Medical Dental Health Summit

The third annual Medical Dental Summit is being held in March 2016 in Tri-Cities Washington. This event is open to all health professionals. The Eastern Washington Medical Dental Summit is a unique collaboration between the dental and medical community, bringing physicians, dentists and dental hygienists together to learn about Integration of Medical and Dental patient care and about the merits of co-management. It showcases what can happen in local areas when dentists learn how to work with community health leaders and the “medical side” – and vice versa.

Dr. Lee Ostler, the founder and program chair of this event, says that this year’s event will have a unique focus on integrating dentists and oral health management with cancer care, in addition to presentations on Diabetes management.

While most dentists have a focus on oral-cancer itself, the real story is that all cancer patients undergoing treatment require dental clearance and better management for oral side-effects from cancer treatments of all kinds, in addition to managing immunocompromised patients and those with bisphosphonate complications.

Dr. Dennis Abbott who has spoken at previous AAOSH annual meetings and president of the American Academy of Dental Oncology, will present a full day on Dental Oncology – discussing how to treat oral side-effects from cancer treatments, how to give dental clearance, and how to build a referral network with cancer treatment centers.

The Tri-Cities Cancer Center has stepped forward to build out a special room for oral health screenings, and is employing a dental hygiene navigator to work alongside the nurse navigator to help facilitate dental clearance and better management of patient care. This provides strong links between the dental and medical environments and opens doors between physicians and dentists previously not emphasized. These programs and relationships will also be discussed.

All AAOSH members and friends are encouraged and invited to support and attend this meeting held in Eastern Washington. This meeting, now in its third year, has drawn attendees from across the western United States is being seen by many as a model for similar efforts and programs throughout the country.

Details of the meeting are available at www.medicaldentalsummit.com.