Kathy Forbes, the dental hygiene coding coach, talks about three new areas of coding for 2026: comprehensive periodontal evaluation, salivary testing, and implant maintenance.
Jackie Sanders, MBA, RDH, talks with Kathy Forbes, BS, RDH, FADHA, about the new codes for 2026 that cover comprehensive periodontal evaluation, salivary testing, and implant maintenance. The 2026 CDT code book has 31 new codes, 6 deleted, and 14 revised.
Jackie Sanders, MBA, RDH, has over four decades of continual career development and experience in dentistry. As the chief editor of RDHmagazine, she strives to remain a proactive personality in the continual advancement of the profession. She has been defined as a motivated trendsetter and dependable colleague and is inspired by her true passion of helping others to achieve their personal goals.
Kathy has more than 40 years of experience as a clinician, educator, speaker, author, and consultant. Known for turning complex coding topics into clear, practical insights, she helps dental teams connect accurate documentation and coding with quality patient care. Kathy serves as chair of the ADHA’s new coding committee after serving as a director for the DentalCodeology Consortium for seven years reviewing and developing dental hygiene-related procedure codes. She presents testimony annually to the ADA’s code maintenance committee. Reach her at [email protected].
