Dental education: one dean's perspective

A dean looks at dental education and the practicing profession from the perspective of three years in dental school administration and sixteen in industry. A significant challenge is to balance costs and standards in the face of well-meaning calls for benefits from those who are not charged with meeting costs. One issue of central importance for education is keeping the curriculum properly positioned in a dynamically evolving profession. The knowledge and skills needed to manage the practice pharmacopeia are used as an example of this problem. It is proposed that schools adopt a future orientation. Dental education must be valued within the higher educational community just as dentistry is valued for its contributions to society at large. Any drift toward proprietary interests must be resisted. This can best be accomplished through a partnership between education and organized dentistry where the lobbying power of the ADA is used to gain the resources education needs and where education, including research and patient care aspects of its mission, are enlisted in support of the practicing community.