Category: ODA Today

Keith Kerns, Esq. ODA Director of Legal and Legislative Services Since the advent of federal privacy regulations under HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) in 2003, dental offices have focused their attention on the security and safeguarding of the health information they gather on patients in the course of treatment. ... [continue reading]

Patrick M. Lloyd, D.D.S., M.S., began his term as dean of The Ohio State University College of Dentistry in August. In this Q&A with ODA Today, Dean Patrick Lloyd looks forward on his first full year of leadership. What brings you to The Ohio State University College of Dentistry? During my 30-plus years in dental education, I made several ... [continue reading]

David J. Owsiany, JD – ODA Executive Director The following piece originally appeared in the Columbus Dispatch on November 19, 2011. This week, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case that will likely determine the constitutionality of the federal health care reform law's individual mandate. Interestingly, the legacy of a Dayton-area ... [continue reading]

ODA Staff Last month, ODA leaders met with Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel and U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown in the same week. Ohio Dental Political Action Committee Treasurer, Dr. Bruce Grbach, a general dentist from Mentor, attended both meetings and said "having the opportunity to discuss dental issues with these two leaders in the same week was a ... [continue reading]

Matthew J. Messina, DDS – Executive Editor Cornell University sociologist Matthew Brashears has recently surveyed more than 2,000 adults from a national database. His research spanned 1985 to 2010, and concluded that, "while we may friend more people on Facebook, we have fewer real friends." His defines real friends as "the kind who would ... [continue reading]

Ben Lamielle, DDS – Guest Columnist "Le client n'a jamais tort." In 1908 famed French hotelier Cesar Ritz coined this phrase, "The customer is never wrong." A few years later Marshall Field's department store in Chicago modified this slogan and helped popularize it to what many of us know today, "The customer is always right." While I doubt ... [continue reading]

Ken Jones, DDS – Guest Columnist "I get up every morning determined to both change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult." E. B. White (1899 - 1985) As I write this, Halloween has passed, daylight savings time is no more, I've conceded that my golf game never was, and my mind is a ... [continue reading]

Anita Aminoshariae, DDS – Guest Columnist The English philosopher, Herbert Spencer, coined the term "survival of the fittest" in 1864 after reading the works of Charles Darwin. The phrase means better adaptation, and flexibility to the immediate, local environment." With the economic downturn of the last few months, it is easy for people to ... [continue reading]

Christopher A. Moore, MA ODA Director of Dental Services The Ohio Dental Association is again receiving phone calls from member dentists concerning how a large, out-of-state insurance carrier explains its subscribers' financial liability for care provided by non-contracting Ohio dentists. The insurance company lists on the explanation of ... [continue reading]

A new mouthwash developed by a microbiologist at the UCLA School of Dentistry is highly successful in targeting the harmful Streptococcus mutans bacteria that is the principal cause tooth decay and cavities. In a recent clinical study, 12 subjects who rinsed just one time with the experimental mouthwash experienced a nearly complete elimination ... [continue reading]