Academic Dental Public Health Diplomates: Their Distribution and Recommendations Concerning the Predoctoral Dental Public Health Faculty

Abstract

Numerous challenges confront the development of a strong dental public health presence in US dental schools. These challenges include, among others, insufficient numbers of academic dental public health specialists and insufficient motivations to encourage promising candidates to pursue specialty status.

An Assessment of the Dental Public Health Infrastructure in the United States

“…Perhaps it is time to reevaluate whether the current training and certification model for public health dentists, developed more than 50 years ago (25), is still appropriate in the 21st century. With substantial barriers to completing formal training in dental public health and few incentives, it is little wonder that the large majority of educators teaching dental public health topics in school of dentistry have not completed a dental public health residency program, are not board-certified public health dentists, and have little interest in pursuing such training or certification (26,27).…”

First in the Nation: Eighty Years of Graduate Dental Public Health Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1936-2016

“…Fewer than 10 percent of county or city health departments had dental programs. Only 20 of the 55 U.S. dental schools had a diplomate of the ABDPH, severely limiting the presence of dental public health in predoctoral dental education (Kaste et al 1998) The emphasis of the program for these five years was on teaching DPH in the master's program in public health administration, basically a continuation of the previous training grant.…”

Minimally invasive dentistry approach in dental public health

“…The participants reported that lack of time, financial support, incentives, along with the rigid requirements for ABPH board certification was the principal reasons that additional faculty were not board certified. In conclusion, insufficient numbers of PH faculty at dental schools plus insufficient motivation to encourage candidates to pursue specialty status were the main reasons that faculty did not pursue the ABPH certification 81 .…”

“…Kaste et al 81 held a master's degree in public health (MPH). The participants reported that lack of time, financial support, incentives, along with the rigid requirements for ABPH board certification was the principal reasons that additional faculty were not board certified.…”