Breakthrough Therapy: Silver Diamine Fluoride in Public Health Settings
Spotlighting the use of Silver Diamine Fluoride (SDF) as a breakthrough therapy to arrest decay in children and adults, exploring differing perspectives on its application in public health settings. Vermont's Office of Oral Health's journey in expanding the scope of practice for dental hygienists to include SDF, emphasizing the importance of crucial conversations, patient involvement, and learning from experiences.
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Presentation Transcript
SDF in public health settings, differing perspectives. VT Office of Oral Health perspective: From the ADA Policy Statement on SDF: SDF is a breakthrough therapy to arrest decay in children and adults. Without using needles or drilling, it can slow or arrest dental decay, and prevent future decay. This makes SDF an incredibly promising strategy to provide oral disease prevention and treatment for people who have difficulty accessing dental care in a dental office by a dentist. Silver Diamine Fluoride (SDF) is a topical antimicrobial and remineralizing agent which was cleared by the FDA as a Class II medical device to treat tooth sensitivity. In certain circumstances, SDF may be used as a non-restorative treatment to arrest carious lesions on primary and permanent teeth. The use of SDF to arrest carious lesions requires diagnosis and monitoring by a dentist.
Expanding the scope of practice of VT public health dental hygienists to include SDF, a timeline Summer 2016: Vermont Department of Health, Office of Oral Health (OOH) team learns about SDF, a breakthrough therapy to address oral disease Fall 2016: OOH provides information about SDF to health care providers and policy makers and develops fact sheet for general public, and works with state Medicaid agency to activate SDF code Winter 2017: OOH seeks clarity from VT Board of Dental Examiners regarding whether current rules allow PHDHs to apply SDF in public health settings, Board implies they do without saying so directly Summer 2018: Board reexamines their decision, advocates and health care providers weigh in and tell stories of how they are using SDF in school settings and how it s making a difference. OOH provides research outlining why SDF is an important public health strategy to promote health equity. Fall 2018: SDF is added to the list of things a hygienist working in public health settings can do in the Administrative Rules.
Lessons Learned 1 2 3 4 Lean on your ASTDD mentor when things get tough, and you want to talk things through with someone who really understands where you are coming from Don t shy away from the crucial conversations Involve the people who are affected by the issue, allow them to tell their stories Be patient
