The academic dental education in The Netherlands has been extended to 6 years, among other reasons in order to make it possible for responsibility for oral healthcare to be borne in a wide medical context. It is the job of the 3 national dental schools to make this happen. The new dentist should know and recognize all (peri-)oral disorders and oral symptoms of systemic diseases, and he should be able to deliver oral healthcare to medically compromised patients. Accepting this responsibility is required for dentistry to be transformed into medical oral healthcare and for dentists to be upgraded to oral physicians.

Bacterial meningitis is a severe disease which affects 35.000 Europeans each year and has a mortality rate of about 20%. During the past 25 years the epidemiology of bacterial meningitis has changed significantly due to the implementation of vaccination against Haemophilus influenzae, Neisseria meningtidis group C and Streptococcus pneumoniae. Due to these vaccines, meningitis is now predominantly a disease occurring in adults, caused especially by Streptococcus pneumoniae, while it was formerly a child disease which was largely caused by Haemophilus influenzae. Bacterial meningitis is often difficult to recognize since the classical presentation with neck stiffness, reduced awareness and fever occurs in less than half of the patients. The only way to diagnose or exclude bacterial meningitis is by performing low-threshold cerebrospinal fluid examination with a suspicion of bacterial meningitis. The treatment consists of the prescription of antibiotics and dexamethasone.

With ossification of the stylohyoid ligament a diverse spectrum of complaints are possible. A conclusive explanation for the appearance of this ossification has so far not been found. Since treatment is not, in principle, necessary, a policy of observation is often preferred. If complaints persist, physiotherapy, anti-inflammatory medication or surgical treatment can be considered.

Queen Elizabeth I of England (1533–1603), probably the most famous English Queen ever, had persistent oral problems. Her oral  problems were so serious that they probably hampered the Queen in the performance of her tasks.

Patients with non-odontogenic oral diseases may be referred to an oral and maxillofacial surgeon by a dentist, a general medical practitioner or a medical specialist. At the department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery of a medical centre, a survey involving 96 referred patients with a nonodontogenic oral disease addressed the clinician who was responsible for the referral, the patient characteristics, and the nature and location of the oral disease. From the patients who regularly visited a dentist, 53% were referred by a dentist. From the patients who visited a dentist irregularly, 73% were referred by a general medical practitioner. No significant correlation was found between the nature and location of the non-odontogenic oral disease and the profession of the clinician who was responsible for the referral, with an exception for the tongue, for which a medical specialist was more often responsible for the referral.

Twenty five years ago patients with unsuccessful root canal treatments and complaints about pain were generally referred directly to an oral surgeon for apical surgery. Since then, much has changed in the treatment of these difficult or failed endodontic treatments. First, from 1996 it became financially attractive for the general practitioner to carry out root canal treatments because remuneration for them was more in keeping with their worth after the national health system disappeared in the Netherlands (in 1996). A second important development was the appearance of the dentist-endodontologist as a distinct oral healthcare professional who, due to his greater knowledge and improved technology is able to carry out corrective treatment on unsuccessful root canal treatments in a non-surgical way with a good chance of healing.