March 4, 2009

To the Editor:

The experiment under way in Maine, in which family physicians in training can opt to learn to treat some urgent dental problems, is an example of the desperate measures that attempt to compensate for the woeful underfunding of oral health in America. No one, least of all the dentists and physicians involved in this program, view this as anything else, in part because it does nothing to prevent the disease that otherwise requires this kind of drastic intervention.

Ultimately, only a greater commitment by our state and federal governments will address the oral health of the millions of Americans who lack access to dental care. That means fully funding programs like Medicaid and SCHIP and creating more incentives for dentists to practice where they are most needed, including not only rural areas but inner cities, institutions, schools, wherever people haven't the means or ability to get needed care.

Finally, one quibble: The Times routinely refers to "dentists and doctors." Dentists are doctors. They undergo the same level of training and education as physicians, often side by side during the first two years of their four-year, doctoral programs. Of course, their clinical training, occurring mostly during the last two years, diverges as appropriate to the different organ systems that they treat. And like physicians, many dental school graduates continue their training in such specialties as oral surgery (four to six years beyond dental school) or periodontics (three additional years). So please, the appropriate reference is dentists and physicians.

Sincerely,

John S. Findley, DDS
President, American Dental Association

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