Action | Amendment to restriction on advertising dental specialties |
Stage | NOIRA |
Comment Period | Ended on 9/5/2018 |
The Virginia Dental Board's primary focus should be the quality of care that is provided by Virginia dentists. There is no way that this amendment enhances the quality of care or the health of Virginia citizens. If anything it does the opposite. If passed, this amendment would only cloud the issue of who is the most qualified practitioner to treat a specific problem. Some highly educated people will see through the cloud but many less knowledgeable individuals will be treated by non-specialists and not be aware of it. The outcome could obviously be less than ideal. The only individuals that gain from this amendment are general dentists who did not want to take the additional time, effort or expense for their training or were academicallly unqualified to get into a certified post graduate training program. As an aside, there will be no reduction in costs to patients as I have seen fees from general dentists' offfices that are higher than those from specialists, Virginia has always had a great reputation with regard to the quality of care that is offered to our patients. Lets keep it that way and reject this amendment.