Dental School Faculty Research Articles

"Bioterrorism"- Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Among Faculty Members of Dental Schools of Uttar Pradesh, India

Objective : The purpose of this study was to assess Bioterrorism knowledge, attitude and practice among dentists serving as faculty members in dental schools situated in Uttar Pradesh. Design and Setting: Five among 28 Dental Schools in Uttar Pradesh (U.P) were randomly selected. The knowledge and attitude towards Bioterrorism was assessed by mailing a closed ended structured questionnaire with 24 questions which was pre-tested among 10 dentists of the same institution. Chi Square Test was employed for statistical analysis. Main outcome measures: Knowledge, Attitude and Practice about Bioterrorism among dental school faculty members. Results: Out of 150 questionnaire delivered, 115 returned (response rate = 76.6%). Only 7% of the survey respondents reported having Bioterrorism preparedness training. About 40% agreed that they could recognize oral manifestation of Bioterrorism agents. A high percentage (85.2%) was interested in participating in Bioterrorism response training. Conclusions: A low prevalence of prior training coupled with high degree of willingness to provide assistance in response to Bioterrorism suggests that a high priority should be established for providing dentists with the knowledge and training necessary to respond effectively in such an event.

Dental School Vacant Budgeted Faculty Positions, 2007–08

The annual turnover of dental school faculty creates a varying number of vacant budgeted positions at any given time. The American Dental Education Association (ADEA) conducts an annual survey, the ADEA Survey of Vacant Budgeted Faculty Positions, to determine the status and characteristics of these

Developing Dental Faculty for the Future: ADEA/AAL Institute for Teaching and Learning, 2006–09

This report summarizes the history and curriculum of the American Dental Education Association/Academy for Academic Leadership Institute for Teaching and Learning (ADEA/AAL ITL) Program for Dental School Faculty, describes participant feedback, and reviews how the program serves the faculty development initiatives of the American Dental Education Association. The fifty-hour program (6.5 days), conducted in two phases at collaborating dental schools, enhances core academic competencies of new and transitional faculty, including faculty members whose responsibilities include predoctoral, allied, and postdoctoral dental education. The program's mission is to prepare participants to become more effective teachers and develop other skills that will facilitate confidence, job satisfaction, and professional growth in the academic environment. From 2005 to 2009, 174 individuals graduated from the program, representing forty-three schools of dentistry in the United States and Canada and twenty-nine private practices. A total of forty scholarships have been awarded to participants by the American Academy of Periodontology Foundation, the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, and the American Association of Orthodontists. In an online survey completed by 75 percent of ADEA/AAL ITL participants, 99 percent indicated they were positive or highly positive about their learning experience in this faculty development program. Ninety-six percent stated that the program had been important or very important in their effectiveness as a teacher. In 2010, the program will be held at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Dentistry, with phase I occurring on August 19-22, 2010, and phase II on October 22-24, 2010. In summary, the ADEA/AAL ITL is addressing an unmet need through a formal professional development program designed to help new and potential faculty members thrive as educators and become future leaders in academic health care.

Dental Education's Role in Improving Children's Oral Health and Access to Care

In 2000, Oral Health in America: A Report of the Surgeon General identified disparities in oral health and access to care for vulnerable populations, including children. The report identified a declining dental school applicant pool, shortages of dental school faculties, and an overcrowded curriculum as dental education factors affecting disparities. Dental school applications are up, but the dentist/population ratio is projected to decline, and the shortage of dental faculty has worsened-limiting dental students' experiences with children. Current Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) standards do not include essential curriculum required to care for children. We recommend that CODA revisions to predoctoral and postdoctoral programs include care of infants, characteristics of children that distinguish them from adults, mandatory service learning experiences, emphasis upon social responsibility for all dentists, and use of objective standardized clinical examinations (OSCEs). Additionally, we recommend prioritization of limited pediatric dental resources to young children with disease and older children with complex dental requirements or special health care needs. Critical dental education goals for children should be developed through a special American Dental Education Association task force. Only the dental education community can assure that the dental workforce is better trained to care for children.

