TX dental board responds to critics; periodontitis linked with cardio disease

Dear DrBicuspid Member,

The Texas State Board of Dental Examiners has come under fire from critics who say the board isn't responsive to complaints about errant practitioners and that efforts to revise its reporting system for disciplinary actions are taking too long. But the board claims the issue is complicated and that it is making strides to make this information more readily accessible. Read more.

In other Practice Management Community news, a survey of 1,000 U.S. patients who had recently visited both a doctor's office and a hospital found that half of the respondents believe electronic health records will harm the privacy of their medical information. Click here to find out what tops their list of concerns.

And in Hygiene Community news, while many studies have suggested a link between periodontitis and cardiovascular disease, others have not confirmed this association. But new research to be presented at the International Association for Dental Research conference next month contends that periodontal disease can contribute to occurrences of acute myocardial infarction.