Dollars and Dentists
August 1, 2012 in dental, News
Here is the link to a report on “Dollars and Dentists.” The report was posted by PBS at the end of June and describes an investigation by The Center for Public Integrity and Frontline on a broken dental care system. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/dollars-and-dentists/ The video is 53 minutes long, so it’s best to look at when you have a little time.
Martha Bebinger said on August 1, 2012
Thanks Lee – I look forward to it!
Lee Ostrander said on August 2, 2012
The American Dental Hygienists Association responded to the aforementioned PBS report and offered a solution to the shortage of dentists, which is to utilize a class of dental care providers equivalent in level to nurse practitioners.
http://www.adha.org/news/06282012-Frontline.htm
Personally, I feel ambivalent about creating new classes of health care providers. On the one hand, it would open up opportunities for more providers to help more patients. On the other hand, it could mean more regulatory bureaucracy and more splintering of provider services. At the farcical extreme, one could envision a separate specialist for each of plaque removal, polishing, and examining for cavities. While this specialization seems ludicrous, one could make the case that a similar kind of fragmentation is happening with medical specialists. This new world of medicine is a far cry from the multipurpose family physician who used to visit me at home when I needed attention.