Survey of Systematic Review Authors in Dentistry: Challenges in Methodology and Reporting

The study reported in this article had three objectives: 1) identify the challenges faced by authors of dental systematic reviews (SR) during the process of literature search and selection; 2) determine whether dental SR authors' responses to survey questions about their study methodology were consistent with the reported published methodology; and 3) assess whether dental SR authors' evidence-based publication experience was associated with reported methodology. Seventy-eight authors (53 percent) of dental SRs out of 147 potential authors published from 2000 to 2006 responded to an online survey. According to the respondents, the most challenging aspects of literature search and selection were the initial design and performing extended literature searches. Agreement between the protocol identified by SR authors on the survey and the actual protocol described in their publications was fair to moderate. There were virtually no correlations between authors' publication experience, systematic review literature search, and selection thoroughness except for the number of past SRs published, and no differences in thoroughness between SRs written by clinicians (dental practitioners in the community) and dental school faculty members. Dental SR authors do not appear to fully appreciate the importance of extensive literature searches as central to the validity of their systematic review methods and potential findings.

Assessment of Dental Faculty, Staff, and Students on Knowledge of Health Effects Associated With Tobacco Use

This study examined the knowledge of the health effects associated with tobacco use among dental school faculty, staff, and students. A 30-item survey instrument was pilot-tested to ensure content validity prior to implementation. A total of 724 surveys were distributed through campus mail. A total of 344 (47.51%) survey instruments were returned. 71.8 percent of respondents reported using tobacco sometime during their life, 21.8 percent had smoked at least one cigarette a day for the past 30 days, but only 8.4 percent considered themselves to be smokers. Of the 71.8% reported using tobacco sometime during their lifetime, 49.7 percent reported being very confident about their ability to quit using tobacco, 32.6 percent reported that it would be unlikely for their tobacco use to result in negative health effects, and 31.7 percent reported that they were not worried about negative health effects associated with tobacco use. This study reveals a lack of knowledge of dental school faculty, staff, and students on the negative personal health effects associated with tobacco use.

What the ADEA CCI Series of Articles Means to Me: Reflections of a Mid‐Career Dental Faculty Member

In this reflection article, Dr. Karen Novak, a mid-career faculty member at a U.S. dental school, identifies important messages and insights she gained from a series of twenty-one articles about the future of dental education published in the Journal of Dental Education from October 2005 to February 2009. This article addresses four questions: 1) What influence have these articles had on an academic dentist's perspectives about her role and priorities as a dental school faculty member and her own career plans and future directions? 2) What are the key messages in these articles for other dental educators who are at similar places in their careers? 3) What additional topics concerning the future of academic dentistry should be covered in future articles? and 4) What issues and priorities should receive the most attention from academic dentistry in the next decade? The American Dental Education Association's Commission on Change and Innovation in Dental Education (ADEA CCI) was established to provide a mechanism for stakeholders in academic dentistry to meet and consider future directions in the education of the nation's dental workforce. Along with ADEA, these stakeholders included dental schools, the American Dental Association (ADA) Board of Trustees, the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA), the ADA Council on Dental Education and Licensure (CDEL), the Joint Commission on National Dental Examinations (JCNDE), the dental licensure community, the ADA Foundation, and advanced dental education programs. The ADEA CCI was created to build consensus within the dental community for innovative changes in the education of general dentists. One outcome of this process was a series of articles intended to raise awareness and stimulate dialogue about issues and forces shaping the future of dental education. Collectively, this series of articles is known as the Perspectives and Reflections in Dental Education (PRIDE) series to acknowledge the commitment of the academic dental community to reflect on current practices and future directions and also to represent the pride of dental school faculty members in their educational responsibilities and accomplishments.

Who Is Teaching Undergraduate Prosthodontics in US Dental Schools, 2007?

