The NobleDentist Blog

This is just a short note to inform all of you that from 6pm yesterday evening improvements on the NobleDentist website were being implemented. These had been planned for several months.

A number of the improvements include the addition of a Recent Testimonials page, new Frequently Asked Questions, and a simpler Become a Member page. A particularly special improvement is within the list of Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne of dentists where we have separated the list of dentists into Highly Recommended and Recommended – the dentists listed in the Highly Recommended have been placed in that list due to a higher than usual amount of positive feedback from members.

The improvements will continue to be implemented today but will not affect the operation of the website.

This article was published on UQ News Online – University of Queensland, Australia.

University of Queensland researchers have gained funding for a range of studies to prevent child dental decay.

The Dental Board of Queensland awarded seven grants, worth a total of over $50,000. UQ’s School of Dentistry attracted three grants and will play a leadership role in two others at Queensland Health clinics.

These projects include longitudinal studies for prevention of early childhood caries undertaken by PhD student, Kathryn Plonka; Queensland Health dental officer, Stephanie Salanitri and MPhil student, Margaret Pukallus, as well as dental investigations on twins by DClinDent student, Sue Taji. These studies, supervised by the School of Dentistry’s Associate Professor Kim Seow, will provide useful results that can be applied for preventive dental programs for children.

Another project will examine ways of determining oral health in young defence personnel, which could improve combat readiness, particularly during deployment. Nicholas Cusack and Gregory Mahoney will measure the effectiveness of commercially available saliva and plaque sampling products in assessing oral health.

UQ lecturer in speech pathology, Dr Gail Woodyatt has been awarded a grant from the Speech Pathologists Board of Queensland to explore the current treatment environment for children with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD).

Dr Woodyatt said the reported 20-fold increase in the incidence of ASD meant speech pathologists were spending substantial therapy time treating children with the disorder.

“While there is a lot of information on early intervention, there is little information to directly guide speech pathologists in their treatment choices, which needs to address individual differences in each child.

“My research will investigate the current intervention strategies of speech pathologists and inform the profession of training needs in the area,” Dr Woodyatt said.

The Speech Pathologists Board and The Dental Board are both funded solely by registration fees from all professionals practicing in the state.

This is an article by Siobhain Ryan that recently appeared in The Australian – Australia.

THE taxman is starving the states’ public dental health systems of funds, undermining the federal Government’s promised $490 million teen dental program.

In a letter to Health Minister Nicola Roxon, the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association, which represents the public health sector, has warned that many teenagers promised check-ups were missing out because of confusion about the tax status of the scheme.

“Many state and territory public dental services have decided not to provide care under the plan until the tax ruling is resolved,” the AHHA letter said.

Labor’s 2007 election pledge to restore the commonwealth dental scheme hinges on plans to cut public dental waiting lists and to issue $150 vouchers for check-ups to one million teenagers.

The $290 million waiting list plan stalled in the Senate after the Government lost its bid to close down a Coalition dental program that was to fund the new measure.

Now the teen program is in trouble because of fears the Australian Taxation Office will include the $150 vouchers in their assessment of dentists’ incomes.

South Australia Dental Service executive director Martin Dooland said the salaried public dentists pocketed none of the $150 but had to claim the voucher for the state to receive the commonwealth payment.

While salaried public doctors had an ATO agreement not to count Medicare services billed to them on behalf of the state, dentists had been waiting in vain for a similar ruling since the teen dental program started on July 1.

This is simply a short message to wish you all a happy Australia Day Weekend!

Just to let you know that the NobleDentist offices will be closed on Monday. So, any membership applications received over the weekend and Monday will be be processed and posted on the Tuesday after the weekend. Any emails and telephone messages received over the weekend and Monday will be addressed on the Tuesday as well.

In the event you have made an urgent appointment, simply email us via the Contact Us page or leave a message on the voicemail stating the practice name, suburb, day of appointment, and time of appointment and we will make the appropriate arrangements come Tuesday morning.

Please also note that the NobleDentist website will be undergoing a number of improvements in coming weeks. We will also be adding quite a number of new locations throughout Australia in January to June.

Once again we wish you all well over the Australia Day weekend!

This is an article by Angus Hohenboken that was recently published in The Australian – Australia.

DENTAL health experts have locked horns over evidence of a link between mouthwash and oral cancer, with one academic saying it is more likely to prevent the disease.

Results of a review published in the Australian Dental Journal found there was “sufficient evidence” that “alcohol-containing mouthwashes contributed to the increased risk of development of oral cancer”.

Lead author of the review Michael McCullough called for mouthwashes containing alcohol to be removed from supermarket shelves and reclassified as “prescription only”.

But the head of the University of Queensland’s School of Dentistry, Laurence Walsh, said yesterday that mouthwash was more likely to help prevent cancer than bring it on.

“There is a whole range of reasons why some mouth rinses would actually reduce the chance of the cancer because they impair the production of molecules that do have cancer-causing effects like acetaldehyde,” Professor Walsh said.

