88 FUTURE OFDENTISTRY

Dental Education

CHAPTER

6

The generation of new knowledge through research and scholarship, and the transmission of that knowl-

edge through teaching, learning and practice are at the heart of dental education's commitment to quality

patient care and professional renewal.

The relationship between the quality of dental education and the training of dental professionals is clear––all

dentists are the product of dental education. The contemporary dental school provides the dental profession with

two critically important benefits. First, the nation's dental schools are the practicing profession's sole link to the

university, and with it the esteem and professional status that dentistry enjoys. As Lord Rushton wrote more

than 40 years ago, dentistry became a profession when it entered the university (Rushton, 1957). And second,

dental schools continually generate and expand the science and technology base that permits dental profession-

als to maintain the public's trust, and to practice in a progressively more advanced and effective fashion.

Today, in 2001, the United States dental profession is stronger and healthier than ever before, and there

is a legitimate sense of optimism among dental professionals about their future. United States^1 dental schools

have achieved immense success and unparalleled accomplishments. However, many schools are financially

over extended, operate in antiquated physical facilities, and face a serious faculty shortage. While the oppor-

tunities for future dental professional education are bright, the dental education system's ability to help its

students realize those opportunities may be in some doubt.

This chapter explores the key issues facing dental schools and the implications of these issues for the future

of the dental profession. The following topics are discussed:

u The dental schools' obligations and responsibilities to society;

u The relationship between the dental schools and their university environments;

u The financial resources that support dental education;

u The status of the applicant pool and the characteristics and interests of dental students;

u The challenges faced by dental schools in recruiting, developing and retaining a first rate cadre of dental

academics;

u Dental school curriculums and their efforts to incorporate new knowledge and modern information

technology;

u The state of the classrooms, dental laboratories, clinics and research facilities in dental schools;

u Future priorities of schools of dentistry in developing dental specialists as practitioners and teachers for

the future;

u The implications of the changing dental workforce for the future of dental education;

u Trends and future directions for professional continuing dental education;

u Recent developments and challenges in the education of the allied dental team; and,

u Dental education's role in promoting improved workforce productivity by the dental team.

Dentistry's future has long been of interest to practicing and teaching dentists alike. An early exploration

of the topic, published in 1872, notes: "To refuse to see that great changes are at hand, as concerns the stand-

ing and practice of the dental profession, is simply to shut one's eyes. Of no thing are we more fully assured

than that the dentistry of today must either advance or give place; to attempt to confine it to its present lim-

its is to seek to control that progress which is itself evolution." (Dental Cosmos, 1872.)

(^1) All data and references to dental schools in this chapter pertain to schools located in the United States.

CHAPTER OVERVIEW