DentistryIQ’s top dental news stories for 2023

Guidelines on broader masking

Readers were interested to know, following the end of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency on May 11, 2023 (and dental teams being required to follow standard and transmission-based precautions when treating patients at that time), whether broader masking in their offices would or should be implemented.

How much are people really flossing?

Every day at every practice, dental pros stress the value of a home care routine that includes flossing. But how often are patients really doing it? Readers were interested to know the results of this January poll.

Aspen Dental reaches settlement for “bait and switch” allegations

Also in January, following allegations of “bait-and-switch advertising campaigns” that claimed that Aspen Dental engaged in a scheme to deceive consumers into purchasing dental services and products advertised as “free” and that it worked with “all” insurance when it didn’t accept MassHealth, the company reached a $3.5 million settlement with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office.

Potentially fatal fungus spreads at “alarming rate”

In April, the AARP reported on a “highly contagious and potentially fatal” fungal infection that CDC data indicated was spreading at an “alarming rate” in health-care facilities including hospitals and nursing homes. Although not a particular threat to dental offices, readers were interested to know about the rate of infection and who was most affected.

Investigation into unregulated dental device

“Her mouth is a catastrophe”: Starting in early March, DentistryIQ shared ongoing reporting from CBS News and KFF Health News on AGGA, an unregulated device that many dentists advertise on their websites, but that multiple patients say has resulted in irreparable harm.

SmileDirectClub files for bankruptcy, shuts down

Following years of losses, poor sales for aligners, and nearly $850 million in long-term debt, the online orthodontics company SmileDirectClub filed for voluntary protection under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code on September 29, ultimately (and abruptly) closing global operations in early December, which left numerous customers without further treatment or access to customer support.

New data on what dentists make

In April, Yahoo Finance curated data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and other sources indicating that the mean dentist salary nationally is $167,160, with the ADA reporting the average net income in 2020 at $170,160 for general dentists and $323,780 for specialists.

States with best, worst dental health

In February, the personal financial website WalletHub released its 2023 rankings of the states with the best and worst dental health, with Wisconsin at the top and Mississippi ranked the worst.

ADA releases guideline advising conservative caries treatment approach

In a first, in June the American Dental Association (ADA) released a clinical practice guideline on the treatment of tooth decay in primary and permanent teeth recommending, overarchingly, that conservative treatments could lead to better outcomes when used with common restorative materials.