General Dentistry on Life Support: The Overspecialization of the Profession
We argue that oral health inequities may only widen if the profession focuses on specialization over general practice, as this might inadvertently take the focus off prevention and not fully address general oral health-care needs of the population. Overspecialization, and the resulting fragmentation of responsibilities, may undermine patient's basic care needs. Training a broad-spectrum dentist is paramount while acknowledging the value of specialization to deliver specific-and complex-clinical care that does not come at the expense of general practice.
Authors
- Mariana Minatel Braga (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4469-6500)
- Mario Brondani (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2437-4552)
- Linda Slack‐Smith (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5859-7055)
- Jonathan Mark Broadbent (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8905-398X)
- Diego Machado Ardenghi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5368-7975)
Institutions
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- The University of Western Australia (AU)
- Universidade de São Paulo (BR)
- University of Otago (NZ)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Dental Education
- Published
- 2025-03-22
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/jdd.13878
- Primary Topic
- Dental Education, Practice, Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00