Changing the course of dental education to meet future requirements

Dental education is burdened by outdated curricula, which are based on yesteryear's concepts. As a result, caries and restored teeth are still largely "managed" by traditional operative dentistry. This leads into a repeat restoration cycle, which fails to address the fundamental bacterial nature of caries, the primary raison d'être for this form of therapy. At the same time, many fundamental changes have taken place in the parameters that affect, or should affect, dental care. These range from an improved scientific understanding of the caries process, to a realization by society that maintaining oral health through regular preventive dental care, as opposed to ongoing restorative dental procedures, is a worthwhile and achievable goal. Dental education needs to rise proactively to the challenges presented by the new parameters of modern dental care, or it will be forced to make changes from a defensive position. The ultimate change, which most readers would not consider trivial, would be the closure of one or more of Canada's 10 dental schools.