Background.—Today, knowledge of oral disease and itsmanagement is available to anyone who has access to acomputer. Today’s patients are more knowledgeable thanever before regarding oral diseases of the mucosa and sali-vary glands and, as a result, are in a position to demand val-idated diagnostic and therapeutic services. Colleges andschools of dentistry were the traditional sources for spe-cialized knowledge of oral disease. Recently dental facultieshave been downsized, especially those in the diagnosticsciences, and some schools have closed with few new onesbeing established. Thus, the ability of the dental educa-tional institutions to provide an adequate response to thepublic’s need and demand for oral health services is beingtaxed. The resources offered in academic institution–basedcenters of oral-maxillofacial pathology and medicine maysoon be insufficient to handle the increased demand forcare. One source of help in this area is offered by community-based oral health care providers.

Analysis.—Several questions arise with respect to theuse of community-based oral health care providers. Thesequestions focus on who will provide care, whether thereare sufficient links between the medical and oral healthcare delivery systems to efficiently access oral health careservices, whether graduating dentists and dental special-ists will be trained to handle the challenges, and how totarget the appropriate board examinations to cover theseareas.

Recommendations.—A major revision is needed in thecurriculum content and structure used to train dentists anddental specialists. Oral-maxillofacial pathology and medi-

cine training structured to provide encyclopedic subjectcoverage may require an overhaul to encourage prepara-tion in problem-solving methods so that students areequipped to retrieve and apply oral disease diagnosis, treat-ment, and follow-up data as needed. Specifically includingspecialty involvement in developing the new curriculumshould ensure that the presence of the oral diagnostic sci-ences in the dental educational system will be continued oreven expanded.

Discussion.—Unmet needs will become unmet de-mands in the area of oral health care. Dentistry must beequipped to participate actively in meeting the expandingarena of oral health care.

Gould AR: Oral health care delivery? Preparing for the future. OralSurg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol Endod 99:257-258, 2005

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Clinical Significance.—More informationis available to more people than ever before.Educational models will need to change toconnect professionals with the encyclope-dic volume of information available for di-agnosis and treatment. Web access to thisknowledge, as needed, holds the key to thefuture.

Volume 50 • Issue 6 • 2005 327

THE BIG PICTURE

Changes to meet future demands