Focus on St. Petersburg - West Coast Dental Association

The Role of Organized Dentistry... (continued from page 6)
The Florida legislature is facing grave budget deficits.
However, it has the responsibility of the well-being of
citizens of Florida and therefore, they are looking for costcutting
measures to provide more care with less funds to
underserved populations. Their solution is to fragment the
dental profession (like the medical model). They propose
to allow mid-level providers or auxiliaries – lesser educated
providers who are not dentists to provide unsupervised
care to underserved populations. They would be restricted
to legally defined “Health access settings,” which is not
only economically unfeasible, but also works against the
prevention model. Because underserved patients often
exhibit greater degree of complications and other systemic
health conditions, the use of lesser-educated providers
risks jeopardizing the patients’ health and safety. Your
leadership, under Dr. Chuck Hoffman has fought hard
to resist this apparently illegal and unethical legislative
position. The battle is not over. It has been said that, “if
you’re not at the table then you are on the menu.” We are
currently both, at the table and on the menu.
Organized dentistry must develop a market-based solution
to address access to care. It will require collaboration
among professional organizations, local, state, and federal
governments, community organizations and other private
entities. We must stick together not as “obstructionists”
but as “constructive,” highly-ethical dentists wanting to
provide the most appropriate dental care to all the citizens
of Florida.
In summation, the challenges are many. I mentioned
earlier transportation, social disorganization and behavior
modification are all barriers. We, as a profession, have to
step to the plate and advocate for equal health care access
for all. There are many great solutions being discussed but
our profession must be the designer of the program and
processes to ensure a favorable and successful outcome for
all parties concerned.
Respectfully submitted,
Dan Bertoch, DDS
ADSFL_075 WCDDA Test Greg.qxd:Layout 1 8/24/09 8:03 PM Page 1
"Greg and ADS Florida made a very complicated
process understandable. He was truly my advocate
and made the whole experience 'pain free' (important
in business as well as dentistry)."
Dr. Greg Dickinson
Practice Transitions Made Perfect
Greg Auerbach, MBA |
greg@ADSflorida.com | 941.746.7959 | ADSflorida.com/WCDDA
ADS Florida, LLC- Licensed Real Estate Broker
14 West Coast District Dental Association • January 2010