I just read Dr. Meskin’s "Back to the Future" editorial (April JADA). I agree with his view 100 percent. I have continued to make these statements often over the years. We definitely should not increase the class size of dental schools, but we should make every effort to make dentists more efficient by the use of well-trained allied health professionals. It is a win-win situation for the profession and the public.
When the profession was booming in the 1970s and early 1980s, I was very involved in the creation of the five categories of allied health professionals included in the California Dental Practice Act. We had developed an entire series of procedures that would allow upward mobility of dental assistants and dental hygienists with appropriate duties and responsibilities. This would allow them to participate as team members in the provision of comprehensive care under the supervision of a dentist.
Most of that went by the wayside, especially the expanded-duty portion for the dental assistant and dental hygienist, when the profession (busyness issue) went into a tailspin in the late 1980s.
I still believe as Dr. Meskin does (and have believed for at least the last two and one-half decades) that well-trained and educated allied health professionals will help provide greater access to care and increase the efficiency and productivity of the dentist.
In states like Utah, Oregon and Washington, the dentists are extremely productive because of the expanded duties that dental assistants and dental hygienists can perform in a cooperative team effort with the dentist. So often we have "met the enemy and he is us."
