NAME ONE CHANGE OR DEVELOPMENT IN DENTISTRY THAT YOU BELIEVE THE PROFESSION WILL WITNESS IN THE 21ST CENTURY.
In the years ahead, dental amalgam will become a thing of the past. Either that or the popularity of amalgam and gold restorations will skyrocket as dentists and patients grow dissatisfied with posterior composites.
Such contradictory viewpoints were characteristic of the predictions offered by the nearly 100 dentists who responded to JADA’s December Question of the Month—"question" being a misnomer in this case.
Departing from our usual format, we asked readers to dust off their crystal balls and give us "one solid prediction" they expected to come true within the next 100 years.
"Amalgam will no longer be used for restorations," wrote one respondent.
"A new and better class of tooth-colored restorative materials" will emerge, added another.
Not so fast, said a third: "I predict a return to amalgam and gold as materials of choice to restore carious teeth." Added another, "We will see a big swing back to amalgam and gold."
Some predicted that insurance companies—particularly dental health management organizations—would assert greater control over dental care. Said one, "By 2020, the vast majority of dentists and physicians will be employees of insurance companies."
On the contrary, said another, there will be fewer dentists in the next century, and "the DHMOs will lose their power; dentists will return to fee-for-service." (Not that they ever left it; a spokesman for the ADA Survey Center notes that most dentists remain "primarily fee-for-service" practitioners.)
In the realm of science, about a half-dozen respondents said they expect to see vaccines or other drugs used to fight dental caries and periodontal disease.
Other science predictions:
- – genetically engineered teeth and tooth buds;
- – the ability to "grow" enamel or dentin in a laboratory "to replace damaged tooth structure";
- – lasers replacing the high-speed handpiece;
- – a computer-driven high-speed handpiece "with excellent torque and no noise";
- – three-dimensional radiographs or magnetic resonance imaging "from a noninvasive panoramic-style machine";
- – computers helping to "enhance both the delivery and predictability of dental procedures."
Several respondents agreed that computers would have a profound effect on dental practice, leading to the "paper-free" office. The duties of dental auxiliaries will expand, some said, and dentistry will become more closely aligned with medicine as the relationship between oral and systemic health is made clearer.
Dental schools will place a greater emphasis on science—particularly medical science—and the selling price for a dental practice will drop as baby boomers reach retirement age.
One respondent said dentists would be part of a health team involved in the colonization of Mars. Another wrote simply, "More lawsuits." Still another wrote simply, "Unionization."
Dr. Robert Horseman, who pens a monthly humor column for the Journal of the California Dental Association, confided that he suffers from "logorrhea" (pathological wordiness), which made it impossible for him to offer just one prediction.
He sent a long list of them (sample: "A vaccine for caries will be just around the corner where it has been lurking for 50 years.") His full complement of prognostications can be found in the Letters section of this issue.
Finally, one dental soothsayer predicted that scientific journals (like this one) would become obsolete, as Internet publishing takes hold. We’ll have to wait and see. Watch for our follow-up story on this 100 years from now. If we’re still here.
