Faculty Readiness for Oral Health Integration into Health Care Professional Education: A Pilot Study

Despite mounting evidence of the oral-systemic link, oral health is often treated as a separate entity in health care professional education and training. Faculty attitudes and levels of knowledge and skills related to oral health have been cited as barriers to integration, though no research has reported health care faculty's oral health knowledge and skills or attitudes towards oral health curricular integration. The aim of this study was to assess the oral health knowledge, skills, and attitudes of interdisciplinary health care faculty at a large, metropolitan university.

A 25-item, web-based survey was distributed to 350 faculty members across nine academic health care programs during the 2013-2014 academic year.

A response rate of 13% (n=45) was achieved. Findings indicated overall positive faculty attitudes towards oral health integration, but significant gaps in faculty oral health knowledge and oral health clinical skills. A one-way ANOVA analysis revealed statistically significant differences in oral health clinical skills between faculty of different disciplines.

This study is the first to assess health care faculty's oral health knowledge and skills and their attitudes towards oral health curricular integration. Findings highlight potential areas for faculty development, education, and training in oral health.