The exceptional value of an ADA membership has been extolled in JADA’s Views section many times. Whether it’s low-interest, multipurpose credit cards, insurance programs, a strong Washington lobby, new e-commerce initiatives, electronic records, JADA and ADA News, or hundreds of other tangible benefits, today’s ADA members have definitive proof that their membership dollars are at work.

To its credit, the ADA does not rest. It continues to pursue additional programs to satisfy the expanding needs of its constituents.

Why doesn’t the ADA consider offering a program that would monitor the personal health status of dental professionals? In today’s complex world of dental practice, a system providing continuous data on health risks associated with clinical dental care is essential. Results from this health monitoring could be used to develop policies and recommendations that would make dental offices safer for providers and patients.

No need!

The program already exists—and has existed for more than 36 years. Under the rubric of the ADA Health Foundation’s Health Screening Program, or HSP, dentists and auxiliary personnel have been participating in a screening program at the ADA annual session since 1964. Data from that program have provided the dental profession with priceless information.

Unfortunately, this program has remained virtually unnoticed except by a small number of registrants who partake of its services during the yearly convention. Considering that the HSP is the vehicle that continues to provide the largest body of data on the health of the dental profession, this is a program that should be flying high on the ADA membership benefits flagpole.

Today’s dental participants are offered expanded serum clinical chemistry with differential cholesterol analysis; hepatitis B and C screenings; anonymous HIV screening; urinary mercury analysis; head and neck examinations; electrocardiograms; skin-prick testing for immediate hypersensitivity to latex proteins; patch testing for delayed hypersensitivity to examination glove processing chemicals and other chemicals commonly found in the dental office; and, recently added, screening for carpal tunnel syndrome.

All at no charge to the participant.

Data from the HSP do not sit on a shelf. Besides the direct health status feedback offered to dental participants, the aggregation of their laboratory findings has provided excellent material for the development of a number of ADA policies.

One example is the area of mercury toxicity. A major reduction from 15 micrograms per liter in the HSP data of the 1980s to the present 4 µg/L vividly demonstrates the efficacy of ADA recommendations in reducing mercury vapor in the dental practice environment.

Needlestick injuries, with their potential for subsequent infections such as human immunodeficiency virus, were a cause for concern in the late l980s. HSP data indicated that the average dentist reported 11.4 such injuries in 1987. Careful monitoring through the HSP indicates that ADA recommendations for reducing percutaneous injuries have been a success. By 1991, HSP participants were reporting just 3.4 such injuries per year.

Information yielded by the testing and recording of the seroprevalence of hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV in HSP participants assuaged the fears of dentists and patients regarding routine dental visits. Only one of the 19,000 dentists tested had a positive test for HIV.

Similarly, tracing antibody titers to HBV indicates that 85 percent of health screening participants have received the HBV vaccine—the highest rate of compliance among all the health professions. More good news from the HSP screening: HCV rates for general dentists were found to be comparable with those of the general population.

Allergies to latex are becoming a major concern for health professionals, and dentistry is no exception. HSP data gathered from tests of more than 2,000 dentists, dental hygienists and assistants indicate type I hypersensitivity rates in the 6 to 9 percent range—far less than earlier reports of up to 50 percent. These results are being used to devise recommendations for the use of latex products during dental treatment.

Remember a few years back, when the lay press was reporting that dental sealants and resin-based composites were able to mimic the effects of estrogen? What parent would agree to have sealants placed if that information proved true? HSP to the rescue. On testing, no HSP participant with either sealants or composites in his or her mouth showed the presence of bisphenol-A, the supposed guilty party.

On occasion, new products of potential benefit to the health of dentists have been tested at an HSP event. For at least one dentist, that policy may turn out to be a lifesaver. Through the use of a brush biopsy—a computer-based diagnostic system—at the 1999 HSP, at least two innocuous oral lesions that normally would not have been candidates for a surgical biopsy demonstrated aplastic changes. Subsequent surgical biopsy validated the earlier HSP findings.

It is difficult to fathom how the HSP manages to escape the limelight it so justly deserves. It has no competitor. It has no equal. The HSP has repeatedly demonstrated its ability to serve the profession and the public. Yet, it remains an unsung hero. Indeed, there have been times when curtailment of one or more of its programs has been considered because of lack of support.

Funding for the HSP comes mainly through contributions from the dental industry, channeled through the ADA Health Foundation. Association staff and local volunteers account for the remainder of the program’s resources. Frankly, the HSP budget is mighty lean. Here lies a major funding opportunity for a constituent or component dental society—or even an individual wishing to make a visible contribution to dentistry.

It’s time to give this Cinderella story the accolades it deserves. It has served the profession silently but well.