Newsletter - Page 2

Although it is most often considered clinically a non-invasive method for arresting active caries, silver diamine fluoride, commonly referred to as SDF, has multiple other clinical uses within the dental office. The SDF
compound combines the clinical properties of silver, which is naturally antimicrobial, and fluoride, which remineralizes and hardens tooth structures, along with ammonia, which acts as a stabilizing agent and also has inherent antiseptic properties. It is available in the United States as a 38% solution delivered as a brush on medicament.

The American Dental Association’s Code Maintenance Committee (CMC) is responsible for maintaining the Code on Dental Procedures and Terminology (CDT) code set. The committee meets annually and is charged with evaluating all submitted code change requests. The CMC votes to accept, amend, or decline each request based on the best interests of the dental profession, patients, and third-party payers and administrators.

The 2023 Code Maintenance Committee (CMC) has finalized the Current Dental Terminology (CDT) for 2024. The action of the CMC includes 16 total changes: 14 additions and 2 revisions, with no editorial changes or deletions. In addition, one new Category of Service has been added. All dental claims for services performed between January 1 and December 31, 2024, must utilize the appropriate code from CDT 2024 to meet HIPAA requirements.

Current Dental Terminology (CDT) – officially known as the Code on Dental Procedures and Nomenclature – provides a consistent method of documenting and reporting dental procedures. In 2000, the United States government declared the CDT code set as the national terminology for reporting dental procedures to insurance and third-party payors. This means that for a dental claim to be processed as timely, the claim must have valid and accurate CDT codes from the most current CDT code set. In the past 3 years, there have been 160 CDT code changes, and there are 16 more coming in 2024. How do these changes occur, and who decides what changes should be made? This article will take a peek behind the curtain.

Have you ever spent time searching for the most appropriate CDT code to report a procedure, only to find that no such code exists? Does your practice regularly perform a procedure for which there is no existing CDT code that accurately describes that procedure? Do you feel that you are often left scratching your head, wondering what the next step is?