A study of the use of dental hygienists to teach periodontics, preventive dentistry, community dentistry, and public health courses looked at employment patterns and practices and the qualifications of the teachers. (MSE)

A study found that white dental students' (n=144) perceptions of clinical ability, attitudes toward gay men, and white racial attitudes account for both their willingness to provide dental care to patients with HIV disease and their perception of the risk of occupational infection with the disease. Results suggest attitudes regarding cultural…

Several approaches that could allow dental schools to conduct clinical care programs more profitably in a difficult economic and health-care climate are offered. Focus is on organizing delivery systems around patient-centered care, achieving optimal care quality, enhancing clinic revenue, minimizing operating costs, and becoming better positioned…

Details evolution of a Boston University (Massachusetts) dental school program providing field experience in private practices, community health centers, hospital-based ambulatory health centers, health maintenance organizations, and the school's predoctoral treatment centers. Issues discussed include integration of classroom and field learning,…

This keynote address offers suggestions for structural change in dental education to meet changing societal needs including programs tailored to specific local community needs, interdisciplinary efforts, public-private cooperative projects building on local health care community strengths, and international collaboration supporting both health…

A dental educator offers suggestions for the future role of dental schools and of dental education programs in greater recognition of the importance of women's oral health. Specific interventions addressing current and future health care needs are outlined. Curriculum, accreditation, legislation, and information dissemination are considered. (MSE)

The American Association of Dental Schools' curriculum guidelines for predoctoral community dentistry include an overview of the field and its interrelationships with other fields and suggestions for primary educational goals, prerequisites, core content, specific behavioral objectives, sequencing, faculty, and facilities. (MSE)

Trends in nursing toward professionalization and specialization are examined along with the implications of the general economic climate, national politics, and changing health care delivery for change in nursing education. (MSE)

Policy statements and position papers adopted by the American Association of Dental Schools address dental education at all levels, government relations, peer review, individual and institutional freedoms and responsibilities, national health programs, a definition of interdisciplinary education, use of ionizing radiation in dental education…

A 24-month study of 96 patients in a community-based oral health promotion project found the Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI), a self-report measure of oral health, to be sensitive to provision of dental care. Some further development of measures is needed. Potential applications of this and similar self-report measures in dental…

Allied health education's mission is to prepare graduates to care for community's health; provide contemporary clinical care; participate in the emerging system and accommodate expanded accountability; ensure cost-effective care and appropriate technology use; practice prevention/promote healthy lifestyles; involve patients/family in decision…

Position papers of the American Association of Dental Schools are presented concerning peer review in dentistry, individual and institutional freedoms and responsibilities, national health programs, the definition of interdisciplinary education, use of ionizing radiation in dental schools, and due process in student evaluation disputes. (MSE)

Discussion of change in dental education looks at the profession's guiding principles and some current social, economic, and professional forces for change. It is argued that these forces require new guiding principles to attain a new vision of dental education. Theory on stages of change, commitment to change, and the learning organization are…

A University of North Carolina study using focus groups of dentists and patients found dentist-patient interactions play an important role in treatment decision-making, and are predicated on non-clinical factors, including dentists' intuition and judgment and patient impressions of dentists' examination styles, personalities, and interpersonal…

It is anticipated that given current economic, social, and educational trends, some dental, medical, nursing, and pharmacy schools will close, and health occupations education will be characterized by more interdisciplinary cooperation and regionalization of resources. Clustering of dentistry schools and better use of information and…