DID YOU KNOW?---SMORGASBORD OF HELPFUL FACTS

• Did you know that over 50% of prospective patients search for a “dental home” online using a mobile device?  Did you know 30% to 40% of the average dental practice’s online traffic now comes through mobile devices?  If you question whether or not your website invites mobile device searches, go to Google’s developer section to test your website:
  www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly.  Your practice website could be missing mobile device searches unless it has been updated to a mobile-responsive design.
  
  ·         The Estate and Gift Tax exemption has been increased from $5,430,000 in 2015 to $5,450,000 in 2016.  Be sure to ask your financial advisor if this change affects your estate planning.  The Annual Gift Tax exclusion remains $14,000 as it was in 2015.
  
  
  ·         In a new study involving 408 dental patients, published recently in the American Journal of Public Health, researchers confirmed that using gingival crevicular blood to screen for diabetes is almost identical to using finger stick blood.  The research article stated: “In light of findings from the study, the dental visit could be a useful opportunity to conduct diabetes screenings among at-risk undiagnosed patients---an important first step in identifying those who need further testing to determine their diabetes status.”  Since experts estimate that 8.1 million of the 29.1 million Americans with diabetes are undiagnosed, dental visits would provide an ideal venue for screening.
  
  
  ·         For almost 25 years the American Academy has recommended a first dental examination for children no later than one year of age.  However, a recent survey indicates that 75% of parents do not comply.  A study by Western University of Health Sciences College of Dental Medicine found that parents in the general population take their children for a first dental visit at an average age of 2½ years.  Children of parents below the poverty line are first seen at an average age of 3½.  Although 60% of surveyed parents said they were aware of the AAPD’s first-dental-exam-by-one-year-of-age recommendation, most just thought the visit not necessary.  The second most common reason given by parents for ignoring the recommendation was that the child’s pediatrician or general physician said such an early visit was unnecessary.  This study emphasizes the need for the dental profession to intensify efforts to reach out to other healthcare providers, emphasizing the unquestionable importance of a first exam by the first birthday in order to minimize early childhood caries.  Primarily by educating the parents early in their infant’s life about proper oral hygiene techniques for infants and children, diet that does not promote caries, sealants, etc. all healthcare providers can work together to assure coming generations of children are dentally healthy.