“As a health-care provider, I care about the overall health of my patients, but I don’t know enough about nutrition to educate my patients,” says Richard Lusby, DDS, a dentist in Zephyr Cove, Nev., who does not offer nutrition resources to his patients, but is open to the idea of incorporating a registered dietitian into his practice and to learning more about nutrition at professional conferences. “I do recognize that childhood obesity is out of control in our country and I should be involved in trying to solve the problem.”
According to Mobley, the key to overcoming these barriers is education. “At UNLV, we teach dentists a partnership model between dentists and RDs,” she says. “Nutrition and dentistry go together, and when dentists are educated about the role of nutrition, they have a greater appreciation for it.”