ADA.org: Future of Dentistry Full Report

FUTURE OFDENTISTRY

dental schools, and another closed in 1998.
Critical review of their dental programs will
almost certainly be undertaken by private universi-
ties, which are not under state mandate to promote
dental education and may not maintain a funda-
mental mission to support dental education.
Indeed, all seven dental school closings occurred in
private or private/state-assisted universities.
The closure of private schools is troublesome not
merely because of the potential negative impact on the
workforce, but because when prestigious private uni-
versities elect to close dental schools, it is a measure of
the declining value academe places on the dental acade-
mia and research enterprise. These closures also poten-
tially compromise oral health care and promotion of
prestigious academic health centers. Although other
dental schools are opening, confirming societies per-
ceived need for dentists, they are not located in presti-
gious private universities, thereby adding momentum to
the loss of academic esteem.

The Academic Health Center

The need for dental schools to be more attuned
to the mission of their university was vigorously
addressed by the 1995 Institute of Medicine (IOM)
study, Dental Education at the Crossroads(Field,
1995); by the 75th Anniversary Summit Conference
sponsored by the American Association of Dental
Schools (AADS) (AADS, 1999); and by J.E. Albino
(Albino,1999).
The IOM study emphasized that dental schools
must move closer to the academic, research, and
patient care missions of medical schools specifically
and academic health centers in general (Field, 1995).
In many dental schools faculty members are following
IOM recommendations and are collaborating with
medical school faculty, especially in research, at
unprecedented levels. Extensive dental/medical
research interactions have, for example, been promot-
ed and funded by the National Institute of Dental and
Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), particularly through
the P-01, P-20, P-50, and P-60 research programs
operating in the nation's dental schools. The dental
school/medical school collaboration is also evident in
the curriculum of nine dental schools that share the
first two years of basic sciences courses with the med-
ical students (National Institute of Dental and
Craniofacial Research [NIDCR], 2000).
Patients have also seen more interaction between
dental and medical faculty resulting in better under-

standing of each other's competencies. This prolif-

eration of interactions appears to have occurred

because of the increasing number of dental faculty

members who have the formal qualifications and

higher degrees, the scholarly and clinical skills, and

the resultant self-confidence to interact comfortably

and productively as equals with research and clini-

cal colleagues in schools of medicine, public health,

nursing and pharmacy. Moreover, research trends

in molecular biology, epidemiology, molecular

genetics, bioinformatics, biomimetics, and new

diagnostic technologies have increasingly focused

on the inter-relationships of all systems in the

human body. This has had the effect of lessening

traditional distinctions between the medical and the

dental sciences (NIDCR, 1997).

The Community

Each of the nation's dental schools serves as a

resource for its immediate community and, to some

extent, for the geographic region in which it is located.

The dental school's provision of patient services,

in many cases for people who have no other access

to good quality treatment, is critically needed in

communities across the country. Some dental

schools operate teaching/service clinics in remote

geographic areas, further increasing access to care.

Like their medical counterparts, dental schools

also possess a nucleus of tertiary care specialists

who accept referrals, thus serving as a key resource

for the practicing dental community.

Dental school faculty and students interface with

community school systems in projects aimed at pro-

moting and advancing science education in the

kindergarten through grade 12 public school sys-

tems. Dental schools further serve their communi-

ties by offering extensive Continuing Dental

Education (CE) programs whose purpose it is to

periodically update the general practitioner and

dental specialists, and thereby to elevate the stan-

dards of dental care available in the community.

Lastly, in each community where a dental school

is located, the institution provides a substantial

number of excellent jobs, and the school is therefore

responsible for generating very significant economic

activity within its service region.

FINANCING FOR DENTAL EDUCATION

Dental education is among the most costly, if not

Dental Education