Managing oral health care applies to patients with oral manifestations of systemic disease and involves providing on-going oral health care management. In the course of managing patient care, competent practitioners should recognize the limitations of their expertise and refer patients appropriately for treatment and coordinate the patient care plan. While dentists may delegate, they have the ultimate responsibility for comprehensive patient care. Ideally, professional development begins the first day the student enters dental school and does not end until the day the dentist completely retires from the profession. Other than the decision to begin this professional journey, the most significant milepost is the attainment of the first professional degree, which corresponds to the attainment of professional competency - the ability to begin independent, unsupervised dental practice.
Competencies are abilities essential to beginning the practice of dentistry.
The integration and application of the basic biomedical sciences is considered a critical element in the development of competencies for the future. These abilities incorporate understanding, skill, and values in an integrated response to the normal range of problems and challenges in the practice of dentistry that will allow a graduate to practice safely and independently. The level of performance requires some degree of speed and accuracy consistent with patient well-being. It also requires an awareness of what constitutes acceptable performance under normal circumstances. For the purposes of this document, competent practitioners must use these abilities as the basis for clinical decisions and in professional, patient, and public education.