Combating the Silent Othering in Dental Education, Dental Public Health, and Community Health Practice to Advance Health Equity

ABSTRACT Objectives Achieving oral health equity continues to be a goal with seemingly intractable challenges. While interprofessional education and practice (IPE/IPP) have been strategies employed to address barriers underlying persistent health disparities, there must be a recognition of the formation of dominant and subordinate cultures across learning and practice environments when diverse professionals are brought together to support diverse populations, creating an identity or professional othering. Methods A review of settings that feature IPE/IPP, particularly dental education, dental public health residency settings, and community health centers, demonstrate the need to acknowledge that this othering occurs. Combating the systemic and social processes that contribute to othering in these environments is key to delivering a sustainable dental public health workforce and advancing health equity. Results Interprofessional collaboration is a requisite for modern pop