May 2007 Newsletter
What´s New at Savon
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In every newsletter you will find a secret word or phrase. When you locate the word or phrase, copy the entire paragraph and paste it into an email along with your Savon membership ID number and your name.
Send the email to customerservice@savondentalplan.com. The emails will be printed and the winning entry will be drawn on the 15th of the following month. All entries must be received by the 10th of the month (July 10th for Junes newsletter, etc.). The winning entry will receive a check from Savon for $25.00. Only one entry per family is allowed and you may only win once per 12 months. The secret phrase for May is “legitimate representatives”
Quote of the Month: “The income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf has.” Will Rodgers (1879-1935)
Cohen’s Corner – Straight talk from the Doctor:
Doctor, Are All These Pills Really Necessary?
For thirty-plus years as a practicing dentist one of the most frequently asked questions was, “Doctor, are all these pills really necessary?”
The answer is yes and no depending on who you ask and how up to date they are on their American Heart Association's reading list. For many, many years the American Heart Association recommended antibiotics to be taken shortly before certain dental treatment. This ‘pre-medication’ was done to protect a patient against a disease called “bacterial endocarditis.”
Now in the April 2007 American Heart Association's scientific journal called “Circulation”, the AHA has revisited the issue of when to pre-medicate patients that have heart problems and for what dental procedures. They have also renamed the disease which was formally called “bacterial endocarditis” with the new name of “infective endocarditis.”
The new guidelines for ‘prophylactic antibiotics’ (pre-medication) from the American Heart Association, formulated with the cooperation of the American Dental Association (for dental related procedures), and endorsed by The Infectious Diseases Society of America along with the Pediatric Diseases Society are as follows:
The following is a list of patients who have taken prophylactic antibiotics (pre-medication) in the past but no longer need them according to the new guidelines:
(DISCLAIMER: Always check with your cardiologist, family doctor, and dentist before you ever start or stop taking a prescription medication)
- mitral valve prolapse
- rheumatic heart disease
- bicuspid valve disease
- calcified aortic stenosis
- congenital hear conditions such as ventricular septal defect, atrial septal defect and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
The following list is the new guideline directed toward the patient who would have the greatest chance of an adverse outcome if they developed a heart infection.
Preventive antibiotics are highly recommended prior to dental treatment for patients with the following:
(DISCLAIMER: Always check with your cardiologist, family doctor, and dentist before you ever start or stop a prescription medication)
- artificial heart valves
- a history of infective endocarditis
- certain specific, serious congenital (present from birth)
- heart conditions, including unrepaired or incompletely repaired cyanotic congenital heart disease, including those with palliative shunts and conduits; a completely repaired congenital heart defect with prosthetic material or device (whether placed by surgery or by catheter intervention), during the first six months after the procedure.
- any repaired congenital heart defect with residual defect at the site or adjacent to the site of a prosthetic patch or a prosthetic device a cardiac transplant that develops a problem in a heart valve.
Again, ALWAYS check with your cardiologist if you have any questions about the need for pre-medication for dental or any other health care treatment you are going to have done.
To all my readers, thank you and I will try to lighten up on the technical stuff in my next newsletter.
Sincerely, Dr. Cohen
Congratulations to A. Paulson of Phoenix, Arizona Winner of our April T. V. Drawing
When Ms. Paulson arrived at our office to pick up her T.V. she had her 12 year old son with her. They has just come in from an appointment with one of our Orthodontist. Ms. Paulson told us that having Savon was going to save her over $3,000.00 on her son's ortho treatment and extractions. She then went on to say that winning the T.V. will end the arguments between mom, dad and kids. It appears that we have helped solve the T.V. issue for this family. Mom and Dad can now watch their shows on the big T.V. and the kids can play video games on the new one.
Last month we had over 650 members enter the drawing and we wish to thank each and every one of you.
Use caution when searching for Savon on the web:
Over the past few weeks we have encountered several websites claiming to be agents of Savon Dental Plan®. The people that run these sites have copied all the information from our site including our name,
which is a registered trade name. Battling this type of action is an on-going project for our marketing and legal department.
To that end, we are encouraging all of our providers to make sure that they ask for your membership card before providing service at Savon's fee schedule. Furthermore, we are also asking that they check their roster. If your name does not appear on their roster, they have been instructed to contact our Customer Care Center and verify your membership.
We understand that this may be an inconvenience to our members and we apologize. Please understand that we must take every precaution to make sure that the people that are selling Savon are legitimate representatives and the people that are receiving benefits are members.
REMEMBER: When using our website, make sure you go to www.savondentalplan.com, the official website of Savon Dental Plan®
We need people who like would like to play in a golf tournament:
We are in the beginning stages of putting together a charity golf tournament. We are trying to plan it for the fall of this year.
If you are interested in playing or helping with this event, please contact
our Director of Sales and Marketing: Ms. Meri Osborne.
We need all the help we can get to make this tournament a success.
Dental Resource Guide page is added:
Another new feature has been added to the website, The Dental Resource Guide. This guide will give you instant access to important information located on other dental related websites. Many of our members have asked us where they could get information on various dental topics. With the addition of this page, you now can easily go to:
- The Academy of General Dentistry website
- The Academy of Laser Dentistry website
- The American Dental Association website
- The American Dental Hygienists' Association website
- The American Association of Endodontists website
- The American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons website
- The American Association of Orthodontists website
- The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry website
- The American Academy of Periodontology website
- Oral Health America's website
- Toothfriendly International's website
We hope that you will find this to be a useful page and that you will continue to visit it often as new links will be constantly added.
Business partners guide coming soon:
Need a Lawyer, Computer Company, Landscaper, Janitorial Service or a referral to any other type of business? Most of the time we simply open the yellow pages or go on-line to find what we need. Through the power of networking with our business members, we are putting together a Business Partners Guide.
This guide will give you links to business that are members of Savon Dental Plan® and that are willing to give members of the plan a discount on their services. We anticipate having this site up by the 15th of June.
If your business is a member of Savon and would like to be part of this guide, please contact Corilee at 800-809-3494.
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