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I would like to share with you the success of
a program I introduced in September 2004, known as
"The Oklahoma Project." Since that time,
this presentation (and the concept of collaborative
care) has caught the attention of many within the
profession and the industry because of its potential
to unite various stakeholder groups, i.e. general
dentists, periodontal therapist hygienists, and periodontists,
to increase the standard of care in periodontal diagnosis
and treatment, thereby positively influencing systemic
health.
It's not often that we have an opportunity to affect
a higher level of health care, on such a large scale
basis. That's why I call the "The Oklahoma Project"
the Cinderella story. Because a group of forward thinking
periodontists, general dentists and hygienists decided
to transcend some professional "boundaries"
and envision a better way to meet the demands for
periodontal care, the status of Oklahoma's citizens'
overall health may someday, be elevated. Something
wonderful started in Oklahoma. It comes at a time
when periodontal care is more often than not, fragmented,
and without accountability for clinical endpoints.
This opportunity presented itself when the Oklahoma
Society of Periodontists invited me to collaborate
with them, along with an industry partner, to pilot
an educational initiative to "put teeth into"
the American Academy of Periodontology's 2020 vision.
Key in the pilot initiative was agreement among this
group of forward thinking periodontists, that indeed
it would be periodontal therapist hygienists, and
not the "fluff and buff" type, that would
have a pivotal role in raising the standard of periodontal
care and triaging appropriate cases to specialists'
chairs.
The pilot initiative in Oklahoma was jump-started
with an all day program I presented to a group of
about 400 participants composed of periodontists and
their top referring dentists and hygienists, in Tulsa
on September 24th and Oklahoma City on September 25th.
The presentation entitled, "Realizing the Potential
of the Emerging Dentist/Periodontal Therapist/Periodontist
Collaborative Model of Care" was only the first
of an educational programming series which the Oklahoma
Society of Periodontists is planning in order to better
equip hygienists to step up to the plate in terms
of periodontal care. The long range goals are to empower
hygienists to:
- Better identify and treat early-to-moderate cases
of periodontal disease;
- Better identify and affect quality referrals
of severe and aggressive cases of periodontal disease
and non-disease cases of periodontal plastic surgery;
and
- Utilize professionally recognized screening criteria
to intercept and appropriately triage to physicians
individuals at risk for chronic, inflammatory diseases
such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, adverse
pregnancy outcomes, among others.
The collaborative model of care I introduced in
the "Oklahoma Project" has garnered the
support of key opinion leaders from organized dentistry,
academia and private practice. It seems that the idea
of collaboratively uniting dentists, periodontal therapist
hygienists, and periodontists with the medical community,
is gaining substantial momentum and it is the subject
matter most often requested by organizations which
host my presentations. The full text (PDF) of an article
on entitled "Oklahoma: Showing us the Potential
of the Emerging Dentist/Periodontal Therapist/Periodontist
Collaborative Model of Care" appeared in my Perio
Pathway's column in November 2004's issue of Contemporary
Oral Hygiene. I hope you will take a few minutes
to read about the success we had with "The Oklahoma
Project" and give thoughtful consideration to
how a similar program may benefit your constituency.
To access and download "Oklahoma:
Showing us the Potential of the Emerging Dentist/Periodontal
Therapist/Periodontist Collaborative Model of
Care," click
here.
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Periodontists participating in the presentation
in Oklahoma City: From left to right- Dr. C.G.
Hornbuckle, Dr. Robin Henderson, Dr. Charles Cobb
(University of Missouri, Kansas City), Dr. Jeremy
Youngblood (Kansas City) and Dr. Bill Reeves.
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| From left to right: Dawn Wilson, President of
the Oklahoma Dental Hygienist's Association; Casey
Hein; Patricia Nunn, Dental Hygiene Department
Chair, University of Oklahoma. |
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Best wishes for health and continued prosperity,
Casey Hein, R.D.H., M.B.A.
Founder and President of PointPerio, LLC
...setting the new benchmark for nonsurgical periodontal
therapeutics
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