In an unprecedented meeting held on October 14, representatives of the primary groups involved in predoctoral dental education gathered to discuss whether major curricular reform is needed, what those reforms should be, and how they should be implemented. Although curriculum reform is often debated within the various groups, this meeting was significant in assembling representatives of each to launch what is expected to be a lengthy and comprehensive process that will change how future dentists are educated.
"It is so important to have all the stakeholders involved," said Dr. Rowland Hutchinson, a Past President of the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) and Chair of the meeting. "The process begun today is critical not just for the future of dental education, but for the future of dentistry."
ADEA organized the meeting and hosted it at the Association's offices in Washington, DC. Other groups represented were the American Dental Association (ADA), the ADA's Commission on Dental Accreditation, the ADA/ADEA Liaison Committee on Surveys, the ADA's Commission on National Dental Examinations, and the ADA's Council on Dental Education and Licensure. Attendees also included five current and two former deans of U.S. dental schools, as well as representatives of the ADEA Council of Sections, whose task force on foundation knowledge guidelines helped precipitate this meeting. Other invited participants included a number of prominent dental educators who have been leading voices in discussions of curriculum reform.
The participants came to a consensus on three main points: there is a need for substantive and fundamental changes to the predoctoral dental curriculum; the timing is right to launch this process now; and the process must involve all facets of dentistry, from education through national board testing, licensure, and practice. Ideas presented ranged from the general to the specific, from the minute to the revolutionary. The lively discussion covered accreditation standards, test development and makeup of the Test Construction Committees, the annual clock hour survey, ADEA's Competencies of the New Dentist, Parts I and II of the National Boards, and many aspects of the organization and content of the past, present, and future dental school curriculum.
Next steps for this enterprise will be worked out in the next months, grounded on the extraordinary consensus among these key players on the need to move forward.
Attendees were: Dr. Richard N. Buchanan, Dean, SUNY at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine; Dr. William Davenport, ADEA Council of Sections and University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Dental Medicine; Dr. Gerald Glickman, Vice President, ADEA Council of Sections and Baylor College of Dentistry; Prof. William Hendricson, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio; Dr. Eric Hovland, ADEA President-Elect and Dean, LSU School of Dentistry; Dr. Ronald J. Hunt, Dean, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry; Dr. Kenneth L. Kalkwarf, Dean, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio Dental School and Chair, ADA Commission on Dental Accreditation; Dr. Denise K. Kassebaum, Chair, ADA/ADEA Liaison Committee on Surveys and Interim Dean, University of Colorado School of Dentistry; Dr. R. Lamont MacNeil, Chair, ADA Commission on National Dental Examinations and University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine; Dr. Laura Neumann, ADA; Dr. Dorothy Perry, University of California, San Francisco School of Dentistry; Dr. Marsha Pyle, Case Western Reserve School of Dental Medicine; Dr. Richard Ranney, former Dean, University of Maryland Dental School; Dr. Charles Shuler, University of Southern California School of Dentistry; Dr. Thomas Taft, Marquette University School of Dentistry; Dr. Roger Wood, ADA Council on Dental Education and Licensure; and Prof. Pamela Zarkowski, University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry.
