In 2011, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) stated that oral health
promotion (i.e., prevention of disease and its progression)
should be a more salient feature of traditionally delivered dentistry
[1]. Echoing comments made by the Surgeon General in
2000 [2], the IOM concluded that dentistry should deliver care
aimed at the causes of oral disease instead of the consequences
of disease [1]. A clear impediment to this goal is that, currently,
dental insurance companies reimburse dentists for completing
procedures [1]. Moreover, graduating dental students currently
enter the profession with immense financial burden—of
indebted dental students in 2014, the average student loan debt
was $247,227 [3]. Thus, completing procedures is, on a structural
level, strongly incentivized in the dental setting