JACD 71-4 - American College of Dentists

The Work to Be Done
With all this good news, what are tomorrow’s
leaders going to have to work on?
Let’s start with access to care,
especially for the underserved and needy.
We have a good start on improving
access to care with programs like Give
Kids A Smile and others. We’re proud of
Give Kids A Smile, and what makes us
especially proud is the fact that this
program is really nothing new: taking
care of vulnerable people on a charitable
basis is something dentists have always
quietly and faithfully done. In fact, we
have a survey that shows that dentists
give away in charitable free care
annually an amount equal to about
two-thirds of all the dentistry that is
purchased by government.
And there is a critically important
message that Give Kids A Smile helps us
to get across. The million-plus kids who
are taken care of during this one-day
event represent only the tip of the iceberg.
Unmet needs continue every day in
millions of other kids, and dentists alone
and charity alone cannot solve the
problem. Charity is at best a band-aid. It
is not a delivery system. We have to find
a larger and lasting way, through public
policy, to make certain that every child
gets an early start on a lifetime of oral
health and that no child is unable to
smile, unable to have confidence and
make friends, or unable to study and
learn and prepare for a successful future
because of untreated dental disease.
As we move forward with our discussions
on access to care issues, it could
well intertwine licensure, manpower,
education, and government.
Next, let’s turn our attention to the
challenges that face our system of dental
education. These challenges tend to boil
down to available resources: money and
people. Dental school enrollments continue
to trend upwards. In 2003, there
were 4,618 first-year enrollees, compared
to 3,979 in 1990. Of course, that is below
Journal of the American College of Dentists
the maximal years, when virtually every
school accepted federal capitation grants
to increase class sizes. The applicant
pool remains very strong, with about
7,900 applicants in 2003 for those 4,618
slots. Each applicant typically applies to
seven or eight schools. DAT scores and
GPAs continue to increase.
All of us surely acknowledge that
the very value, effectiveness, and integrity
of our profession rest upon the twin
foundations of dental research and
dental education.
But there is a problem and we need
to acknowledge that our system of
dental education on the whole has been
getting into deeper financial difficulties
with every passing year and is now
approaching a severe situation. For
schools, the costs of providing dental
education is skyrocketing at a time when
we see a corresponding drop in federal
and state support for dental education.
Another unacceptable current situation
is the number of unfilled faculty
vacancies in our dental schools. A dental
school vacancy amounts to a hole in the
delivery of knowledge and skills to
tomorrow’s practitioners. The latest data
show that there are 307 vacant budgeted
faculty positions in America’s dental
schools, and 280 of those are full-time
positions. The most common reason for
a vacancy used to be retirement, but now
dentists are leaving teaching to enter
private practice.
We have to see to it that those positions
are filled, that dental education remains
strong, and that our schools get some
help with those skyrocketing costs. All
of us have to make a commitment to
dental education—-for the sake of our
profession and the public we serve.
One of the most promising developments
is the National Campaign for
Dental Education that I mentioned
earlier. The campaign will be part of the
National Leadership Symposium
ADA Foundation, which is now headed
by Art Dugoni. I tell you, I called and
called and called Art to come help us do
this. I visited him at Pacific one day, and
I unleashed everyone else I thought
could influence him to come to our
Foundation to help make his vision our
profession’s reality. And thank God, for
he said yes to our call.
Our mistake was that we didn’t ask
him to do it ten years ago, when he first
signaled the problem.
The campaign is designed to
complement and support other dental
education fundraising efforts. Through
a profession-wide collaborative effort
with our coalition partners, we plan to
benefit the public’s oral health through
a number of initiatives such as providing
dental schools and students with funds
for academic development, endowing
faculty positions, and student scholarships.
Specific areas we will address
include faculty development, recruitment,
and retention; facility improvements;
innovative models of education; and
programs to enhance diversity in
the profession.
We have established a twelve-year
goal to raise collectively $250 million as
part of a larger twenty-five to thirty-year
goal of a billion-dollar campaign. Yes,
you heard that correctly, and I know
what you’re thinking: Dugoni has lost his
mind and he’s taking Bramson along,
too. But we’re talking about a huge
challenge, and we need a huge resolve.
There must be commitment in dentistry’s
leaders, and this commitment must
spread throughout the profession.
We will also be looking outside the
profession to the dental industry, the
corporate sector, other foundations, and
the government for support; but if we as
dentists don’t believe in and support it,
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