Managed care seizes the attention of dentistry

Throughout the health care reform debates of 1993 and 1994, the dental profession steadfastly maintained that dentistry was distinct from medicine and that the proposed solutions to the problems in medicine should not be applied to dentistry. The American Dental Association (ADA) supports the position that dental care delivery and financing systems successfully promote access, quality, and cost-containment. Important distinctions exist between the delivery and financing systems of dentistry and medicine. Dentistry is a cottage industry of solo practitioners financed overwhelmingly by private funds. The driving forces behind the growth of managed dental care are the business conditions in dentistry and employers' cost-containment concerns. Dentists should be informed about managed care, which is certain to grow and become an important part of the dental delivery and financing systems but is unlikely to achieve the dominance that it has in medicine.