Thursday, August 02, 2012

The Morning Drill: August 2, 2012



From Stephen Stein, D.D.S.'s website

Good Thursday morning!

On to today's dentistry and health headlines:

Dr. Stephen Stein, Denver-Area Dentist May Have Infected 3 Patients According To Health Department

Three former patients of suspended Denver-area oral surgeon Dr. Stephen Stein have tested positive for infection according to state public officials.

Just last month the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment sent out 8,000 letters to former patients of Dr. Stein encouraging them to get tested for HIV and hepatitis B and C after learning that he'd reused needles and syringes.

Since that notification, the department says it has identified three people who have tested positive for some infection, but also cautions that their infection may not be positively linked to the unsafe injection practices in Dr. Stein's offices.

"It would be difficult if not impossible to conclude definitively whether the dental practice was the actual source of transmission for any of these positive test results," the department confirmed Wednesday.

Lohmann: Mother, son reunited in Afghan war zone


Marine Capt. Wilson Nance visited Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan last week on official business, but he also stopped by the hospital to hug an Army dentist.

His mother.

"Even in uniform, I couldn't stop being a mom," said Army Maj. Elizabeth T. Nance, 60, a dental officer with the Virginia Army National Guard and a grandmother , in an email interview.

"Wilson is embarrassed each time I call him 'sweetie' in front of his fellow Marines. I told him it was too bad, since I outrank him."

Wilson Nance takes it in good-natured stride, even if, he said, it is a little "awkward" and doesn't do much for his "tough Marine" persona.

"I have gotten some very funny responses from people," said Wilson Nance, who graduated from James River High School in 2002 and from Virginia Military Institute in 2006.

"One time this female doctor, when I told her I was there to see my mom, looked at me strangely and said, 'What does that mean? Is that slang?'

"I told some Marines I was going to Kandahar and while I was there I would stop by to visit my mom. One tried to correct me and said, 'You mean your dad, right?' No one has ever heard of a mother and a son deploying at the same time."

Dr. Mary Tope closes longtime Aiken dental practice

Dr. Mary Tope has closed the family business - a dental practice on Pawnee Street that she and her sister have operated for 28 years.

Tope opened the office at 1907 Pawnee St. in 1984, with her sister Cathy Tope as dental hygienist, mother Mary Stone Tope as receptionist, and her grandmother as insurance clerk.

The business closed to patients on June 14, and the staff is working on packing up and storing patient records through August.

Tope, an Aiken native, studied dentistry at the Medical College of South Carolina and the University of South Carolina in the early 1970s, and had a lengthy career with the U.S. Public Health Service's Dental Corps before returning to open her practice in Aiken.

"We opened up this practice June 25, 1984," Tope said. "It was the first day we were open, and we didn't think we were going to have anybody come in. My sister and I were the staff. A car pulled up into the parking lot, four doors opened and four doors closed, and we had five patients sitting in the waiting room, and they were helping us unload our equipment! They stayed our patients for years and years."

As the practice grew, they added to the staff, and Tope estimated they employed some 70 people over the years, including classmates of Cathy Tope's. The Topes' father also helped out in the office after he left the Savannah River Site in 1983 until his death last year.

"Mother's Day of this year, I think, is when the Lord put it on our hearts that it was time to let him lead and guide us after 40 years, in essence, of being in the dental field. Everybody in my office, it's been a blessing to work together. Everybody who came in here, we were so privileged - they were actually helping me," Tope said. "We saw three and four generations of patients. It's amazing to me."

The Topes plan to settle into retirement, enjoy their family farmhouse, their many pets and each other's company, and travel, they said.

Dentist accused of insurance fraud

A Lincoln County dentist was arrested Monday on charges of insurance fraud.

According to the North Carolina Department of Insurance, Daniel Owen Carson, 54, of 7777 Rock Meadows Trail Court in Denver did not pay group insurance premiums from June to September 2011.

By not paying, Carson caused a lapse in coverage for his employees, according to a press release from the Department of Insurance. Carson is accused of continuing to take out insurance premiums from his employees’ paychecks without providing coverage.

In a written statement to The Gazette, Carson denied any wrongdoing on his part.

“Apparently, clerical mistakes were made by the staff member who handles account payables and employee health insurance matters. This was an administrative employee issue and did not involve patient care, records or patient insurance at all,” Carson said in the statement.

Enjoy your morning!

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