emed, my friend ... as always, I am silently applauding your attempts to reason with med students and pre-meds. But you and I both know that these cyber-folk aren't the ones who accompanied you to Haiti, these are kids who most likely have little to no experience working with the underserved (other than perhaps some required high school volunteer work). They likely have little to no experience working with the sick and suffering at all (other than perhaps rotations/internships) ... I won't include Residents, as most of them are likely starting to get the picture by that point, although I can't say I've never met a terrible Resident who was obviously angry that their 'alpha dream job' involves being empathetic towards the sorrowful conditions of others.
I've seen some pretty terrible teeth in my day, belonging to people who have bad credit and no way to take care of their condition. Sadly, it's not as easy as some might think, to even find an emergency clinic who will take them on for what they need. Such is our world, but all we can do is continually try and make it better.
As long as these dental 'midlevels' are supervised by those with more training, I fail to see any harm in their induction.
Anyhow, props to you old man.