The shortage of full-time dental school faculty along with a slow steady increase in student enrollment is not a new phenomenon. The purpose of this study was to determine who is teaching undergraduate prosthodontics in US dental schools-what percent are full-time faculty; what percent are prosthodontists; and what percent are board-certified prosthodontists-to allow schools to make a real-time comparison of the composition of instructors they have teaching prosthodontics to the apparent status quo. A short, ten-question survey was sent via e-mail to representatives at the 55 undergraduate US dental schools. A cover letter explained the nature of the study and requested participation and electronic return of the survey. Three weeks after the initial request, an aggressive follow-up was conducted to schools that had not returned the survey. Answers were converted to percentages to compensate for differences between schools with many or few instructors. Schools were also grouped by location to see if regional differences exist. Thirty-eight (69%) of the surveys were completed and returned. In general, the division between full-time and part-time instructors is about 50%. More removable prosthodontic instructors (60%) than fixed instructors (44%) are prosthodontists, and only a small percentage of the total (18% removable and 15% fixed) have completed board certification. The South and Midwest had the highest percentage of prosthodontists involved in teaching; the South had the highest percentage with specialty board certification. This study indicated that only a few schools are fortunate enough to have sufficient full-time, specialty-trained faculty available for complete coverage of all undergraduate prosthodontic courses and clinics. The information presented serves as a baseline for future comparison to see if the percentage of full-time and/or specialty-certified prosthodontic faculty changes.

What the ADEA CCI Series of Articles Means to Me: Reflections of a Dental School Dean

In this reflection article, Dr. Huw F. Thomas, a U.S. dental school dean, identifies important messages and insights he gained from a series of twenty-one articles about the future of dental education published in the Journal of Dental Education from October 2005 to February 2009. This article addresses three questions: 1) What influence have these articles had on a dental school dean's perspectives about his role and priorities? 2) What important messages are contained within these articles for fellow deans? and 3) What messages do these articles send to dental education in general? The American Dental Education Association's Commission on Change and Innovation in Dental Education (ADEA CCI) was established to facilitate change and innovation in dental education. Through the ADEA CCI, ADEA brought together stakeholders in academic dentistry: dental schools, the American Dental Association (ADA) Board of Trustees, the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA), the ADA Council on Dental Education and Licensure (CDEL), the Joint Commission on National Dental Examinations (JCNDE), the dental licensure community, the ADA Foundation, and advanced dental education programs. The goal of the ADEA CCI is to provide a forum to build consensus within the dental community for innovative changes in the education of general dentists. As part of the consensus-building process, the ADEA CCI commissioned a series of articles, published in the Journal of Dental Education, to raise awareness and stimulate dialogue about issues and forces shaping the future of dental education and propose strategies to achieve desired enhancements. Collectively, this series of articles is known as the Perspectives and Reflections in Dental Education (PRIDE) series to acknowledge the commitment of the academic dental community to reflect on current practices and future directions and also to represent the pride of dental school faculty members in their educational responsibilities and accomplishments.

The Impact of Title VII on General and Pediatric Dental Education and Training

The authors describe the impact of the Title VII, Section 747 Training in Primary Care Medicine and Dentistry (Title VII) grant program on the development, growth, and expansion of general and pediatric dentistry residency programs in the United States. They first briefly review the legislative history of the Title VII program as it pertains to dental education, followed by a historical overview of dental education in the United States, including a description of the differences between dental and medical education and the routes to professional practice. The authors then present an extensive assessment of the role of the Title VII grant program in building general and pediatric dental training capacity, diversifying the dental workforce, providing outreach and service to underserved and vulnerable populations, stimulating innovations in dental education, and engaging collaborative and interdisciplinary training with medicine. Finally, the authors call for broadening the scope of the Title VII program to allow for predoctoral training (dental student education) and faculty development in general and pediatric dentistry. In doing so, the Title VII program can more effectively address current and future challenges in dental education, dentist workforce, and disparities in oral health and access to care.This article is part of a theme issue of Academic Medicine on the Title VII health professions training programs.

Magnification in Dental Practice and Education: Experience and Attitudes of a Dental School Faculty

