Dental specialists need to lead the way to becoming superordinate oral physicians

Abstract

In response to the need for greater access to oral and primary health care at lower cost, dentists in general and specialists in particular with the most advanced training among dental professionals need to assume a new superordinate designation as oral physicians to oversee all dental care, whether provided by dentists or nondentists. With hundreds of systemic/genetic disorders manifest in the mouth and surrounding craniofacial area supporting the relationship between oral and systemic disease, dental specialists should be the first of the dental professionals to become oral physicians who will provide specialty care, as well as limited preventive primary care. Moreover, as recently pointed out,1Palmer C. Alaska dental therapist report issued: ADA welcomes dialogue ADA News 2010.http://www.ada.org/news/4936.aspxGoogle Scholar, 2Giddon D.B. Swann B.J. Oral physicians [letter] ADA News American Dental Association.http://www.ada.org/5241.aspxDate: 2011Google Scholar it will not be too long before the public will not be capable of or interested in differentiating dentists from nondentists who are providing oral health care. Without additional training, dentists and certainly selected dental specialists are already de facto oral physicians, being at least as qualified as most paramedical professionals who are legally entitled in most states to add the suffix “physician” to their professional designation, i.e., chiropractic, podiatric, and optometric (in 9 states) physicians. Moreover, the designation of oral physician is a more accurate representation of the actual and potential health care services that dentists/specialists can provide, thereby enhancing the public's perception of the scope of current training for these expanded health care responsibilities. In response to the need for greater access to oral and primary health care at lower cost, dentists in general and specialists in particular with the most advanced training among dental professionals need to assume a new superordinate designation as oral physicians to oversee all dental care, whether provided by dentists or nondentists. With hundreds of systemic/genetic disorders manifest in the mouth and surrounding craniofacial area supporting the relationship between oral and systemic disease, dental specialists should be the first of the dental professionals to become oral physicians who will provide specialty care, as well as limited preventive primary care. Moreover, as recently pointed out,1Palmer C. Alaska dental therapist report issued: ADA welcomes dialogue ADA News 2010.http://www.ada.org/news/4936.aspxGoogle Scholar, 2Giddon D.B. Swann B.J. Oral physicians [letter] ADA News American Dental Association.http://www.ada.org/5241.aspxDate: 2011Google Scholar it will not be too long before the public will not be capable of or interested in differentiating dentists from nondentists who are providing oral health care. Without additional training, dentists and certainly selected dental specialists are already de facto oral physicians, being at least as qualified as most paramedical professionals who are legally entitled in most states to add the suffix “physician” to their professional designation, i.e., chiropractic, podiatric, and optometric (in 9 states) physicians. Moreover, the designation of oral physician is a more accurate representation of the actual and potential health care services that dentists/specialists can provide, thereby enhancing the public's perception of the scope of current training for these expanded health care responsibilities.