Increasing oral health education and promotion in U.S. medical schools

Primary care physicians are often a person's only regular interaction with a medical professional, as well as one of the initial medical providers that see children at a young age, which allows these clinicians to catch oral health diseases in the early stages and promote good oral health in children through referral to a dental practitioner. Despite the implications of poor oral health as a predictor for other health concerns, physicians in the United States are often not educated in how to identify oral health concerns and are not trained in directing patients to proper oral health care when needed. Medical schools present a unique opportunity to train and educate future primary care practitioners in basic oral health prevention techniques, including providing preventive oral health care services to children, fluoride varnish treatments, risk assessment, and initial examinations for caries, gum disease, and oral cancer. This paper will identify areas of oral health education that can be increased in medical schools to help promote oral health disease prevention and the early identification of oral health disease in the primary care setting and will examine opportunities and potential organizational collaborations that can facilitate additional oral health education in medical schools.