Oral Physicians
An Opportunity For Dentists
Bibliographic Data
While the advent of midlevel dental providers (MLPs) is expected to increase access to lower cost dental care, there are significant challenges associated with this change.1 The consequences of our current lack of dental care have been noted in many governmental and other publications and were highlighted by the death of a child2 and the hardships to our returning military who now lack resources for dental care. Among the concerns about MLPs are the competition with dentists, the development of a two-tiered system, and the possibility of MLPS gravitating to the private sector and competing for higher salaries, which ultimately would increase cost to the consumer. Realistically the demand for dental care in economic terms is elastic, resulting in the affluent continuing to be treated by dentists while the financially challenged use available MLPs. In contrast to Lamster and Formicola dismissing the proposed name change as attempting to emulate other paramedical providers (e.g., podiatrists and chiropractors),3 we advocate that the name be changed to reflect dentists' increased responsibilities in primary prevention and screening for chronic disease. The new name will reflect their responsibility as oral physicians to contribute to total health care. Moreover, with more MLPs, the public will become less inclined to distinguish MLPs from dentists who do not take advantage of reinventing themselves as oral physicians.4 The name “oral physicians” will also signal a new economic model of dental practice, including limited primary care and screening for chronic disease. In addition to general practitioners, some dental specialists can easily assume the mantle of “oral physicians”: periodontists who already emphasize the relation of oral to systemic disease5 and orthodontists who see their patients once a month during two of their formative years and could screen for developmental, psychiatric, and eating disorders, as well as domestic violence and substance abuse. So why not turn the concerns about MLPs into an opportunity for dentists to become “oral physicians” who will oversee all dental care? By delegating basic dental care to MLPs, there will be time for oral physicians to provide limited preventive primary care.6,7
Environmental health · Family medicine · MEDLINE · Political science · Dental Education, Practice, Research · Dental Health and Care Utilization · Healthcare Systems and Technology · Law · Medicine
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