“There is literature which is now recommending that mouth rinses be used to reduce bacteria which produce acetaldehyde and there is a fairly strong consensus internationally that mouth rinses containing alcohol aren’t linked to cancer.”

Dr McCullough argues that acetaldehyde, a toxic by-product of alcohol that is believed to be carcinogenic, may accumulate in the oral cavity when mouthwash is used.

He said yesterday that he had never heard of any studies showing the molecule could suppress or prevent cancer.

Oncologist Andrew Dean, of Perth’s St John of God Hospital in Subiaco, said oncologists would warn patients of the potential risk of using alcohol mouth washes and encourage further research in the area, as a result of the review.

“We caution people against using a powerful alcoholic-based mouthwash on a daily basis and in particular a subset of the population who use mouthwash to mask the smell of cigarette smoke,” Dr Dean said.

He urged people to report anything unusual in their mouths, such as unexplained lesions, to their dentist or general practitioner and called for more research in the area.

The Australian Dental Association, which endorses Listerine, has also called for further research.

This is an article by Mark Metherell that was recently published in the Sydney Morning Herald – Australia.

THE Federal Government, which has stalled on plans to introduce a dental scheme for the disadvantaged, faces calls to abolish rebates that go to patients with private health insurance.

The Public Health Association has demanded the Government redirect $400 million that is now paid in rebates to people with ancillary health insurance for private dentistry.

In a submission to the Government’s Preventative Health Taskforce, the association says the 30 per cent rebate on insurance for dental care “mainly benefits middle- and high-income Australians”.

“This should be abolished and the funding redirected to oral health services for Australians on low incomes.”

Low-income Australians receive no direct federal funding for dental care, the association says.

Yesterday its chief executive, Michael Moore, told the Herald that widespread inequities made dental service a pressing priority for the Government.

The Health Minister, Nicola Roxon, has delayed the reintroduction of a national dental scheme for the disadvantaged because the Coalition refused in the Senate to dump the dental Medicare scheme, which the previous government had introduced just before the election.

Dental Medicare, which provides up to $4250 in private dentistry for those whose dental problems exacerbate a separate medical condition, has grown in popularity this year.

Ms Roxon has said the continuation of the Medicare program means $290 million over three years will have to be withdrawn from the new Commonwealth dental health program.

If the Medicare service continued, she would have to reduce spending on the federal program, she said, and NSW patients would lose about 327,200 services valued at more than $90 million.

Ms Roxon has argued that the Medicare scheme is poorly targeted because patients must have a chronic medical illness to qualify for the benefits.

Mr Moore said he had proposed a compromise to senators in an effort to end the impasse. Under his plan, dental Medicare would continue, but in a more tightly controlled way.

He said one procedure that had gobbled up funding was the provision of expensive, but not medically necessary, crowns for patients who had received root canal treatment.

“The stand-off means thousands of people who cannot afford dental care are not getting what Labor promised, and this has been a debacle.”

In its submission to the Preventative Health Taskforce, the association lists 12 features of oral health care in Australia. It says poor oral health is most common among indigenous people, refugees and elderly Australians.

Dental services are mainly financed – about 85 per cent – by private funding, even though dental admissions are the highest cause of acute preventable hospital admissions among children.

It has been estimated that about 500,000 Australians are in urgent need of dental treatment but do not get it because of cost.

This is an article by Madeleine Logan that was recently published in the Toowoomba Chronicle – Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia.

WHEN pensioner Col Bowman was told it would be 30 months before a public dentist could check his 11 remaining teeth, he nearly fainted.

As the Toowoomba man’s name creeps up the three-year waiting list, his teeth are slowly rotting beyond repair.

The retired air force serviceman has been lingering since February 2007 to be told whether eight of his teeth can be saved.

“I’ve already had one tooth extracted while I’ve been on the waiting list,” he said.

“While I wait on fillings, the damage is getting so bad I will probably need more extractions.”

Queensland Health said Toowoomba patients wanting general treatment wait an average two years and 11 months. Those needing prosthetic treatment wait an average one year and six months.

Toowoomba woman Dell Laine has been waiting for one extraction and five fillings since January last year.

“If I could afford to, I’d go to a private dentist,” she said. “But we just found out my husband has cancer and I can’t spare the money. If I could get those five fillings, they would last me my time out.”

Patricia Taylor, who has been on the waiting list since March 25 last year, said the State Government should offer a bulk billing service for private dentists, similar to the system adopted by doctors.

About 25 appointments are allocated each day for emergencies. People, like Darling Heights mother-of-three Jodie Wells who broke her tooth while chewing on Nutri-Grain, have to call at 8am on weekdays to jostle for those slots.

Pensioner Antoinette Brekelmans said she saw a dentist within 24 hours when she had a tooth infection.

But she quipped she “may be dead” before she gets a check-up on her teeth that are “past their use by date”.

