An assessment of promotion and tenure requirements at dental schools.

Tenure and promotion are integral parts of the academic environment; however, in this era of growing shortages of faculty, as the baby boomers retire and the majority of dentists choose private practice, recruitment and retention may be affected by the way institutions handle promotion and tenure. A national survey of U.S. dental schools conducted in 2007 assessed the existence of multiple employment tracks for faculty and examined the requirements for promotion and tenure. All responding schools reported the existence of multiple tracks for academic faculty appointments. Many dental schools reported that they provided opportunity for faculty members to switch from one track to another, thus circumventing the traditional "up-or-out" policy. The number of schools offering non-tenure appointment tracks has also increased. This finding indicates an apparent increase over time in flexibility regarding tracks and tenure. The majority of schools did not report requirements for the number of publications necessary for promotion. Those that did report requirements showed an increase in expected scholarly activity relative to past studies, indicating that it may be more difficult than ever to achieve promotion.

Development and assessment of a cultural competency curriculum.

The recent intense attention given to the existence of racial and ethnic health care disparities in the United States has resulted in an enhanced focus on the problem and a call to integrate cultural competence training into health professions curricula. While most dental schools have formally integrated cultural competence into their curricula, the professional literature contains little information regarding the specific types of curriculum modifications necessary to prepare culturally competent dentists. The purpose of this article is to communicate the process and materials used to develop and present didactic curriculum content incorporating cultural competence and to report early data regarding its effectiveness in improving students' knowledge and self-awareness regarding cultural competence. The preliminary observation of differences between pre-test and post-test scores suggests that the curriculum content may have contributed to developing students' cultural knowledge and self-awareness. Students' reflection papers also provided qualitative evidence that experience with the curriculum modules was transformational for some. Recommendations for future curriculum modifications and follow-up research studies to validate the instrument are discussed.

Strategic partnerships between academic dental institutions and communities: addressing disparities in oral health care.

BACKGROUND: A landmark report from the U.S. surgeon general identified disparities in oral health care as an urgent and high-priority problem. A parallel development in the dental education community is the growing consensus that significant curriculum reform is long overdue. METHODS: The authors performed a literature review and conducted a series of structured interviews with key institutional and community stakeholders from seven geographical regions of the United States. They investigated a wide range of partnerships between community-based dental clinics and academic dental institutions. RESULTS: On the basis of their interviews and literature review, the authors identified common themes and made recommendations to the dental community to improve access to care while enhancing the dental curriculum. CONCLUSIONS: Reducing disparities in access to oral health care and the need for reform of the dental curriculum may be addressed, in part, by a common solution: strategic partnerships between academic dental institutions and communities. Practice Implications. Organized dentistry and individual practitioners, along with other major stakeholders, can play a significant role in supporting reform of the dental curriculum and improving access to care.