Here are some things to keep in mind for the dental professional and their patients as the organ transplant system goes through some changes.
Cher Thomas, RDH and I met during unusual circumstances about 20 years ago and became fast friends. We had both registered for an educational weekend at the Speaking and Consulting Network, a premiere organization for dental speakers and consultants in dentistry. We’d never met and even though it’s not always easy to share a hotel room with a complete stranger, I found Cher to be easygoing and fun. In fact, one year, we were invited by Philips Oral Healthcare for a weekend of fun in Vegas and ended up getting up on stage and dancing in front of a large audience. I won’t go into a lot of detail, let’s just say that it wasn’t fun for me to watch a video of myself with a Sonicare electric toothbrush, dancing around the stage. Cher was a better dancer than me and I tried to hide from the camera.
The first night of our weekend was a ton of fun sharing stories about our backgrounds and conversation flowed naturally. The following morning, Cher asked me to help her open her foil pill packs, and I watched as she lifted a huge rectangular plastic box from her luggage. The box was a pill organizer and at the time, Cher was taking a total of 40 different medications. It was then that I learned that Cher was a kidney transplant recipient and she started educated me about the various medications she takes to thrive.
Remarkably, Cher has beaten the odds. She just celebrated her 24th year as a transplant recipient, and she tells me she knows people who have maintained their transplant for more than 40 years.
Since then, Cher continues to educate me about transplant recipients, especially kidney transplantation, and I am always eager to learn more about solid organ transplants. She has dedicated most of her career to the dental care of renal transplant patients. When we first met, it was estimated that 1 in 10 people had chronic kidney disease (CKD). It is now estimated to be 1 in 7 people. As this chronic illness becomes more and more prevalent, it is obvious there are some barriers to care. When a patient applies to be an organ transplant recipient, several tests are performed. Many are tissue typing and the medical and mental stability of the patient. Each transplant center has a long list of criteria and once all the tests are completed the patient’s case is presented to an organ transplant board for consideration.
A recent CNN headline I saw about the United States government planning to overhaul the organ transplant system was a good excuse to get in touch with Cher once again. I decided to ask her some questions and will share what I’ve learned. In addition, I’ll review some pertinent information for dental care professionals to ask organ transplant patients before proceeding with a dental treatment plan.
Preparing for Dental Treatment: Organ Transplant Patients
I’ve previously written about factors to be considered before starting dental treatment, but it never hurts to review major points:
Expanding Dental Coverage for Transplant Recipients
Under the physician fee schedule final rule for 2023, CMS recently issued a decision to expand medically necessary dental procedures in Medicare.3 CMS reports that the final rule creates a process to identify additional dental services that are integral to the success of other covered medical services. Elimination of infection before an organ transplant will begin to be covered in 2023.3 Covered dental services include: oral exams relating to renal transplant surgery, wiring of teeth, reduction of jaw fractures, extraction of teeth in preparation for radiation treatment of neoplastic disease and dental splints for covered treatment of certain medical conditions. For kidney transplant patients, the new rule matters because it expands preventive and diagnostic dental exams covered under Medicare Part B.3
The Middlesex College Teledentistry Program: One Year Later
May 3rd 2024In May 2023, Dental Products Report featured Edison, New Jersey’s Middlesex College, and took a deep dive into how the college successfully incorporated teledentistry into its curriculum and community outreach efforts. One year later, Michelle Roman provides an update about the hygiene school’s progress in education and public health.