Dentistry and medicine, then and now.

Two factors have, at times, pushed dentistry and medicine together and pulled them apart. The factor acting to create a symbiosis is the common biomedical or scientific foundation for these fields. The factor causing independence deals with socio-cultural matters impacting on the professions and the public. These two factors will be examined at three points in time when the relationship between the two professions was significantly important for the welfare of the public: the 1920s and '30s, the 1960s and '70s, and our own time. Contemporary major discussion about the alignment of dental education, scientific advances, and societal needs point to a need for a new look at how dentistry and medicine relate to one another.