Toowoomba woman Joy Brighton, 70, is happy to wait one year for a check—up.

“But three is a bit over the top,” she said.

A spokeswoman said Toowoomba and Darling Downs Health Service District was impacted by a nationwide shortage of dentists and oral health therapists, combined with an increase in the numbers in the eligible population.

This is an article by Clair Weaver that was recently published in The Sunday Telegraph – Australia.

AUSTRALIA’S top-selling mouthwashes can cause oral cancer and should be pulled from supermarket shelves immediately.

Leading independent experts have issued this strong warning after investigating latest scientific evidence linking alcohol-containing mouthwashes to the deadly disease.

Their review, published in the Dental Journal of Australia, concludes there is now ``sufficient evidence’’ that “alcohol-containing mouthwashes contribute to the increased risk of development of oral cancer’‘.

The ethanol in mouthwash is thought to allow cancer-causing substances to permeate the lining of the mouth more easily and cause harm.

Acetaldehyde, a toxic by-product of alcohol that may accumulate in the oral cavity when swished around the mouth, is also believed to be carcinogenic.

Listerine, the nation’s biggest-selling mouthwash and a brand endorsed by the Australian Dental Association (ADA), contains as much as 26 per cent alcohol.

Mouthwash is one of the fastest-growing grocery products in Australia, with the category now worth more than $75 million, according to latest Nielsen market research.

Lead review author ProfessorMichael McCullough has told The Sunday Telegraph alcohol-containing mouthwash should be reclassified as prescription-only and carry written health warnings.

Prof McCullough, chair of the ADA’s therapeutics committee and associate professor of oral medicine at the University of Melbourne, is calling on the ADA to urgently re-assess its seal of approval on mouthwashes containing alcohol.

“We see people with oral cancer who have no other risk factors than the use of alcohol-containing mouthwash, so what we’ve done in this study is review all the evidence that’s out there,’’ he said.

“Since this article came out, further evidence has come out too. We believe there should be warnings.

“If it was a facial cream that had the effect of reducing acne but had a four- to five-fold increased risk of skin cancer, no one would be recommending it.’’

Oral cancer is a gruelling and mutilating disease that afflicts more than 800 Australians each year and kills half of them within five years of being diagnosed.

Smoking and alcohol consumption are well-established risk factors, but alcohol-containing mouthwash use is more controversial.

Prof McCullough and co-author Dr Camile Farah, director of research at the University of Queensland’s School of Dentistry, recommended mouthwash be restricted to ``short-term’’ medical use or replaced by alcohol-free versions.

“(We) further feel it is inadvisable for oral health-care professionals to recommend the long-term use of alcohol-containing mouthwashes,’’ they concluded.

The review reported evidence from an international study of 3210 people which found daily mouthwash use was a “significant risk factor’’ for head and neck cancer, irrespective of whether users also drank alcohol or smoked.

But the effects of mouthwash were worst in smokers, who had a nine-fold increased risk of cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx and larynx.

Those who also drank alcohol had more than five times the risk – and even those who neither drank nor smoked still ran a four- to five-fold risk of contracting cancer.

A Brazilian study has also found regular mouthwash use is associated with oral cancer regardless of alcohol or tobacco consumption.

“Mouthwash products are in contact with the oral mucosa as much as alcoholic beverages, and may cause chemical aggression of the cells,’’ researchers from the University of Sao Paulo said.

They said the role of ethanol in causing DNA damage needed to be explored further.

A review in the Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology last year said it would be “prudent, precautionary public-health policy to generally refrain from using ethanol in (mouthwash) products’’ because of “doubts about the safety of alcohol-containing oral products’‘.

Prof McCullough said the most popular mouthwashes contained higher concentrations of alcohol than drinks such as wine or beer.

“If you have a glass of wine, you tend to swallow it,’’ he said.

“With mouthwash, you have a higher level of alcohol and spend longer swishing it around your mouth.

“The alcohol that is present in your mouth is turned into acetaldehyde.’’

Regular alcohol consumption was a cancer risk, Prof McCullough said, but usually did not involve swishing it around the mouth.

Eating while drinking increased salivation, which lowered the risks, he said.

“The most significant difference (between alcohol and alcohol-containing mouthwash) is that one is for pleasure and the other is being recommended as a health product.’’

Cancer Council NSW chief executive Andrew Penman said the review was “interesting’‘, but called for further research.

“I think it’s quite a well-thought-out proposition, but it does warrant further investigation,’’ he said.

Happy New Year!

This is just a short note to let you that almost all staff have returned from holidays. We trust you enjoyed the festive season. We have many new additions to our services in 2009. NobleDentist will be adding many more locations Australia wide. We will also be improving the website to include more details about the individual practices. These details will include opening hours, services, parking details, proximity to public transport etc. It will also let you know whether a practice is ‘Highly Recommended’ or ‘Recommended’ based on the feedback we receive from members.

The team at NobleDentist look forward to assisting you. All the best for 2009.