Endodontics, Public Oral Health and You
Where Are We Now and Where Are We Headed?
By Dr. Brandon Barnett
For better or worse, the landscape of our profession is in flux. This has always been the case. Yet, while change is a constant, each generation of providers enters the workforce amid a unique set of challenges. Today, residents and new practitioners bear the staggering weight of dental education costs. In a country witnessing the meteoric growth of dental service organizations, there is also a decline in private practice ownership. Alongside technological advancements in dentistry, there is a concurrent increase in oral health disparities among the patient populations we serve.
A stark fact in light of this is that historically, key players who guided us through change were not members of our profession. Did you know that despite its founding in 1965, the Centers for Medicaid Services only appointed its very first Chief Dental Officer in 2021? Take from that what you will! But you are the future of our specialty. Regardless of your role—be it advocate, committee member, practitioner, or educator—you too can have a part to play in shepherding our profession and specialty through change.
As a nation, we went from spending $60 billion annually on dental care in 2000 to $161 billion today. So, why has the incidence of caries plateaued over the past two decades? What role do we, as Endodontists, have in addressing the upstream causes of oral health issues (beyond root canals)? Are teeth truly “luxury-bones” in our healthcare marketplace model? Is oral healthcare actually a right in the United States? In the forthcoming issues of The Paper Point, I aim to delve into these questions, casually explore some topics in public health as they pertain to our profession, and offer commentary on recent events. Feel free to send in questions or topics of interest you feel are important too. I look forward to engaging with you all and I hope this column will help us all think about what definitive actions we can take to navigate the challenges our profession will face together.
Dr. Brandon Barnett is an endodontist in Norwalk, Conn., and a member of the Resident and New Practitioner Committee. He completed dental school at University of New England, a GPR at UT Houston, and endodontic training at Rutgers School of Dental Medicine. He is currently working on a Master of Public Health degree in Health Policy at Yale School of Public Health.