Summary Report of the 2011 ADA Conference on Dentist Health and Wellness

Summary Report of the 2011 ADA Conference on Dentist Health and Wellness

ADA Headquarters August 17&18

The 2011 ADA Conference on Dentist Health and Wellness was held on August 18-19, 2011 at ADA Headquarters in Chicago. The conference was preceded by a pre-conference meeting on August 17 for constituent society wellness program staff, directors and committee chairs. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss areas of concern and what ADA and constituent well-being programs could do to work together.

The first issue discussed was Resolution 110, which was passed at the ADA House of Delegates in Orlando, established the Well-Being Task Force. Drs. Brett Kessler and Curtis Vixie presented the task force’s three year action plan which includes: legislative initiatives to protect anonymity of members in recovery, increased promotion of dentist well-being programs to ADA members and the development of resources for constituent well-being programs.

The second issue discussed was how ADA and constituent well-being programs can work together. There was agreement from both parties that what is most needed in order to successfully work together is increased communication, not only between ADA and constituent societies, but between constituent societies as well. Meeting participants also agreed that increased resources from ADA would be extremely helpful.

A few participants addressed their concerns about the Citizen Advocacy Center (CAC) and its legislative agenda. Based on what I gathered, CACis a non-profit organization based in Washington DC, and its mission is to “increase the accountability and effectiveness of health care regulatory, credentialing, oversight and governing boards.” (cacenter.org) CAC is supposedly opposed to recovery programs for impaired medical professionals, and was successful in shutting down the California Medical Board’s recovery and monitoring program for impaired physicians. CAC has apparently taken similar action in other states; there has been no known action in Pennsylvania.

The conference began on August 18. Dr. Al Halas, and his wife Loretta, also attended the conference.

The keynote speaker was Gil Kerlikowske, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). The ONDCP was established by the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, and its principle purpose is to establish policies, priorities and objectives for the nation’s drug control program. ONDCP is responsible for developing the National Drug Control Strategy, which signature initiatives include prescription drug abuse, prevention and drugged driving. A startling statistic that Mr. Kerlikowske offered is that every weekend, one out of every eight drivers is under the influence of an illicit substance. In 2010, for the first time, the “strategy” put an emphasis on recovery.

The main focus of Director Kerlikowske’s presentation was the prescription drug abuse epidemic sweeping the nation. In 2009:

-7 million Americans reported non-medical use of prescription drugs in the past month

-1 in 3 people that used drugs for the first time began by using prescription drugs for a non-medical purpose

-6 of the top 10 substances abused in the past year by high school seniors were prescription drugs

In 2007, illicit drug use in the US was estimated to have cost the US economy more than $193 billion, and $55.7 billion in costs was for prescription drug abuse alone. In Pennsylvania, there were more drug-induced deaths in 2007 than deaths from motor vehicle accidents.

Two unique aspects of prescription drugs compared to other “street drugs” are the perceived risk and accessibility/supply. Since prescription drugs are manufactured by pharmaceutical companies and prescribed by doctors, they are perceived to be safer than buying drugs from the dealer on the street. Abuse of prescription drugs is thought to be less addictive and less risky.

In order to help prevent the continued abuse of prescription drugs, the ONDCP’s four focus areas are education, prescription drug monitoring programs, proper medication disposal and enforcement. There is no single solution to combating prescription drug abuse, but success will come from collaboration at the Federal, state and local levels.

There were two different workshop tracks during the conference. The track that I chose to participate in was the well-being/addiction section. During the workshops that I attended, I learned about:

• How addiction works in the brain and what happens to the brain as disease progresses

• The effects various prescription drugs have, various methods that drug-seeking patients use to obtain prescription drug and ways medical professionals can protect themselves

• The diagnosis of addiction, what happens during recovery and what responsibilities licensing boards have in impairment situations

While I was at the conference, I had a chance to network with David Reynolds, who works on community relations for Marworth Treatment Center in Waverly, Pennsylvania. We discussed the possibility of our committee being able to work with Marworth, in particular, to offer to serve as contacts for dental professionals who have completed treatment Marworth.

Based on information that I gathered at the conference, projects that I would like to pursue in the future include: the development of resources for dental students and new dentists on impairment issues and increased contact with all Pennsylvania dentists about impairment and various resources available in Pennsylvania.

I thoroughly enjoyed the conference and found it to be very beneficial not only for my staff responsibilities at PDA, but as an educational experience in general. I look forward to future opportunities to attend more conferences dealing with issues concerning health and well-being.