Re "What the Tooth Fairy Forgot: Dentists for Rural America" (front page, Aug. 7), about the shortage of dentists in rural areas: More dentists would be interested in relocating but are limited by each state's individual licensing requirements.
In addition to the top five, 11 more dentists' salaries fell in the £400,000 and £500,000 bracket, and over 150 earned more than £200,000, according to The Daily Mail.
It is crucial for the government to train and encourage more dentists to work in rural areas.
[ 17, 33] Together with natural workforce immigration, this has resulted in more dentists from abroad joining the Dentists Register in 2005 than home students, [ 19] and more of the new NHS recruits coming from outside the UK.
Furthermore, in light of the ageing population and their oral health needs more dentists should be trained in the dental care of older people and proposals for Special Care Dentistry, which would encompass care for older people by specialists or a dentist with a special interest, will play an important role in the future [ 7, 33].
Nevertheless, more and more dentists – now some 500 in Britain – are setting up mercury-free practices, and more patients are demanding alternative fillings made of resin and glass.
Now, more dentists than ever dabble in research and development to create so-called "smile beauty" lines they hope will make them a mint.
State leaders must also address the children's dental access crisis by raising Medi-Cal payments to dentists to encourage more dentists to serve children in Medi-Cal.
As the prevalence of ASD is significantly higher today than in the past, estimated in 2014 to be approximately 1 in 68 children in the U.S. [ 35], more dentists will encounter children with ASD in their practice.
