PROSTHODONTICS - American College of Prosthodontists

The American College of Prosthodontists3. Review the following summary of certification and examination data from the CDEL’sAnnual Reports of the ADA-Recognized Dental Specialty Certifying Boards, 2000-2009.In collaboration with the recognized certifying board, provide overview comments onsignificant trends for the future. (suggested response - up to one page including thetable)Table 3. CERTIFICATION AND EXAMINATION DATA: 2000-2009Prosthodontics 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009Number Certified ByExamination Through 2000-2009Number of ActiveDiplomates 2000-091178 1472 1493 1511 1530 1555 1589 1616 1644 1693720 717 715 724 724 736 1068 1056 1085 1119Number of AcceptableApplications Received 2000- 88 97 157 133 136 157 182 186 208 25309ABP Board Certified (Diplomate). There has been incredible growth in board certifiedprosthodontists or Diplomates, reflecting an increase of 44% over the past ten years (Table 3).Actions leading to this increase included mandating that 100% of Program Directors are boardcertified, creation of board exam review courses and online resources, and enhancement of theABP Examination. These efforts were supported by both the ACP and the ACP EducationFoundation, to assist residents in attending these courses. The ABP continues to progressfollowing current educational testing methodologies, assuring the examination is more reliable,with improved validity, and less onerous. A new electronic written examination and new scenarioexamination, the latter in substitution for one of the clinical examinations, were implemented. Asof March 2010, there are 835 Active Diplomates [academic/administration=302, federalservices=112, private practice=411]. There are 316 Life Diplomates, with 1,151 total number ofActive and Life Diplomates. Relative to the total number of all educationally qualifiedprosthodontists approximately 33% (1151/3475) are ABP Diplomates.The percentage of Active Diplomates by vocation reveals that 50% are in private practice, 36%are in academia and 14% are in the Federal Services. While the percentage of those in theFederal Services is less than either private practice or academics, the Federal Services have thelargest percentage of Diplomates as a group. Based upon the last five years, it is projected that inthe next five years there will be an additional 237 new Active Diplomates and 20 new LifeDiplomates with a net result of 989 Active Diplomates and 320 Life Fellows for a total of 1,309diplomates in the year 2013.Figure 3.The trends in the number ofexaminations are expected toincrease significantly with thechanges in the ABP examinationprocess. In the past five years, a200% increase was noted (as foundin Question 4 data) in requests for thewritten and oral examinations. Withthis increase, there will be growth inthe number of Active Diplomates,conservatively estimated at 5% peryear, over the next five years (Figure3). Recent ABP examination changesare expected to further increase theoverall number of Diplomates.Prosthodontics - 72010 CDEL Re-recognition of the Specialty Report 7 of 279