Unfortunately I don't have access to the pdf, but I took a peek at the abstract. I completely agree with the her statement at the end-
"Finally, I argue that promoting commitments to social justice in health care should not rely on cultivating altruism, but should instead be pursued through educating new practitioners about the lives of poor people, the causal relationships between poverty and poor health, and attention to the structure of health care and provider–patient interactions. This approach involves shining a critical light on America’s commodified health care system as an arena based in relations of power and inequality."
Predental and future dental students need a better understanding of how structural influences of race, poverty, culture, etc. create some of the patterns we see today in oral health disparities. We obviously all have some superficial knowledge of oral health disparities, but ethnographic studies can give us a much richer and specific account of exactly how these disparities arise. And we can use that knowledge to inform our future efforts to address community health problems. Also, it is good to learn more about the political economy of the American health system (and insurance system) and safety net as a whole because we will soon become practitioners in that system! I'll try and see if I can get a copy of the pdf so I can give you a better response!
