Managed care--serving two masters.

It is likely that enrollment in managed care dental plans will continue to increase. Dentistry can respond to this trend by resisting it; however, just as the health care marketplace drove medical care into managed care mechanisms, so too will these forces impact dentistry. For those who are participating in managed care dental plans, it is heartening that current data indicate that most types of patient care are not adversely affected by reimbursement mechanisms. Dentistry, however, should seek out opportunities to shape the managed care format and must be at the table to assure that ethical principles and conflicts of interest receive due consideration. Dentists who treat patients under a managed care reimbursement system must be certain that the plan does not require providers to sacrifice patient autonomy or compromise care in the process of serving two masters.