Jan. 2, 2007

Combining Medical and Dental Education

At some point in the near future, you may flop down in the dentist chair for a routine cleaning and also get examined for your heart condition or be asked about your diabetes. This latest innovation in medicine is being launched by Case Western Reserve University, which plans to graduate students with dual medical and dental degrees. The benefit to patients is clear, partly because people see their dentists more regularly than physicians, but also because research is finding that oral health is important to overall fitness.

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The program will offer dental students the chance to also pursue a medical degree and is patterned after the sort of training that oral surgeons typically undertake during a medical residency following dental school. After completing the five-year program, graduates will be eligible for dental licensure and will also qualify for medical licensure after residency.

Jerold Goldberg, dean of the Case dental school, said that the program will reinforce the strong links between oral and physical health. “It has been thought that the mouth was independent from the rest of the body, but we now know that that is not true,” added Valachovic.

In recent years, these links have become more apparent. For instance, research has found a correlation between cardiovascular disease and bacteria that are carried in the mouth. It is thought that the bacteria enter the bloodstream and lead to inflammation. Scientists have also noted that women with gum disease have low birth weight infants, and diabetes has also been correlated with poor oral health. Researchers are not certain how gum disease is linked to these two conditions but believe that his has something to do with inflammation.

Case expects to pick around five students each year to enter the program, and Goldberg predicts that as more of these graduates enter the health care, the value of this type of professional will become more accepted.

“There is the idea of having more primary care available in the dentist’s office,” said Valachovic. “This program reflects a lot of those changes that are occurring in dentistry.”

— Paul Thacker

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Comments

Combining Veterinary Medicine and Proctology

Let’s see, in recent days I’ve discovered my friend’s gynecologist may well be adding a face lift to her bill ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/30...&en=3ec205cd14d9d390&ei=5070

my pharmacist may be treating my diabetes ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30...amp;pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

and now my dentist may be handling my next triple by-pass.

I’m looking “forward” – or is it backwards — to the good old days when my barber routinely pulled teeth and amputated limbs ... after cutting my hair in a flattop of course.

RWH, at 9:40 am EST on January 2, 2007

I once spoke to the Dean of OSU about the need for medical training. He blew me off.Congrads to Case Western.I am glad there is one progressive Dental school in Ohio. Running a large dental practice is plenty tough.What becomes the standard of care for the WHOLE patient in a dental office? Are the lawyers circling. Fresh Blood

RJB, DDS, at 10:05 am EST on January 3, 2007

Good Idea, just another tool for the general practitioner to feel like they know and can do everything, we just keep going back to the no specialist days. A better idea would be for the dental student to go to school for 5 years and graduate a specialist not a general practitioner that starts to place implants, or do perio treatment or RCT, surgery etc.

Carlos Zapata, DDS, MSD, at 8:25 pm EST on January 3, 2007

Combining medical and dental education is a great idea, as long as the student knows that he or she DO NOT KNOW or CANNOT DO EVERYTHING!! it would be a greater idea if the dental student graduated after 6 years as a SPECIALIST, General Dentistry adn General Medicine should disappear, we see many many failures from general practitioners that think they KNOW or CAN DO everything

Carlos Zapata, DDS, MSD, at 8:30 pm EST on January 3, 2007

We were delighted to see your article January 2nd, discussing “Combining Medical and Dental Education.” We laud Case Western Reserve University and their effort to have dual Medical and Dental degrees. At New York University, we are especially pleased to have created a new affiliation with our College of Nursing at the College of Dentistry in order to achieve many of the same ends detailed by Dean Goldberg. Our nursing college has over 1000 students at the undergraduate and graduate level and in a recent study we found that 38% of our practice competencies overlap between the two professions. (Spielman, A.I, Fulmer, T, Eisenberg, E.S, Alfano, M. C. (2005). Dentistry, Nursing and Medicine: A Comparison of Core Competencies. /Journal of Dental Education, 69,/ 11, 1257-1271.). A similar overlap with medicine also exists, albeit lower (25.4%). The steps taken atCase Western reinforce this finding.

The opportunity to provide primary care by nurse practitioners while individuals also visit their dentists is a model we have proudly developed over the past 2 years. A next step for us will be a discussion related to a dual degree in nursing and dentistry.

At a time when every point of contact with the health system is an opportunity to diagnose disorders in their early stages and create a health promotion plan, we especially laud opportunities for interdisciplinarity in the provision of health care to the public.

Terry Fulmer & Andrew Spielman, College of Nursing at the College of Dentistry, NYU, at 3:20 pm EST on January 8, 2007

I do not agree that there should be a joint degree with dentistry and nursing. I feel that the two professions work in 2 different environments. The dental team already has its dental nurses, dental assistants, dental hygienists and dental technologists.

davide smith, at 9:30 am EST on January 9, 2007

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