The routine use of magnification and enhanced lighting by oral health care providers, educators, and students is growing, but there is little consensus regarding its implementation and use. Many students and faculty at the Temple University Kornberg School of Dentistry elect to use some form of magnification in their real and simulated patient care activities, even though the school does not mandate or suggest standards for its utilization. A questionnaire was administered to the clinical faculty to assess two parameters: experience with magnification, and attitudes concerning the value of enhanced vision. Eighty-two out of 124 eligible participants completed the questionnaire successfully for a 66 percent return rate. Sixty-one percent of respondents reported their primary practice or teaching activities as "general dentistry or restorative/prosthodontics." The remainder of the respondents represented a cross-section of other departments and specialists. All endodontists and periodontists who completed the survey and 56 percent of the general/restorative dentists indicated they use magnification. This group accounted for 91 percent of all magnification users. Thirty-nine percent in the magnification users group indicated that they avoid using magnification for some procedures. Faculty magnification users are not in full agreement about the value of enhanced vision in a dental education program. Nearly one-quarter of all magnification users indicated it is unlikely they would use magnification in the teaching environment, even though they may use it in private practice. Various explanations were given for this inconsistency. Only 61 percent of magnification users indicated they make a point to talk to students about the uses and benefits of magnification. While 91 percent of users said that magnification offers significant benefits, only 73 percent believe it should be a program requirement, and 61 percent think it should be required beginning in the first year of the curriculum. The findings of this survey suggest that educational institutions would be wise to address faculty concerns and reasons for resistance before moving to the mandated use of magnification.

A unique role for dental school faculty: Telephone triage training and integration into a health departments’ emergency response planning

Dental professionals with proper training and integration into existing protocols for mobilization can be one additional resource during catastrophic events. A pilot project on training of dental school faculty in telephone triage in the event of an avian flu pandemic is described. A partnership was established with a grant from the Department of Justice/Department of Homeland Security, between the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and New York University to initiate a pilot program to increase the manpower resources available to the health agency should an overwhelming public health event be present in the New York City area. Eight faculties from New York University College of Dentistry were selected to receive telephone triage training consisting of 15 hours of formal presentations. This training was specifically designed to give participants a background in "outbreak investigations," and included a mock influenza outbreak. Also, a "phone triaging" training during a surge event was practiced. The training resulted in enabling alternative healthcare providers as capable personnel and one alternative source for a surge manpower pool. This was the innovative use of dental school faculty to bolster critically understaffed and overwhelmed areas in the NYCDOHMH infrastructure, such as call centers and for telephone triage, in their disaster scenarios, particularly in their response to avian flu. The established public health systems and medical community must understand the need to preplan for medical surge events and accept that a potential source of additional manpower could be the dental profession or other nontraditional healthcare personnel.

The Quality of Dental Faculty Work‐Life: Report on the 2007 Dental School Faculty Work Environment Survey

This report is the third in a series of articles on the dental school work environment commissioned by the American Dental Education Association's Commission on Change and Innovation in Dental Education. The report is based on the most extensive research to date on faculty satisfaction in the dental school environment. The purpose of the study was to assess faculty perceptions and recommendations related to work environment, sources of job satisfaction and dissatisfaction, and professional development needs. More broadly, the study intends to provide insight into the "change readiness" of dental schools to move forward with curricular improvements and innovations. Findings are based on 1,748 responses from forty-nine U.S. dental schools obtained during the time frame of February to April 2007. The total number of respondents constituted 17 percent of all U.S. dental school faculty. The average response rate per school was thirty-six (21 percent). To elucidate the data in terms of issues related to the quality of faculty work-life based on demographics, the authors compared perceptions of various aspects of the work culture in academic dentistry among faculty with different academic ranks and academic degrees and by other variables such as age and gender, tenure versus non-tenure appointments, and full- versus part-time status. Quantitative and qualitative analyses show that the majority of faculty members described themselves as very satisfied to satisfied with their dental school overall and with their department as a place to work. Tenured associate professors expressed the greatest level of dissatisfaction. Opportunities for and support of professional development emerged as an area requiring substantially more attention from dental schools. The authors of the study suggest that dental school leaders use these findings to assess their individual dental school's work environment and to plan changes as needed.

