Re: Husband's Bridge

From: Joel M. Eichen, D.D.S. (joeleichen_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 06/13/04 

Date: Sun, 13 Jun 2004 05:50:19 -0400

THANKS!

Joel M. Eichen DDS

On 12 Jun 2004 19:00:25 -0700, leaderdmd@juno.com (Dr. David Leader)
wrote:

>This disclaimer?:
>
>"This posting is intended for informational or conversational purposes
>only.
>Always seek the opinion of a licensed dental professional before
>acting on
>the advice or opinion expressed here. Only a dentist who has examined
>you
>in person can diagnose your problems and make decisions which will
>affect
>your health."

You forgot the part about Steve Mancuso in there ........

>
>Dr. Eichen,
>
>You may want to add to this disclaimer that dentists are not able to
>give legal advice. Another item to add is that laws, regulations and
>standards of care may vary depending on location. Then again, the
>disclaimer does not give us license to give bad advice or to impune
>our collegues.

No one needs "a license to give bad advice and/or impugn our
colleagues."

IMPUGN: Attack as false or wrong

I guess I am more familiar with that word than you are!

**

The words above are not written in the dental law of any state I have
looked at.

Your description of "Bad advice" is constitutionally vague!

>
>Maybe it would be better to follow the ADA's Principles of Ethics and
>Code of Professional Conduct from Section 4.C. JUSTIFIABLE CRITICISM.
>"…Patients should be informed of their present oral health status
>without
>disparaging comment about prior services. In other words we may say,
>"there is a problem with your bridge." We should not say,
>"...it's quite possible that the dental offices most eager to
>use ancillary personnel for this crucial procedure didn't take that
>much care with the preps to start with, so it wouldn't really matter
>."
>

Well, you might say that I do not agree with the American Dental
Association with many of their principles. In fact, they have done
little to defend the dentists against the badmouthing by dental
insurance companies. For years, the insurance companies have created
problems for the dentists ... now where was the ADA when that went on?

FURTHER, ADA's Principles of Ethics and Code of Professional Conduct
from Section 4.C. JUSTIFIABLE CRITICISM. "…Patients should be informed
of their present oral health status without ..."

has nothing to do with LAW. There are no statutes or case law that
support this position.

If you want to discuss LAW, okay. If you want to discuss ETHICS okay.
But why confuse the two?

**

By the way, are you suggesting that the ADA is telling us to cover up
illegal activity? Should we gloss over the fact that dental assistants
are specifically prohibited from taking impressions for crowns in
Pennsylvania?

Are you saying that a patient who specifically asked, "Can the D.A.
take the impression?" should be lied to?

Its either a YES answer or a NO answer.

He is not asking for a ***-foot answer now is he?

>It's very difficult to give people helpful advice in this format. We
>usually don't have all of the necessary information. This thread is a
>good example.

I disagree. The patient is entitled to dental care according to the
laws, the rules and the regulations of the state in which he resides.
In this case, its Pennsylvania.

>
>Since we got the information 2nd hand, 2nd lay person hand, it is
>difficult to asses the reliability of the information.

We agree.

> Was the bridge
>a temp? If so, many jurisdictions allow Certified or Registered dental
>assistants to fabricate temps and cement them. The "...Illegal..."
>comment is without foundation since we don't know the actual procedure
>or the laws of the state.

True. That was explained above. For those who missed it, every state
is different.

>
>The comment may get back to the patient 2nd hand as well. It could be
>transformed into, "Honey, a Dentist says that's illegal." Think of
>our collegue who now would have to take the time to explain the
>regulations of his state and how what he does in his office is not
>illegal. This could precitate a complaint to the state dental
>society. If that happens, it may make work for the volunteer peer
>review committee in the treating dentist's district. All because of
>bad advice.
>
>To the person who began this thread I remind you that you did not pay
>for any of the advice you have recieved.
>
>
>David Leader, DMD
>
>"Joel M. Eichen, D.D.S." <joeleichen@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:<r42nc09tieq84hti970o6o7sq423agjm4d@4ax.com>...
>> This is true. Please remember our DISCLAIMER.
>>
>> JOEL
>>
>>