ADA.org: Future of Dentistry Full Report

FUTURE OFDENTISTRY

factor in bringing dental assistants and dental tech-
nicians into the dental workforce.

Applications and Admissions

During the period from 1994/95 to 1998/99,
applications to dental hygiene programs have con-
sistently exceeded 20,000 students per year for a
system capacity of between 5,883 and 6,471 first-
year spaces. Dental hygiene program admission
requirements vary significantly: 46% of programs
require a high school diploma/GED; 16% require
some college courses; 27% require one year of col-
lege; 8% require two years of college; and 3% use
some other standard. Males accounted for 3.0% of
all enrolled dental hygiene students in 1998/99,
while African Americans constituted 3.1% of the
dental hygiene student body.
Dental assisting applications have exceeded
11,000 in each year of the 1994/95 to 1998/99
enrollment. Acceptances exceeded 8,000 in four
of the five years. For 98% of programs, the mini-
mum entry qualification was a high school diplo-
ma/GED. Males constituted 3.0% of enrolled
dental assisting students in 1998/99, while African
American students accounted for 12.1% in the
same year.
Dental laboratory technology applications have
declined from 1,469 in 1994/95 to 1,100 in

1998/99. Acceptances fell from

1,118 to 856 during the same

period. All but one program

required a high school diploma/

GED as a minimum entry require-

ment. In 1998/99, dental labora-

tory technician programs enrolled

224 males and 263 females into

first year and 215 males and 198

females into second year. African

Americans constituted 13.9% of

the enrolled dental laboratory

technician students.

Tuition and Fees for Allied

Dental Education

Figure 6.4 provides the trend

in the cost of tuition and fees

related to allied dental educa-

tion. The data reflect first-year

educational costs applicable to

"in-district" students (i.e., students who live in the

district the school or community college serves).

The costs are close to "in-state" tuition and fees,

though the latter are about $1000 higher in the late

1990s. For publicly-funded institutions, out-of-

state tuitions and fees are substantially higher for all

allied dental education programs. However, most

allied dental education students tend to enroll in

programs fairly close to their place of residence, sug-

gesting that in-district or in-state tuition and fees

would be the norm. The data presented in Figure

6.4 include university, community college, technical

institute, vocational school and other category

tuition and fee structures. Except for dental

hygiene, there are relatively few university-based

allied dental education programs.

Allied Dental Education Teaching Faculty

There is relatively little information describing the

teaching faculty for allied dental education.

Anecdotal reports suggest that dental hygiene, in par-

ticular, finds it increasingly difficult to recruit faculty

for its programs. This problem has been exacerbated

in part by the continuing decline in the number of uni-

versity-based dental hygiene programs, institutions

that have traditionally supplied a significant propor-

tion of the faculty and faculty leadership for dental

hygiene teaching programs in general.

Dental Education

Graduates of Allied Dental Education Programs, 1989-1998

Source: ADA, Surveys of Allied Dental Education.

TABLE 6.10

Dental Hygiene Dental Assisting

1 989/9 0

1990 /9 1

1991 /92

1 992/93

1 993/94

1 994/95

1 995/9 6

1996 /97

1 997/98

1 998/99

3 , 904

3 , 953

4 , 229

4 , 431

4 , 637

4 , 553

4 , 668

4 , 855

5 , 023

5 , 281

3 , 960

3 , 940

3 , 999

4 , 077

4 , 382

4 , 490

4 , 679

5 , 032

4 , 967

4 , 720

722

596

655

585

638

608

510

507

436

490

Year DentalTech Lniabocianratory