There Has Been Tremendous Growth In Managed Dental Care, Followed By Stabilization

The evolution of managed dental care has seen tremendous growth, and is at present somewhat more stable, even though there is discontentment being expressed by medical patients as well as physicians throughout America. This may be due to the fact that most medical practitioners are forced into joining with companies that administer such a form of dental treatment

Holds Much Promise For Both Patient And Dental Care Provider

The face of managed dental care has considerably changed over the preceding few years, though dental practitioners have not had the same coercion to join managed care plans as is the case with physicians. This has led to certain changes in the way dentistry is practiced. From its inception in the mid-1950s, such a form of dental care held out much promise for dental care providers as well as for dental patients. However, over time the advantages offered by such plans have gone astray and been lost and resulted in losing sight of the importance of provider equity.

The new trend in dental care that is a response to rising dental expenditures is that employers are passing on more costs of dental insurance to employees and letting go of dental benefits altogether, and a shift is taking place from indemnity to managed dental care plans, and in the main, preferring provider organizations. Such trends are expected to continue and would result in fewer people with employer-based dental insurance coverage, and more with managed dental care.

However, the changes that are taking place in dental insurance coverage are not likely to challenge traditional models of dental practice in the immediate future, and this may be attributed to the growing decline in the supply of dental services as well as a lack of local market concentration of managed dental care companies.

Nevertheless, managed dental care is gaining more and more prominence, and it is believed nearly thirty percent of insured persons are participating in a managed dental care program and this percentage is expected to rise steadily over the coming years. It is also expected that such a form of dental care will eventually introduce outcomes assessment, utilization management, as well as reduction in fees and thus transform the practice of dentistry into either treating fee-for-service or managed dental care patients.

Studies conducted on the effects of managed dental care show that such program patients may not be getting sufficient appointment time with a dental hygienist, and is thus affecting whether they receive important services, such as oral health education. It is also necessary for dental hygienists in the managed dental care program to make effective use of the scheduled appointment time as well as procedures to make certain that managed dental care patients get the required time for dental hygiene care.