Nutrition and Oral Medicine (Nutrition and Health)

304 Part V / Education and PracticeDietetics Association position on nutrition education of health professionals advocates“that nutrition education is an essential component of the curricula for the majority ofhealth care professionals. Curricula should include nutrition principles and identificationof nutrition risk factors” (15).The need for the recognition of nutrition as an essential part of training for dentalprofessionals and as an important component of educational programs for dietetic andother health professionals (20) is clearly delineated in the joint World Health Organization(WHO)/Food and Agricultural Organization expert consultants’ recommendationthat encouraged this joint approach by international organizations including the WHOand the Food and Agricultural Organization (20). In order to be successful, educators andleaders in oral health and nutrition must promote this dual-content area in the curriculumsof other allied health professions. Dental and dietetics professionals need to form networkswith other health professionals (e.g., physicians, physician assistants, speech andlanguage pathologists, nurses) to advance health promotion and preventive and communityhealth initiatives that promote oral health and nutrition as they relate to generalhealth. These new models of health care provider cross-training and collaboration willrequire innovative approaches to new models of health care delivery if training is tosuccessfully carry over to practice. Recommendation 5 of the IOM study states: “Toprepare future practitioners for more medically based modes of oral health care and moremedically complicated patients, dental educators should work with their colleagues inmedical schools and academic health centers” (2).4. SUMMARY AND NEXT STEPSThis chapter has provided a historical perspective on nutrition and dental educationalong with 21st-century initiatives and recommendations for nutrition education of dentalprofessionals and oral health education of dietetics professionals (Tables 1 and 2). Acollaborative effort of members of both disciplines including academicians, clinicians,and administrators is needed to actualize the recommendations into practice. The practicalmodel envisioned as an outcome of the recommendations within this chapter includesteams of registered dietitian nutrition experts in dental schools and dental facultyin dietetics programs, with both disciplines represented on accreditation boards for dieteticsand dentistry. Professional initiatives and federal grants to build such curriculummodels and a forum for creating and sharing model curricula would provide the infrastructureto grow and develop these models. Opportunities for collaboration across disciplinesexist.REFERENCES1. American Dietetic Association. Position of the American Dietetic Association: Oral health and nutrition.J Am Diet Assoc 2003; 103:615–625.2. Institute of Medicine. Dental education at the crossroads: summary. J Dent Educ 1995; 59(1):7–15.3. Pew Health Professions Commission. Recreating Health Professional Practice for a New Century:The Fourth Report of the Pew Health Professions Commission. Center for the Health Professions,December 1998.4. Commission on Dental Accreditation. Accreditation Standards for Dental Education Programs. Chicago:American Dental Association, 1998.5. American Dental Education Association. The 2000 competencies for the new dentist. Website:(www.adea.org). Accessed January 5, 2004.