As more employers become savvy about applying evidenced-based medicine to determine medical benefits, it's only natural that some might want to see those concepts incorporated into dental plans.
Evidence-based dentistry is about, in part, ensuring that the right patient receives the appropriate procedure for the right condition at the right time.
Employers are already aware on the medical side about the value of evidence-based medicine in terms of covering benefits, Gary Colangelo, dental director at CareFirst BlueCross Shield told attendees this week at the 13th Annual Dental Benefits Summit in Orlando, Florida.
"They don't want to pay for stuff that's unnecessary and they might start to apply that to dentistry," he added. Dentistry is quite far off, compared to the medical benefits arena, in evidenced-based practices.
"We have a lot of catching up to do. We may not be able to do it at the same level as on the medical side, but at least we can begin to take the evidence at hand and apply it to dentistry," Colangelo said.
For example, he questioned whether a healthy adult who does not have a history of tooth decay should see a dentist twice a year.
He asserted that such an individual may need to see a dentist once a year or every two years. "If we could base our need for a periodic oral evaluation in an adult or child according to the risk that person has for periodontal diseases or dental carries, then that is cost-effective care being good dental care."
Yet other dental benefit analysts said that the use of evidence-based practices in dentistry will lead to enhanced benefit coverage. They cited research linking periodontal diseases to other health conditions, such as heart diseases, diabetes and low birth weight.
"We are still trying to figure out where evidence-based dentistry will take us in terms of giving enhanced dental benefits to certain medical conditions," said Robert Lewando, associate medical director of dental, BlueCross BlueShield of Massachusetts.
He said the company now offers dental plans that have 100% coverage and no deductibles for members with periodontal diseases related to chronic conditions.
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