A curriculum for the new dental practitioner: preparing dentists for a prospective oral health care environment.

The emerging concept of prospective health care would shift the focus of health care from disease management to disease prevention and health management. Dentistry has a unique opportunity to embrace this model of prospective and collaborative care and focus on the management of oral health. Academic dentistry must better prepare future dentists to succeed in this new health care environment by providing them with the scientific and technical knowledge required to understand and assess risk and practice disease prevention. Dental schools must consider creating career pathways for enabling future graduates to assume important leadership roles that will advance a prospective oral health care system.