A cause that's near and dear to my heart is the plight of foreign trained dentists in America. My wife is one. Ten years ago, she left a thriving practice in the Philippines to come and marry me. We came to find out the limitations and restrictions placed on foreign trained dentists here. In most states (except for California and Minnesota), you're education and practical experience is for all practical purposes not valued. The road map to practicing here leads you all the way back to day 1 of dental school.
Today, I started foreigntraineddentists.org as a way to have a conversation between foreign trained dentists, their patients, American dentists, politicians, insurance companies, and foreign dental schools.
Drupal provides all the community plumbing I will need to start up a cause based social network.
A few ideas to start the site requirements (my interns will be building this with my help):
1. Foreign Trained Dentists will be able to create a profile
2. Their experience can be quantified by testimonials from their patients. Since Internet access is everywhere, many of their patients can find a way to help our their doctors with a description of the procedure and the affirmation of a successfule result.
3. Different paths will be explored on other ways to use these dentist's practical knowledge - Dental Informatiocs, Dentail Assisting, and Dental Hygiene
4. We'll explore the underserved in our country who could be helped by foreign trained dentists living in America and ask the questions - why can't we get there from here
5. Talking with my friend Pallav, we thought we may never come to a solution that completely removes restrictions but we can find a lot of more specific options for Foreign Trained Dentists. Perhaps 1. Organizing Medical Mission cruises in International Waters. 2. Record all the outcomes. 3. Use this as another proof point on the value of Foreign Trained Dentists.
6. Work with Foreign Trained Dentists schools to get site endorsements and to help them understand the process of Accreditation.
I will continue to add to this blog article with my own ideas and ideas of others.
