2021 CDT CODES reflect COVID 19 Tests

*From the American Dental Association:

The committee added the following procedure codes to CDT 2021:

*• D0604 — antigen testing for a public health-related pathogen, including coronavirus.

Definition from the Merriam Webster dictionary:

 Antigen is any substance (such as an immunogen or a hapten) foreign to the body that evokes an immune response either alone or after forming a complex with a larger molecule (such as a protein) and that is capable of binding with a product (such as an antibody or T cell) of the immune response

Antigen tests are a swab of the throat or nasal cavity gathered for testing.

*• D0605 — antibody testing for a public health-related pathogen, including coronavirus.

 Antibody testing is a blood test to discover whether you have had a past infection with the virus SAR-CoV-2 that causes the COVID 19 disease.  The antibody blood test does not identify whether you are currently infected with COVID-19.

According to the American Dental Association, twenty-eight new codes will be added to the CDT Code, effective Jan. 1, 2021.