The latest statistics show that about 47.7 million Americans have periodontal disease. More than ever, science shows a link between periodontal infections and many other serious systemic health risks, heart disease, diabetes, several types of cancer, and even Alzheimer's disease. A recent paper published by the American Heart Association states that up to 50% of all heart attacks are caused by oral bacteremia. This is more prominent than ever before, and it is important how we are acting when we see periodontal infections in practice.
Sadly, statistics released by dental supplies show that less than 3% of all submitted tooth codes are in the periodontal category. How could this be? If more than 60 million adults have some form of periodontal disease, why do they not accept and receive the care they need? How do we create a higher sense of urgency and awareness in practice to help patients move forward?
I am happy to be part of the "My Promise" movement of the new movement. This work will help patients understand the importance of this therapy and make it easier to accept our advice. This work will also help clinicians detect, diagnose and treat periodontal disease. Many clinicians understand the importance of treating periodontal disease but may lack the systems and techniques to do so. This partnership between ACTEON and Henry Schein gives dentists and hygienists access to the tools they need to achieve a higher level of effectiveness of periodontal health every day.
With promises, you will be able to provide tools to help your team improve their understanding of the urgency of their problems. A key issue often faced with dental treatment rooms is the difficulty of providing evidence of the existence of the disease. Periodontal disease usually does not have pain, or obvious signs and symptoms. This makes receiving patients very difficult.
Gingivitis patients are already in your practice. As a leader in healthcare, your vision is to make positive changes to your patients through the promises of DETECT, DIAGNOSE and TREAT. The ACTEON periodontal regimen is SoproCARE screening of each patient's mouth. This is the gold standard for periodontal health care.
The simple beauty of the ACTEON "I Promise" campaign is that your health team will be able to detect the inflammation caused by periodontal disease more easily by using the SoproCARE camera. The patient will be able to see a strong picture of the severity of plaque buildup and inflammation in their own mouth. This whole movement will allow dentists and hygienists to work together to diagnose the disease and then treat it.
This system will also help us get a higher premium as we can provide images as additional supporting documents when submitting an insurance claim. Those who use the new 4346 code for gingivitis found these images very useful for reimbursement.
We have been advocating SoproCARE camera for many years, this is a powerful dental equipment!
