Dentistry As a Profession Research Paper

Dentistry as a Profession

There was a time when the profession of dentistry solely focused on treating and alleviating pain coming from any oral tissues. The dentists were considered as healers just like medical doctors. But a recent trend towards broadening the horizons of dentistry has lead it to step into the fields of cosmetic medicine. Focus has been provided on dentists as smile constructors. Dental clinics have been transformed into dental spas and there is a movement leading the profession of dentistry into a business. How much of this is useful is yet to be determined. And whether this new picture of the "business" of dentistry is ethical or not has brought dentistry into the spotlight of professionalism. Ethicists are generating heated arguments and commenting on the status of dentistry towards still being called a profession. What truly constitutes a profession and what are the attributes of dental profession and how are they changing is the topic of discussion of this article.Jose Welie a renowned professor belonging to the Center for Health Policy and Ethics, Creighton University Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska, has presented detailed view of dentistry as related to it being a profession in this modern era. The concepts discussed by professor Welie span along a 3 part series that starts from discussing the true essence of profession itself, its definition, its constituents, profession in the light of the existential theory and present state of the professional infra structure as applied to this existential definition of the dental profession provided by him.

Jose Welie defines a profession as "a collective of expert service providers who have jointly and publicly committed to always give priority to the existential needs and interests of the public they serve above their….....