Dental educators have realized that interprofessional education (IPE) is a way to improve the care a new dental professional such as you provides from the moment you begin working on that first patient. Interprofessional education is defined by The Center for the Advancement of Interprofessional Education (CAIPE) as “two or more professions learn[ing] with, from and about each other to improve collaboration and the quality of care.” Through IPE, programs promote teamwork, an understanding of the different roles and responsibilities of the various health professions as well as respecting the differences in those experiences and taking away stronger clinical knowledge from the collaboration. 

With our knowledge today of how oral health is linked to systemic health, IPE allows you and other students of health professions to learn from each other and tears down the clinical walls between the health sciences. By learning in this way, you and your contemporaries will be well-versed in referring patients to practitioners even outside the dental field and will better understand your role in preventive whole-body care.

Have you experienced interprofessional learning at your institution? What is your impression of IPE? Is interprofessional practice something you feel prepared for as a new practitioner?