The April JADA article by Drs. Donald Giddon and Leon Assael, "Should Dentists Become ‘Oral Physicians’?", was excellent, and touched on many interesting aspects as to what different opinions dental professionals believe to be "our profession." After weighing each side of the argument fully, I feel both can be summed up by Dr. Assael’s statement that "the public knows what a dentist is."
However, as a profession, we have failed miserably in educating the public and medical community about what we can do and what we actually do. The majority opinion is that we are problem solvers, not doctors who specialize in treating disease processes of the mouth. Changing our title to "oral physician" will only add confusion as to whether an oral physician is better than a dentist, and where the best care will come from.
Instead of putting our efforts into changing our professional titles, more effort should be made to educate our increasingly health-conscious public. Without healthy mouths, they can never be truly healthy, and the only doctors who can help them achieve this health are dentists.
