title: Access to care: leveraging dental education.
abstract: If it is not a naïve expectation for dentists who have been beneficiaries of public generosity to share their good fortune with the public that made it possible, there may be a rational basis for enhancing the role of dental education in improving access to oral health care by promoting-but not requiring-a voluntary service commitment after graduation commensurate with the magnitude of the subsidy received. Such an approach would be in accordance with the Institute of Medicine's report Improving Access to Oral Health Care for Vulnerable and Underserved Populations, but without the governmental coercion explicit in the report. A sustainable alternative proposal is made here, offering both greater options to students in the financing of their dental education and greater obligations for those students who accept state subsidies: providing tuition discounts for students of state-supported dental schools based not on past residency status but rather on a future commitment to public service. This arrangement could be good public policy that might also help to create a culture in which dental students are given authentic options as part of a profession-wide ideology of public service. The result could well contribute to improved oral health care for the underserved.
authors.affiliation: Dr. Bertolami is Herman Robert Fox Dean, College of Dentistry, New York University; and Dr. Berne is Executive Vice President for Health, New York University. charles.bertolami@nyu.edu.
authors.forename: Charles N
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Bertolami
authors.affiliation: Dr. Bertolami is Herman Robert Fox Dean, College of Dentistry, New York University; and Dr. Berne is Executive Vice President for Health, New York University.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Berne
mesh_terms: D003151:Community Health Centers; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D003729:Dental Care / Q000191:economics; D003740:Dental Clinics; D004497:Education, Dental / Q000191:economics; D005378:Financial Support; D005380:Financing, Government; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D007449:Investments; D008507:Medically Underserved Area; D017149:Private Sector; D011640:Public Policy; D017150:Public Sector; D012941:Social Responsibility; D013335:Students, Dental; D014146:Training Support; D014481:United States; D035862:Vulnerable Populations
keywords: access to oral health care; cost-benefit analysis; dental education; dental education finances; dental school tuition; dental students; economics of dental education; student debt