Reflections on Academic Careers by Current Dental School Faculty

During the inaugural year (2006-07) of the Academic Dental Careers Fellowship Program (ADCFP), 110 faculty members at ten different dental schools were interviewed by dental students who were participating as ADCFP fellows in this year-long program designed to introduce them to faculty roles and activities and help them gain an appreciation for the rewards and issues associated with academic life. The goals, format, and components of the ADCFP are described in a companion article in this issue of the Journal of Dental Education. One of the fellows' assignments during the ADCFP was to interview faculty at various academic ranks who had differing degrees of work emphasis in teaching, research, service/patient care, and administration. Sixty-nine (63 percent of the total) of these interviews were reviewed and analyzed by the authors, who were student fellows in the ADCFP during 2006-07. The purpose of these interviews was to provide the fellows with insight into the positive aspects and challenges in becoming and remaining a dental school faculty member. This aggregate perspective of the interviews conducted at ten dental schools highlights the motivations and challenges that confront a dentist during the process of choosing a career in academic dentistry and determining if dental education is a good fit for each individual who elects to pursue this pathway. Thematic analysis of the interviews revealed several factors consistently identified by faculty across the schools as being positive influences on the quality of the academic work environment and career satisfaction: mentorship and student interaction, opportunities for scholarship (research and discovery), job diversity, intellectual challenge, satisfaction with the nature of academic work, lifestyle/family compatibility, flexibility, lifelong learning, professional duty, and lab responsibility. A series of negative themes were also consistently identified: bureaucracy/administrative burdens and barriers, time commitment, financial frustration, political frustration, lack of mentorship, required research emphasis, lack of teaching skills development, student engagement, isolation, and funding uncertainty. This article reports the approximate frequency of each theme, presents representative statements that describe the motivations and attitudes of dental faculty members who were interviewed, and concludes with a review of programs/methods aimed at marketing academic careers to current students. The purpose of this review of the rewards, benefits, and challenges that current dental faculty face is to provide students who are considering dental education with a frame of reference to guide their further exploration of this career path and to help students appreciate the many positive aspects of academic life that may not be readily apparent from their own interactions with faculty members.

Dental School Vacant Budgeted Faculty Positions, Academic Years 2005–06 and 2006–07

The annual turnover of dental school faculty creates a varying number of vacant budgeted positions at any given time. The American Dental Education Association (ADEA) conducts an annual survey to determine the status and characteristics of these vacant faculty positions. In addition, ADEA conducts an annual survey of dental educators to maintain a database on the size and characteristics of dental school faculty, including data on the distribution of full-time, part-time, and volunteer faculty, reasons for faculty separations, and sources of new faculty. The number of vacant budgeted faculty positions within U.S. dental schools increased throughout the 1990s, with a peak of 358 positions in 2000. Following this peak, the number of vacancies declined, falling to 275 in 2004-05. Since that time, there has been a rapid increase in the number of estimated vacancies, reaching 417 in 2005-06, then falling slightly to 406 in 2006-07. The 2005-06 and 2006-07 faculty vacancies surveys explore these increases, along with information relevant to trends in the faculty workforce, factors influencing faculty vacancies, and the impact of vacant positions on dental schools.

The Revitalization of U.S. Dental Education

The Revitalization of U.S. Dental Education

Creating the Dental School Faculty of the Future: A Guide for the Perplexed

Building the faculty of the future has to be rooted in understanding the nature of future oral health delivery practices. Unfortunately, no one can reliably predict that future. Accepting any given scenario inevitably requires a leap of faith, but the cost of guessing wrong is high. In considering full-time academic careers, students are often not well prepared to make such a definitive choice. When dental educators ask dental students to consider academic life, what we are really doing is trying to induce them to make a very dramatic break with their settled career aspirations, which have already been firmly established in the minds of many of our students. The reality is that being a full-time professor of dentistry is more like being a professor in any other university discipline than it is like being a dentist in practice. Thus, the appeal of dental school to most applicants as a pathway to a practice/business career and existing admissions practices unintentionally bias the system against identifying future educators. Dental education is now engaged in a predictable blend of temporary, short-term, intermediate, and long-term approaches to finding faculty. Among these approaches are the following: cannibalizing other dental schools, collaborating with other professional schools, recruiting retired dentists, and growing our own faculty based on positive role modeling. The high cost of a dental education and the relatively low compensation of dental faculty are disincentives for some students who might otherwise consider dental education as a career option. However, the differential compensation between faculty members and owner/proprietors of dental practices may be misleading because of the business risks the latter assume. Understanding this means that dental schools might be more successful in finding future faculty by focusing on dental school applicants who fit the profile of employees rather than businesspeople because the lifetime differential in income nearly vanishes when comparisons are made between the categories of faculty member and employed dentist. At present, educators rely on a lack of self-knowledge among students in the hope that some who thought they wanted to be dentists will discover that they are ill-suited for practice and can be converted to becoming educators instead. It is not an optimal arrangement. Among practical suggestions to enhance recruitment of faculty are innovations in imprinting students early with the identity of being an educator and, in association with this concept, assisting with financing the education of future teachers. Ultimately, success in the dental educational enterprise will depend on attracting individuals who are intrinsically captivated by teaching as a moral vocation.

