ADA.org: Future of Dentistry Full Report

FUTURE OFDENTISTRY

Student debt is a genuine problem for future dentists,
hampering their ability to follow their desired profession-
al path in order to find sources to satisfy their financial
needs. These and other important aspects of dentistry are
dependent on few dollars made available and the compe-
tition for those funds tends to fractionate the profession.

Broad Recommendation-5:Develop strategies to address
the fiscal needs of the practice, education and research sec-
tors of dentistry to ensure their viability and vitality.

Strategy

u Assess the financial needs of the dental profession
so that a reasoned and structured approach to optimal
use of financial resources could be adopted. This
would, in the end, advance the best interests of the
oral health of the public.

Collaboration Between Dental Practice, Education and Research.....................................................

The dental profession will face challenges that will
require close collaboration between dental practition-
ers, educators and researchers. While interactions do
occur between these groups, they have usually
occurred on an ad hoc basis. In the future, it would be
helpful if these interactions occurred on a continuous
basis within a formal organization. The individuals
participating in this effort should meet on a scheduled
basis to discuss issues of common concern. The coop-
eration would include the development, implementa-
tion and oversight of activities that address issues that
could be best solved by its collective actions.

Broad Recommendation-6: Establish a formal or-
ganization with membership consisting of the American
Dental Association representing dental practice, the
American Dental Education Association representing
dental education, and the National Institute of Dental
and Craniofacial Research and the American
Association of Dental Research representing research.

Strategy

u Establish formal cooperative efforts to meet the

resource and funding needs of those requiring oral health

services and those responsible for offering these services.

Collaborative Marketing and Public Relations.................................................................................

Too often important issues in dentistry are present-

ed to the public as controversies, if not exposè's.

Examples would include amalgam safety, waterline

quality and general anesthesia. However, the profes-

sion has developed a progressive agenda to deliver

services of ever-increasing quality. This agenda should

be presented to the public through the media in ways

that target and captivate the interest of consumers by

virtue of their importance and innovation. An exam-

ple would be an oral cancer awareness campaign.

Broad Recommendation-7: Utilizing the combined

resources of the dental profession and dental indus-

try, emphasis should be placed on the development

of highly targeted, collaborative marketing and pub-

lic relations initiatives.

Strategy

u Develop a cooperative effort between various sec-

tors of the dental profession and relevant business

sectors to plan marketing and public relation initia-

tives. Cooperation such as this will leverage both

funds and impact of these kinds of activities.

The recommendations that follow are based on the

findings from the six subject areas explored.

Vision and Recommendations

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CLINICAL DENTAL PRACTICE AND MANAGEMENT........................

Dental Workforce.............................................................................................................................

To assure that dental services are available to all
who need them, it is imperative to establish the ade-
quacy of the dental workforce. The workforce dif-

fers across the country and within specific commu-

nities. Factors that must be considered when evalu-

ating the adequacy of the workforce in any geo-

graphic area include the socioeconomic status,

race/ethnicity, disability or handicapped status, and