussions for oral health components of the legislation. Read more.

In other news, a California appeals court has allowed a class-action lawsuit to move forward against Dentsply International regarding the firm's Cavitron ultrasonic scaler. The lawsuit claims that patients were harmed when the device was used in procedures that involve open surgery. Read more.

And a British study examined public opinion about the dental therapist model and found that while over half of the participants felt that getting treatment from dental therapists is acceptable, significantly fewer were willing to have them treat children, and 20% were not willing to receive any treatment from them at all. Read more.