- Email: [email protected]
International travel health insurance
peer-reviewed criteria regarding safety and diagnostic efficacy should be obtained. Currently, except for various imaging modalities, none of the available technologic diagnostic devices have the appropriate sensitivity and specificity that is required to distinguish normal subjects from those with TMD or to differentiate various TMD subgroupings. When indicated, standard medical diagnostic or laboratory tests used to distinguish orthopedic, rheumatologic, and neurologic disorders can be used for TMD patients. Standardized, validated psychometric tests to assess possible psychosocial dimensions of a patient’s TMD can also be used. Second, unless specific, justifiable indications exist to the contrary, TMD patients should receive treatments reflecting conservative, reversible, and evidence-based therapeutic choices. The natural history of TMDs may show a course of improvement or resolution with time. Many conservative modalities are as effective in providing symptomatic relief as most invasive treatments; no specific therapy is uniformly effective. Professional treatment followed by a home care program including education about the
disorder and how to manage symptoms is the recommended approach.
Clinical Significance.—Patients are stuck in the middle of the debate over the reason causing TMD pain and the method to treat it. The recommendations offered by the American Association of Dental Research rely on conservative approaches and acknowledge the natural course of TMDs as well as the limitations of current care methods to resolve every case.
Greene CS: Managing patients with temporomandibular disorders: A new ‘‘standard of care.’’ Am J Orthod Dentofacial Orthop 138:3-4, 2010 Reprints available from CS Greene, Dept of Orthodontics, M/C 841, UIC College of Dentistry, 801 S Paulina St, Rm 131, Chicago, IL 60612-7211; e-mail: [email protected]
EXTRACTS INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL HEALTH INSURANCE ‘‘Americans have the concept that when they travel, their health insurance travels, with them,’’ said Dan McGinnity. In truth, most regular health insurance plans do not cover emergency evacuations, and thousands of travelers are flown home with medical assistance because of emergencies each year. Traveling with his wife Louise, Robby Robbins slipped and fell, hitting his head on a walkway in southwest China. He was able to continue on the tour bus into the mountains, but quickly became ill, with vomiting and sinus-like pain. A makeshift van-ambulance carried him down the mountain to a hospital where doctors drilled holes in his skull and removed a huge clot. An air ambulance flew him to Hong Kong for more surgery, then took him back to the United States. The Robbins’ $250 supplemental insurance policy covered the entire journey home and arranged to have medical experts on board. Robby eventually died, but Louise said, ‘‘We would have been lost’’ without their medical evacuation insurance. These short-term policies usually cost 4% to 8% of the total per-person trip price. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends considering the purchase of supplemental health insurance, including medical evacuation, if your existing policy is lacking. Some plans include such benefits, so check what you already have. Companies offering travel insurance are listed on the US Travel Insurance Association’s website, and medical evacuation companies are on the US State Department’s website. Lynda Bruner, who developed breathing problems and eventually cardiac arrest while visiting the Dominican Republic, was in a coma for 3 days and eventually awoke in a hospital in Florida where she had been transported by a medical flight arranged by her traveler’s insurance. Her insurance company even arranged for her to be flown home to Maryland with a nurse and helped her husband deal with Dominican doctors. ‘‘Once they saw my experience, everybody says they will not go out of the U.S. again without traveler’s health insurance,’’ Bruner says. Even if you never need it, the sense of security of having it is worthwhile. [L Tanner, Associated Press: Experts Say Travel Health Insurance Can Be Crucial. Yahoo News, May 9, 2010.]
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Dental Abstracts
disorder and how to manage symptoms is the recommended approach.
Clinical Significance.—Patients are stuck in the middle of the debate over the reason causing TMD pain and the method to treat it. The recommendations offered by the American Association of Dental Research rely on conservative approaches and acknowledge the natural course of TMDs as well as the limitations of current care methods to resolve every case.
Greene CS: Managing patients with temporomandibular disorders: A new ‘‘standard of care.’’ Am J Orthod Dentofacial Orthop 138:3-4, 2010 Reprints available from CS Greene, Dept of Orthodontics, M/C 841, UIC College of Dentistry, 801 S Paulina St, Rm 131, Chicago, IL 60612-7211; e-mail: [email protected]
EXTRACTS INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL HEALTH INSURANCE ‘‘Americans have the concept that when they travel, their health insurance travels, with them,’’ said Dan McGinnity. In truth, most regular health insurance plans do not cover emergency evacuations, and thousands of travelers are flown home with medical assistance because of emergencies each year. Traveling with his wife Louise, Robby Robbins slipped and fell, hitting his head on a walkway in southwest China. He was able to continue on the tour bus into the mountains, but quickly became ill, with vomiting and sinus-like pain. A makeshift van-ambulance carried him down the mountain to a hospital where doctors drilled holes in his skull and removed a huge clot. An air ambulance flew him to Hong Kong for more surgery, then took him back to the United States. The Robbins’ $250 supplemental insurance policy covered the entire journey home and arranged to have medical experts on board. Robby eventually died, but Louise said, ‘‘We would have been lost’’ without their medical evacuation insurance. These short-term policies usually cost 4% to 8% of the total per-person trip price. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends considering the purchase of supplemental health insurance, including medical evacuation, if your existing policy is lacking. Some plans include such benefits, so check what you already have. Companies offering travel insurance are listed on the US Travel Insurance Association’s website, and medical evacuation companies are on the US State Department’s website. Lynda Bruner, who developed breathing problems and eventually cardiac arrest while visiting the Dominican Republic, was in a coma for 3 days and eventually awoke in a hospital in Florida where she had been transported by a medical flight arranged by her traveler’s insurance. Her insurance company even arranged for her to be flown home to Maryland with a nurse and helped her husband deal with Dominican doctors. ‘‘Once they saw my experience, everybody says they will not go out of the U.S. again without traveler’s health insurance,’’ Bruner says. Even if you never need it, the sense of security of having it is worthwhile. [L Tanner, Associated Press: Experts Say Travel Health Insurance Can Be Crucial. Yahoo News, May 9, 2010.]
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Dental Abstracts