The Need for Interprofessional Medical-Dental Education

Abstract

The mounting evidence of the interrelationships between oral and systemic health adds credence to the compelling rationale for holistic patient care. Much of the scientific community’s renewed and extensive interest in oral-systemic interrelationships, termed Oral-Systemic Medicine, has emerged over the last several decades. With this emerging body of science has come increased awareness that among non-dental healthcare providers (HCPs) (e.g., physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and the greater healthcare provider community,) there is a lack of adequate knowledge regarding the interrelationships between oral and overall health, or recognition of the significance of oral health in achieving and sustaining general health outcomes. This void in knowledge dissemination has largely been attributed to the historical schism between medicine and dentistry which originated in the early nineteenth century. Regardless of when or how the study of the oral cavity became separated from the study of other organ systems, non-dental HCPs have generally considered oral health the domain of dentists and dental hygienists (i.e., oral HCPs). Until there is a curricula dedicated to educating non-dental HCPs about oral-systemic health integrated into undergraduate education and continuing education of non-dental HCPs, the oral cavity will continue to be isolated from the other systems of the body. Consequently, failure to educate non-dental HCPs about oral-systemic interrelationships will continue to compromise the potential for optimal patient outcomes. This realization has sparked calls for curriculum reform in undergraduate education of non-dental HCPs to include oral-systemic health as a foundational base of knowledge in the interprofessional, collaborative care of patients at risk for diseases and conditions related to the oral cavity.