Are the new opioid guidelines more stringent than before?
In late 2022, the CDC released a comprehensive document updating and expanding its guidelines on how and when clinicians should prescribe opioids for pain, its first update since 2016. This opinion piece from a pain-disabled USA Today reporter says that those 2016 guidelines harmed millions and that while the CDC emphasizes that its revised guidelines should never be used for an inflexible standard of care, "if you read the fine print, that is precisely what I see the CDC advocating for."
Sharp decline in younger dentist-owners
According to new data from the ADA Health Policy Institute (HPI), the percentage of younger dentists who own a practice has sharply decreased over the past decade and a half. As of 2021, fewer than 1 in 10 dentists under age 30 were practice owners as compared with 2005, when more than half of dentists aged 30-34 were owners of their practices.
New laws for California dentists this year
From a new requirement to include the pay scale for positions in job postings to protected bereavement leave, some 12 new employment laws are set to impact dentists in California in 2023. Learn more from the California Dental Association.
Potential new nasal spray for OSA
Soon, there could be a new tool to help patients suffering from obstructive sleep apnea: a nasal spray. A small study yielded positive results about a new drug “designed to target specific receptors that are expressed on the surface of the upper airways, triggering them more easily to activate the surrounding muscles to keep the airway open during sleep.”
Waterline safety webinar
Following the October 2022 health alert from the CDC that it was investigating a cluster of outbreaks of nontuberculous Mycobacteria (NTM) infections in children, the ADA and OSAP are collaborating to present a webinar on the importance of waterline safety on Feb. 16.