The effect of bruxism on periodontal sensation in the molar region: A pilot study

Periodontal sensation in individuals with bruxism may differ from that in nonbruxers, as excessive amounts of occlusal force may be applied to the teeth during the night. However, this concept is not adequately addressed in the literature. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of bruxism on periodontal sensation in the molar region. Fourteen dental school faculty and students lacking objective or subjective abnormalities of stomatognathic function were divided into 2 groups representing nonbruxers (n=7) and bruxers (n=7). Bruxism was confirmed based on the nocturnal electromyography activities of the masseter muscle. Periodontal sensation was assessed based on interocclusal tactile threshold, which refers to the minimal thickness that can be detected between the occlusal surfaces of the teeth. Interocclusal tactile threshold was measured in the first molar region each for the left and right sides by placing variable thicknesses of metal foil and recording the threshold twice daily (morning and afternoon) on 3 separate days. Multivariate ANOVA was performed for bruxism (with or without) as a between-subjects effect, and time of day (morning and afternoon) and side (left and right) as within-subjects effects (alpha=.05) Multivariate ANOVA revealed no significant differences in interocclusal tactile threshold between morning and afternoon or between the left and right sides in either group. The mean (SD) interocclusal tactile threshold for the bruxers was 17.1 (3.9) microm, while that for the nonbruxers was significantly greater at 29.9(5.6) microm (P<.001). The periodontal sensation in bruxers was increased compared to nonbruxers.

Does the Dental School Work Environment Promote Successful Academic Careers?

A consistent theme in the national dialogue about future directions for the educational arm of dentistry is how best to cultivate a school environment that will be seen as attractive by members of the dental community who desire to serve their profession as teachers and scholars. As a first step toward stimulating broad-based reflection on the working environment within dental schools, the ADEA Commission on Change and Innovation (CCI) conducted a symposium titled "Change, Innovation, and the Quality of Faculty Work-Life" at the 2007 ADEA Annual Session in New Orleans. Aspects of this article are based on the content of this symposium, which explored research on the perceptions and concerns of dental faculty regarding the current academic workplace and provided perspectives of university faculty about university life and career growth. This article reviews the findings from two interview-based qualitative assessments of faculty perceptions of work-life in dental schools and other schools of higher education, presents a preliminary summary of the first national survey of dental school faculty regarding their impressions of the academic work environment, and makes recommendations for enhancing the dental school work environment with an emphasis on those factors that influence career growth. Results from these three studies illustrate faculty perceptions about the promotion and tenure and performance evaluation processes; workload and quality of work-life; and quality of institutional support.

Bridging the Gap in Caries Management Between Research and Practice Through Education: The Indiana University Experience

Although dentistry recognizes that dental caries management encompasses more than restoring the consequences of the disease, caries risk assessment and management that go beyond traditional restorative care have not always had a strong and organized voice during clinical curriculum development and competency assessment in U.S. dental schools. This has resulted in confusion and great variability between the need for risk-based caries management and prevention and how practitioners apply these concepts in private and community settings. Dental education is in the unique position of being able to help bridge the gap to improve dissemination of new information and to enhance communication between research and the practice of dentistry to accelerate adoption of validated approaches for the diagnosis and management of dental caries. This paper presents one example of how a dental school totally revamped its approach to teaching cariology--from a few lectures scattered throughout the curriculum to a Cariology Management Program that is integrated into all four years of the curriculum, that includes both didactic and clinical components, and that emphasizes critical thinking and problem solving. From its inception, the program was centered on a competency requirement for graduation and the principles of evidence-based practice. The process, competency, and initial programmatic outcomes assessment measures are discussed. Barriers encountered are briefly reviewed from the following perspectives: dental school structure, faculty support/calibration, students, reimbursement, and standard of care/public expectations.