Reimagining Dental Education Summit Working Group 4: Consensus Recommendations for Structural Interprofessional...

Despite decades of attention to interprofessional education (IPE) in dental education, many programs still operationalize IPE as episodic exposure rather than as a durable, assessable competence embedded in clinical workflows. This gap limits the translation of IPE into interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP), particularly for medically complex patients and populations most affected by fragmented care.

To move IPE from ceremonial participation to structural integration across predoctoral dental education and clinical training environments, by developing consensus recommendations from Working Group 4 of the Reimagining Dental Education Summit (Harvard School of Dental Medicine, June 11-13, 2026).

Working Group 4 consisted of nine dental education leaders and experts (two co-chairs, one summit scholar, and six members). Recommendations were developed using a structured "future-back" methodology in working sessions, iterative drafting, and plenary report-out. Evidence inputs included competency frameworks (IPEC), accreditation standards (CODA), staged integration frameworks, implementation tools, and exemplars of integrated care delivery (e.g., federally qualified health centers [FQHCs] and integrated health systems). Consensus was achieved through iterative discussion and a nominal group technique to reach unanimous agreement on final recommendations and proposed evaluation metrics.

The group recommends: (1) defining IPE competence as measurable, dentistry and oral health-specific outcomes; (2) prioritizing strategic partnerships beyond medicine (e.g., pharmacy, nursing, social work, nutrition, occupational/physical therapy); (3) anchoring IPE in IPCP settings such as FQHCs and integrated systems; (4) building an alumni/outcomes follow-up system to assess whether IPE training changes practice behaviors; and (5) strengthening communication and referral processes, including closed-loop referrals, even when electronic health records are not shared.

Structural IPE requires outcome-based performance expectations, practice-linked implementation models, and accountability mechanisms that measure behavior change and care-process improvement for both the learner and the patient, during training and after graduation. These consensus recommendations offer a practical roadmap for dental education programs, accreditors, and partners seeking to operationalize integrated oral health care.