Interprofessional Education and Practice: An Opportunity to Reunite the Mouth with the Body and Make the Patient Whole

Abstract

Kathleen Klink and Renée Joskow embrace the vision of integration of oral and general health, which originated with the surgeon general’s report Oral Health in America in 2000, and describe in detail important conferences, reports, and policies that have arisen since then to promote the concept of interprofessional collaboration for oral health professionals. The authors emphasize the need to integrate education across disciplines, using new teaching models; highlight the importance of engaging the public using outreach and education; and cogently argue for policy and financial changes supporting interdisciplinary partnerships.