Top 3 problems facing dental medicine

[AfroChapin]

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Dear Dental Students and Dentists,

I am asking this question for my self and for my interviews coming up.

I've looked around online and found some information but I figured it would be interesting to see what you all think of this, mainly from personal experience. There aren't any good threads about my question so I thought it would be good to start one!

Also, by us talking about the problems it might help fellow applicants to remember some instances of where they have experienced problems facing dentistry in the media and in real life.

Thank you.

 

[dentaldawg32]

No good threads on this subject? There are a few threads on the first page of this forum on this exact subject.

C'mon people, let's learn to do things by ourselves for once. Autonomy and the ability to research are very important aspects of dentistry!

 

[zriceman]

Dear Dental Students and Dentists,

I am asking this question for my self and for my interviews coming up.

I've looked around online and found some information but I figured it would be interesting to see what you all think of this, mainly from personal experience. There aren't any good threads about my question so I thought it would be good to start one!

Also, by us talking about the problems it might help fellow applicants to remember some instances of where they have experienced problems facing dentistry in the media and in real life.

Thank you.

one real problem is maldistribution of dentists (aka "access to care" problem).

 

[K2 Dental]

one real problem is maldistribution of dentists (aka "access to care" problem).

Bull. This is a made up problem to get more GVT funding for dental schools and programs. There are truly only a handful of counties and/or towns with a real access to care problem. The real problem is lack of good oral hygiene and poor diets in the poor communities. Google any small town in the USA and there are already 2 dentists there.

 

[zriceman]

Bull. This is a made up problem to get more GVT funding for dental schools and programs. There are truly only a handful of counties and/or towns with a real access to care problem. The real problem is lack of good oral hygiene and poor diets in the poor communities. Google any small town in the USA and there are already 2 dentists there.

looks like saturation is worse than i originally thought 🙁

 

[SeattleRDH]

Bull. This is a made up problem to get more GVT funding for dental schools and programs. There are truly only a handful of counties and/or towns with a real access to care problem. The real problem is lack of good oral hygiene and poor diets in the poor communities. Google any small town in the USA and there are already 2 dentists there.

Yeah, tell that to people in Alaska.

Besides, the access to care problem is not purely a geographical one.

 

[DrJeff]

Yeah, tell that to people in Alaska.

Besides, the access to care problem is not purely a geographical one.

Alaska is its own seperate case(access wise) with literally hundreds of small, isolated villages accessable only by air/water. However the diet/hygiene part TOTALLY applies to Alaska.

Living in a rural area myself, I can honestly say (and this may seem quite unbelievable to folks who live in an urban and even many a suburban area) that having to drive 30 to 60 minutes to get to something (whether a dentist, oral surgeon, a mall or a movie theater) isn't a big deal at all, and is actually quite routine. So if you're talking a rural area in the lower 48 states + Hawaii, and the folks that live there, having to travel a decent distance to get care, or even for basic shopping/entertainment isn't as big an issue as folks from the city/suburbia may think it is.

Plus, I feel quite strongly, that for most of the country, access isn't the issue when you look at the utilization rates. The problem arises when legislators try and figure out a way to provide 100% access when the reality is that best case, even with *cough*free*cough* care your utilization rates are at best in the 50-60% range. So by trying to "build" a system with a 100% access rate, you're basically building a system that from the start has atleast 40-50% excess (read as wasted funds) in it. Much better to take the potential extra $$ that would be spent trying to implement a 100% access program and better subsidize the reimbursement rates for providers of the roughly 50% of the underserved that will actually use the programs - you'll get more, already trained providers involved that way too

 

[8 SNAKE]

Yeah, tell that to people in Alaska.

Alaska is its own seperate case(access wise) with literally hundreds of small, isolated villages accessable only by air/water.

In addition to DrJeff's point, aren't the more densely populated parts of Alaska saturated with dentists?

 

[SeattleRDH]

In addition to DrJeff's point, aren't the more densely populated parts of Alaska saturated with dentists?

Define densely populated. 50% of the population lives in the Anchorage area but there's a little over half a million people in the whole state which is more than twice the size of Texas. There is definitely a geographical access to care problem in Alaska which is why the DHAT thing has been pushed so hard. But DHATs = BAD NEWS

I agree with Dr. Jeff' though, even in the small towns where there are dentists it doesn't do any good if only half the population goes to the dentist. The real challenge is to get patients to come in before they are in pain and faced with a root canal or extraction. And it seems to me that rampant decay is much more common in my Alaskan hometown than in the suburbs of Seattle. If only we had fluoride in the water.... (not to mention less alcoholism and drug use)...

 

[mike3kgt]

If only we had fluoride in the water.... (not to mention less alcoholism and drug use)...

...and excessive refined sugar/carbohydrate intake?

 

[8 SNAKE]

Define densely populated. 50% of the population lives in the Anchorage area but there's a little over half a million people in the whole state which is more than twice the size of Texas. There is definitely a geographical access to care problem in Alaska which is why the DHAT thing has been pushed so hard. But DHATs = BAD NEWS

Anchorage
Juneau
Fairbanks

You know, the places where people outnumber sled dogs and the roads have pavement. 😀

 

[Alizxa]

Hi,
Look, I'm not going to lie to you. My first reason for wanting to do a health related profession was the money. But as I kept looking, I actually got pulled in and now my level of interest in science has skyrocketed. I am faced however with a dilemma. I cannot decide whether I want to go to Dental or Medical school. I am fascinated with surgery as well as internal medicine, but the fact that Dentists only have 4 years of dental school before being able to practice is extremely luring. I don't want to spend all my life in school, but I love Medicine and money as well. What do I do??

