Financial issues which may affect the graduate dental education system

This paper identifies issues, develops alternatives, and analyzes and evaluates the impact of trends and predicted changes in health care and health care financing; compares graduate dental education with nonprofessional and professional (especially medical) graduate education; and concludes there are greater similarities than differences in the financing of education in the academic disciplines and the professions. Two generalizations are drawn from this comparison: (1) practical experience under supervision precedes practice, and (2) the student pays for education solely for his or her benefit. Students are remunerated for productive work in lieu of compensated staff. This discussion identifies a distinction between medical and dental education that influences graduate dental education. In medicine, the prevailing practice in the clinical years is for students to observe care of patients provided by qualified physicians, in dentistry, prevailing practice is for students to provide care under the supervision of qualified dentists. A comparison of clinical training in medicine and dentistry discloses the following.