THREAD: The CDC advised dentists to postpone everything but emergency dental care due to #COVID19. Then the lobbyists showed up.
POGO spoke with dozens of hygienists, dental assistants and dentists who fear for their (and their patients) health.
pogo.org/investigation/…
POGO spoke with dozens of hygienists, dental assistants and dentists who fear for their (and their patients) health.
pogo.org/investigation/…
The original CDC guidance was clear: Postpone everything but emergency care. The new guidance is vague and tossed the recommendation.
Left: old guidance
Right: new guidance
Left: old guidance
Right: new guidance
So what happened? The American Dental Association, whose power has been compared to that of the NRA, represents big dental business and individual dental practices that can afford the membership fees. The ADA spent over half a million $ lobbying from Jan-March.
After the ADA urged the CDC to revise guidelines. The ADA reasoning was that places with declining infection rates should get back to business as usual. As we know now, many places with declining infection rates are now hotspots. The CDC complied. Dentists reopened for cleanings.
Dentists struggled to get PPE but reopened anyways. A hygienist in NC was told to use one N95 mask per week, thats one mask for 32 patients. The masks provided to the staff? expired in 2010. Meanwhile dentists encouraged patients to com in as they "were following CDC guidance."
The ADA pressured FEMA to get dentistry placed higher on the PPE priority list, all the way to number 4. This means federal stockpile PPE is potentially being used for routine cleanings, while many other healthcare workers struggle to find basic supplies.
Did I mention the ADA's nearly $2M victorian DC home, purportedly "for ADA members to engage in the political process when visiting our nation's capital." The association spends around $2M/year on lobbying. Also worth noting DC zoning laws prohibit the house used for lobbying.
It also has a Super PAC that spent $114,000 this year on this guy's campaign (he's an orthodontist):
Meanwhile, dental workers across the country face a terrible choice: either come into work and face potential exposure, or hand in your resignation. There have already been several reports of dental workers testing positive for COVID-19 across the country.
As one dentist put it, dental work can "blow virus like a spray gun out of any mouth of anyone coming in."
As ADA lobbies to loosen restrictions on the dental practice, it's worth noting that it cancelled it's yearly leadership gathering, "to protect delegates' health."
As ADA lobbies to loosen restrictions on the dental practice, it's worth noting that it cancelled it's yearly leadership gathering, "to protect delegates' health."