 

[AfroChapin]

Hi,
Look, I'm not going to lie to you. My first reason for wanting to do a health related profession was the money. But as I kept looking, I actually got pulled in and now my level of interest in science has skyrocketed. I am faced however with a dilemma. I cannot decide whether I want to go to Dental or Medical school. I am fascinated with surgery as well as internal medicine, but the fact that Dentists only have 4 years of dental school before being able to practice is extremely luring. I don't want to spend all my life in school, but I love Medicine and money as well. What do I do??

...because this is the right place to be posting in.

 

[SeattleRDH]

Hi,
Look, I'm not going to lie to you. My first reason for wanting to do a health related profession was the money. But as I kept looking, I actually got pulled in and now my level of interest in science has skyrocketed. I am faced however with a dilemma. I cannot decide whether I want to go to Dental or Medical school. I am fascinated with surgery as well as internal medicine, but the fact that Dentists only have 4 years of dental school before being able to practice is extremely luring. I don't want to spend all my life in school, but I love Medicine and money as well. What do I do??

Go into hospital administration

 

[Double Bonded]

Go into hospital administration

why? she said that she was interested in science. Not managing people who are more intelligent than her in science (physicians/surgeons).

I think that dentistry and medicine are both awesome choices, if you can't make up your mind based on what interests you, look at secondary aspects (money, lifestyle, how deeply patients are being helped, satisfaction, ect) that are going to play a role in how important your career is to help make your decision.

go shadow practitioners...it helps

 

[ItsGavinC]

Plus, I feel quite strongly, that for most of the country, access isn't the issue when you look at the utilization rates. The problem arises when legislators try and figure out a way to provide 100% access when the reality is that best case, even with *cough*free*cough* care your utilization rates are at best in the 50-60% range.

So true. Like the multiple general anesthesia cases I had scheduled for today. Work is 100% free to the patient (dental work AND the anesthesia bill), yet the patient's don't show up.

Why don't they show up? It's because it is free and doesn't cost them anything. There is no perceived value to them. If they had to pay they would come. Welcome to the world where we've essentially enslaved people and made them unable to do anything for themselves.

Access to care is a 100% joke.

 

[redchesus]

I had a hunch that this was the case. So why do dental schools play so much into the "access to care" problem? Every website I go to, it comes up. What do you think the real problem is then? Lack of patient education?

 

[GTFOOMICT]

Access to care is a 100% joke.

I agree. Just unfortunate that the little kids have idiot parents who can't even have their kid show up for free care.

 

[K2 Dental]

I had a hunch that this was the case. So why do dental schools play so much into the "access to care" problem? Every website I go to, it comes up. What do you think the real problem is then? Lack of patient education?

Liberal entitlement mentality mixed with complete ignorance and stupidity. These liberal programs spend millions every year "educating" the participants. If you are given something for free, you do not value it.

 

[DrJeff]

I had a hunch that this was the case. So why do dental schools play so much into the "access to care" problem? Every website I go to, it comes up. What do you think the real problem is then? Lack of patient education?

Don't forget that most dental schools (both public and private) end up getting a bunch of their revenue/operating funds from treatment of the "underserved" and also more than likely if a legislature tried to implement a 100% acess scheme, those same schools would be the direct beneficiary of a bunch of gov't $$ - so there's some conflict of interest for sure

 

[yappy]

So practicing dentists... you've never had paying no shows?

I agree with the theme of what you guys are saying... but it doesnt support it by setting up strawmen.

 

[DrJeff]

So practicing dentists... you've never had paying no shows?

I agree with the theme of what you guys are saying... but it doesnt support it by setting up strawmen.

Okay, just remember in this general discussions context, we're talking about the underserved/needy/poor/(whatever descriptive terminology you want to use) who in most circumstances are in a system where they're used to paying absolultely nothing for their care (and right or wrong, often feel that that's what their entitled to).

So now you actually want them, the underseved/needy/poor to have to abide by the same basic policies that so many offices have in place for the rest of their patients??? Come on now, that's totally absurd 🙄 🙄 🙄 🙄 (there's not enough sarcastic emoticons for me to put here!)

 

[vaanhalen]

love this thread. k2 and dr jeffs, especially, it's refreshing having you two around.

I'm actually thinking one important issue is whether there are any long-term effects from some of the trends within dentistry itself that seem to group together, specifically the acceptance of increased marketing, coinciding with the transition from amalgam to composite, and the location transition from exclusively innocuous medical complexes to some in mini-malls with giant tooth logos, GPs doing more ortho cases, etc. It's a hodgepodge of different actions, and I can't put my finger on how to describe it succinctly, but they all seem to be motivated by a desire for increased profitability, which isn't bad so long as there's no unintended negative consequences. Anyone have a word for this?

 

[Simiam]

Dont forget that they are also popping up Dental Schools left and right to address the "access to care" and "More dentists are retiring than entering the profession" arguments... I haven't seen any evidence to back either of these statements up. Does anyone have literature on the subject?

-I second what Dr Jeff and K2 discussed about access to care vs utilization rate. You can't argue access to care without first discussing the utilization rate.

 

[Simiam]

Look at the propaganda that is rising for DHAT/Mid Level Providers... This was sent to all members of Congress. It was a study of 5 DHATs and 200 patients in Alaska.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OsYachnGKs

 

[caffeinehigh]

Some topics you might consider for issues in dental medicine for your interviews:

Amalgam Restoration Safety as perceived by the public
Composite Restoration Safety (BPA) as perceived by the public
Patient Ethics in Clinical Board Exams (holding lesions for months on end)