Trends in dental and allied dental education.

Full Abstract

BACKGROUND: Educational programs play an important role in preparing a qualified dental work force. This article reviews the current status and trends in dental, advanced dental and allied dental education programs in the United States and examines their impact on the dental work force. OVERVIEW: This analysis focuses on survey data collected by the American Dental Association during the past 10 to 15 years and compares recent patterns in applications, enrollment and graduation with previous trends. The numbers of educational programs, applicants, enrollees and graduates have increased in dentistry, dental hygiene and dental assisting, while dental laboratory technology has declined in all measures. The proportion of women in dentistry has increased, while the ethnic profile of dental and allied personnel has shown little change. Both the cost of dental education and student debt continue to increase. CONCLUSIONS: Despite increases in the number of educational programs and overall numbers of graduates from dental and allied dental education programs, the proportion of underrepresented groups still lags behind their representation in the overall population, and the number of allied personnel falls short of practice needs. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Patterns in applications, enrollment and graduation are important determinants of the dental and allied dental work force. The cost and funding of education significantly affect the attractiveness of dental careers and the sustainability of educational programs and should be monitored carefully by the profession.

Author information

Author/s: Neumann, Laura M (LM);

Affiliation: Division of Education, American Dental Association, Chicago, IL 60611, USA. neumannl(-atsign-)ada.org

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Journal of the American Dental Association (1939) (J Am Dent Assoc), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2004-Sep; vol 135 (issue 9) : pp 1253-9

Dates: Created 2004/10/20; Completed 2004/11/16; Revised 2004/11/17;

PMID: 15493389, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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