The American dentists: ethics, technology and education for the twenty-first century

Throughout the twentieth century, dentistry has been answering a powerful call to embrace science-driven oral health care, and align dental education with interdisciplinary biomedical training. Now, as we enter the twenty-first century, "evidence-based practice" has raised new challenges for scientific collaboration and professional education. Central to this new landscape is the task of realigning the vision of oral health science to provide a more comprehensive view of how dental science and technology can best serve the health of expanding populations, the underserved and global cultures. This article discusses examples of how educational challenges are beginning to be addressed, and how new technologies like teledentistry, while helping solve certain problems of outreach, raise their own challenging ethical questions of professional obligation and responsibility.