NC Dental Society

House Select Committee on COVID-19 committee meeting, sparsely attended due to the coronavirus

State lawmakers start moving on coronavirus relief

March 27, 2020 by Rose Hoban

State lawmakers start moving on coronavirus relief - North Carolina Health News

A bipartisan committee that's been newly formed to address coronavirus needs heard from providers about their cash flow and equipment needs.

By Rose Hoban Even as Congress acts to provide financial relief for families and industries that have been shell-shocked by the effects of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, legislators at the N.C. General Assembly are starting to address the many legal and financial issues the ongoing outbreak is presenting to the state. This week, lawmakers met […]

A dental professional like a dental hygienist or dentist puts a flashlight into someone's mouth. It's a proxy for dentists and oral health and oral cancer screenings because of HPV

NC dentists and dental hygienists have been in a long tug-of-war over practice limits. Hygienists just gained a bit of ground.

January 23, 2020 by Anne Blythe

NC dentists and dental hygienists have been in a long tug-of-war over practice limits. Hygienists just gained a bit of ground. - North Carolina Health News

New scope of practice rules mean dental hygienists will be freer to practice without dentists present. Dentists were OK with the changes.

By Anne Blythe Many of North Carolina’s school children in rural and low-wage areas who have never seen a dentist could have greater access to oral health care soon. On Jan. 16, the legislative rules review commission adopted a long-telegraphed change to scope of practice rules for North Carolina dental hygienists, an amendment that goes […]

dental hygientists tools laid out on a tray and a hand picking up one of those tools.

Can North Carolina dental hygienists help fill coverage gaps through a public-private partnership program?

July 31, 2019 by Anne Blythe

Can North Carolina dental hygienists help fill coverage gaps through a public-private partnership program? - North Carolina Health News

N.C. Dental Board proposes a rule change that could slightly expand the scope of practice for the state’s hygienists.

By Anne Blythe Hygienists in North Carolina have been lobbying for years to be able to clean teeth, take X-rays, check gum health and apply sealants when a dentist is not on-site with them. At long last, they seem to be one step closer to being able to do just that in certain schools, elder […]

Dental therapy might not be what you think, but is it for North Carolina?

June 3, 2019 by Anne Blythe

Dental therapy might not be what you think, but is it for North Carolina? - North Carolina Health News

A Minnesota dental therapist tries to show North Carolinians how her job might ease oral health care access in NC rural areas.

By Anne Blythe The words “dental therapy” might conjure images of nestling onto a therapist’s couch to find a remedy for teeth-gnashing fears of leaning back in a dentist’s chair. But that’s not what oral health care’s newest profession is, as several dozen people discovered recently during a three-hour discussion organized by the John Locke […]

shows a woman caring for a patient who is in the dental chair. She has a gown, goggles and gloves on, and is looking at a teledentistry camera that's in the office.

Will North Carolina dig its teeth into teledentistry?

May 15, 2019 by Anne Blythe

Will North Carolina dig its teeth into teledentistry? - North Carolina Health News

Shaun Matthews, director of telehealth at UNC’s dental school, is working with others to provide dental care remotely through real-time consultations and other teledentistry models.

By Anne Blythe Dr. Shaun Matthews rolls his chair closer to the computer in his UNC-Chapel Hill dental school office and clicks on a video of him talking with a patient whose jaw he recently reconstructed. Meghan Welty is a special-needs teacher from Morganton and is Matthew’s Exhibit A for how a teledentistry program could […]

oral health advocates visit legislators' offices, they're met at the door of one of them in this photo by a young woman

Raising the Profile of Better Oral Health

June 6, 2018 by Jared Weber

Raising the Profile of Better Oral Health - North Carolina Health News

Many of North Carolina’s communities lack the recommended number of dentists. Oral health advocates gathered in Raleigh on Tuesday to raise awareness for this issue, which disproportionately affects rural communities and minorities.

By Jared Weber For many rural North Carolinians, there’s no quick fix for a nagging toothache. Last year, the state Department of Health and Human Services reported that only 18.8 percent of the state had a sufficient number of dentists. Three counties — Camden, Hyde and Tyrell — lack a single dentist within their boundaries. Overall, […]

A folding chair has an addres taped to the back and on the seat is a card labeled "eviction"

Dental Students Get A Lesson in Empathy

July 6, 2017 by Leah Asmelash

Dental Students Get A Lesson in Empathy - North Carolina Health News

A simulation helps dental students - mostly well-to-do and educated - to understand the lives and struggles of their less fortunate patients.

By Leah Asmelash Since 1970, third-year dental students at UNC Chapel Hill have spent eight weeks in the summer going out into communities around the state and treating patients, many from low-income families, as part of the Dentistry in Service to Communities program. Forty-five years into this practice, the School of Dentistry’s Lewis Lampiris realized […]

A Plea for Oral Health

April 6, 2017 by Education NC

A Plea for Oral Health - North Carolina Health News

North Carolina ranks 47th in the country in the number of dentists per person and some counties don't have any dentist at all.

By Alex Granados EducationNC Zulayka Santiago knows what it feels like not to have access to oral health care. When she was a child, a few years after she and mother moved to Louisiana from Puerto Rico, her mouth started to hurt. While her family managed to get coverage for some medical costs, dental care was […]

Opioid Epidemic the Target of Newly Introduced Bill

March 3, 2017 by Rose Hoban

Opioid Epidemic the Target of Newly Introduced Bill - North Carolina Health News

The STOP Act takes a multi-faceted approach that will compel new habits for law enforcement, doctors, the state and others.

By Rose Hoban In August 2014, I had major abdominal surgery on a Tuesday. By Friday, the doctors took me off the pain pump, I took one oxycodone that afternoon. For the rest of my hospital stay, my pain was managed using ibuprofen and another anti-inflammatory drug called toradol. On Monday, as I was being […]

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