Please read Dr. Kumar’s article in Sensors & Diagnostics titled, “Point-of-care diagnostic devices for periodontitis – current trends and urgent need.“
Oral health is vital to people of all ages, including children, adults, old age people, and Medicare beneficiaries with disabilities, and is connected to overall health. But often, oral health needs to be recognized, and maintenance is challenging due to many factors, including cost and insurance hurdles. Medicare’s national health insurance program does not cover dental care and routine dental checkups. Almost 65%, nearly 37 million people, do not have dental coverage through Medicare. Consequently, the patient does not visit the dentist (almost 49%). Limited dental insurance, like Medicare beneficiaries using dental services (nearly 19%), leads to a high amount of out-of-pocket costs ($1000) for oral health care. Such a high cost makes dentist visits and dental procedures unaffordable. There are options for dental care advance plans like Medicare Advantage, private dental, Medicaid, and employer-sponsored plans. However, such plans are often provided just to the working age, only cover regular dentist visits, and are often subjected to annual caps. One must pay out-of-pocket for complicated dental issues. Adults aged more than 60 years require more attention for oral health for an incident; 14% or more adults have untreated caries, and about 68% have periodontitis. Most adults over 65 who do not have natural teeth are prone to difficulties such as chewing and swallowing, leading to health complications. Untreated caries, periodontitis, and edentulism are subject to high-cost emergency room visits, forcing them to spend more. Hence, attention is required to deal with such challenges and find a way to make dental care more accessible and affordable. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is reviewing a plan to cover oral health, illnesses, and injuries with Medicare. Other considerations include a premium-based model like voluntary dental benefits, similar to the Part D drug benefit prescription. There is a need to propose better solutions for dental health plans since poor oral care results in complicated health risks. Another approach to reduce cost and make oral diagnosis available to a large population of different age groups would be technological development, accessibility, and affordability. Advances in POC diagnosis systems have recently gained immense attention due to advantages like chairside operation, easy operation, and quick analysis protocols. To read the full article.
Point-of-care diagnostic devices for periodontitis – current trends and urgent need. Griffith A, Chande C, Kulkarni S, Morel J, Cheng YH, Shimizu E, Cugini C, Basuray S, Kumar V. Sens Diagn. 2024 Jun 3;3(7):1119-1134. PMID: 39007012 PMCID: PMC11238172 DOI: 1039/d3sd00317e