Offerings for Foreign-Trained Dentists pursuing unrestricted licensure in the United States

Abstract

Background:While about 50% of applicants are accepted into dental schools, acceptance rates to Internationally Trained Dentist Programmes(ITDPs) are estimated to be about 2% making it one of the most competitive dental programmes in the United States. Aim:This paper provides a structured review of dental school websites in order to document and distinguish training opportunities for foreign trained dentists that do and do not lead to unrestricted licensure in the United States (U.S.) Materials and Methods: Three independent reviewers conducted a manual search of the US dental school website and a fourth served as arbiter. University of Michigan Medical School’s Committee on Human Research reviewed the study and deemed that no IRB oversight was necessary for this review. Results: Only 40 US dental schools offered Internationally Trained Dentist Programmes (ITDPs) for foreign trained dentists. Additionally, there were 32 non-clinical, non- Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) accredited programmes that do not lead to licensure. Conclusions: Our study found that less than 60% of dental schools offer an offered Internationally Trained Dentist Programme (ITDP) but several offer observerships/externships to foreign trained dentists that do not lead to licensure. Both of these programmes are costly and timely, therefore, schools with these programmes; observerships/externships should consider expanding the number of seats in their Internationally Trained Dentist Programme (ITDPs) or if they do not have an Internationally Trained Dentist Programme (ITDP) but offer an observerships/externship programme, then possibly creating one. KeyWords: Academic recruitment; Professional student; Licensure and certification.