Complaint Review: Governor John Kasich - Columbus Ohio

Governor Kasich, and the Ohio legislators representing Cuyahoga County (Senator Tom Patton), are allowing that Case Western Reserve Dental School operate with out-of-date x-ray technology, exposing patients to unnecessary dental procedures, drillings & radiation.  This has been a common knowledge problem for probably the last 5 years - that Case Dental School didn't invest in digital radiology technology - which means that the Faculty doesn't teach digital x-rays or know how to read them.  And dentistry is all about the x-rays. 

Does the Dean of the Dental School, Dean Goldberg, know how to read digital x-rays?  And if he does, why not purchase the new technology, a technology that will impact Case care in a big way, for the Dental School and the training programs? There is certainly enough Alumni Money for drinking parties at Case Western Reserve. 

Digital dental x-rays allow 3-D views of teeth, are less radiation, and how can you consult/confer as a practicing dentist when Case Dental School is about the only practice in the Cleveland area that is still relying solely on the old x-ray films & technology?  The old x-ray films don't copy well as records, can't be e-mailed, and no other dental office in the Cleveland area is doing dental care with the old technology anymore - and no one drills on 3-year old films either.  Which is another problem at Case Faculty Practice - the 'cavity' goes away, but the Case Faculty Practice dentist walks around 'screaming' about that old x-ray because he thinks he missed money($).  It's like a carnival, circus, or Baghdad Bazaar - the nonsense.  It's all about money, not quality of care. 

Dental students trained this way can't compete for jobs even locally - where most of the dentists are graduates of Case Western Reserve Dental School and would hire a grad if they could.  Women DDS trained at Case Dental School won't work there on the Faculty, or in the Dental Faculty Practice - because of the problems.  The biggest one being the outdated x-ray technology - that still was in place in the FACULTY Practice areas as of January 2013.     

University President Barbara Snyder, and the Dean of the Dental School (Dean Goldberg), have looked the other way while collecting huge salaries - saying nothing about obvious problems.  The x-ray exposure is also not good for the staff.  The Ohio Dental Association is also 'bought off' apparently.  Dental Dean Jerold S. Goldberg just receive an Ohio Dental Association (ODA) Achievement Award for supporting innovative teaching in the Dental School & for his contributions - one of the contributions being that he's left outdated x-ray technology in all the clinics of the Dental School including the Faculty Practice Clinic run by Dr. Faddoul. 

It's one thing to do that to the indigent - which is wrong - but it's also wrong to do that to paying patients just because you can.  All x-rays & charts of patients seen at the Dental Clinics in the last 3 years at least need to be reviewed for wrong care.  Cavities that would not have been cavities digitally.  And you can ultrasound a cavity - where is that technology?  Storing odontoblasts from extractions, or root canals?  The composite used at Case for fillings is problematic - causes platelet sensitization.    

The Dental Faculty Practice is a pay-for-service dental practice at Case Western Reserve School of Dentistry, takes Delta Dental, and the fees are higher than most dentists in practice in the Cleveland area - definitely not even that competitive at times.  One would think that the first contribution to a Dental School would be to keep the Dental Practice x-ray technology up-to-date with every other office practice in the Cleveland area - the dental x-ray technology up-to-date with Ohio State Dental School.  The dental radiology textbook is from Ohio State.  So Case should have the same technology as Ohio State Dental School, but they don't - another useless overpriced textbook at Case Western Reserve boostore.

The Dental Faculty practice is also all foreign dentists on the roster, not one American by birth, or local Cleveland Dental School grad, is on the roster - all dentists were trained intially in other countries (Israel, France, Armenia, and then Ohio State - the conduit for dentists to the US).  It's too much diversity, too many foreign languages and cultures.  The Muslim students want to wear street attire veils in patient clinical areas - because they can in Iraq, Egypt, Iran, or Armenia, and the Jewish Yarmulkes are instead of surgical caps - every special interest group for themselves when a patient wouldn't dare to walk in for an office visit this way.  Nothing is said, but this puts patients at risk of infections - of a global kind.

Case Western Reserve students, trainees, and faculty at times use the Dental Faculty Practice Clinic - and Dean Goldberg doesn't care.  He obviously hasn't visited his Dental Faculty Practice area recently - just down the halls or up/down a stairway or elevator or two - hardly a marathon walk. Can't take a roundabout Dean Goldberg, sit in the waiting room and see what you think of the dirty uphostery and chairs?  Rejects from your office or Boardroom? 

Governor Kasich should support up-to-date Medical & Dental care and facitilities in Ohio.  The Dental/Medical Boards need to have individuals < 65 years of age on Board (not be reappointing 70-year olds so that they can have something to do).  Practitioners need to be appointed who are interested in new technologies and innovations - who can use a computer, do a google search, send a reply email to a physician/dentist that they reviewed a case or file - question the practitioners in an email instead of everyone having to drive to Columbus without the high-speed rail that Governor Kasich is so reluctant to envision. 

The first innovation should be patient safety and common sense.