Bulletin of Dental Education

A new Hospital Dentistry program was recently established on the first floor of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) College of Dentistry, within the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (OMFS).

Emerging data indicate the unique effects of oral cancer, periodontal disease, obesity, violence, and other factors on women’s health. The American Dental Education Association (ADEA), with National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Research on Women’s Health sponsorship, will identify current knowledge gaps to fill so that the next generation of North American oral care providers better meets the unique health needs of women. 

Six national health professions associations and three private foundations released new reports detailing their recommendations for interprofessional education in the health professions. These reports provide the new competencies and action strategies to be implemented in educational institutions in the United States, providing the foundation for improved patient care and services. 

Each summer, three rising senior dental hygiene students and a faculty member from the University of Maryland satellite campus in Princess Anne travel by boat to Smith Island on the Eastern Shore of Maryland to provide dental hygiene care to island residents. Smith Island's population decreases each year due to lack of employment and the slow decline of the crabbing industry.

On April 25, 2011, Dean Christian S. Stohler, D.M.D., DrMedDent, and the University of Maryland Dental School (UMDS) hosted a town hall meeting on behalf of the Friends of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (FNIDCR). The forum was entitled “Bringing Oral Health Research Home” and was the first in a series of proposed nationwide town hall meetings.

The American Dental Education Association welcomes the release of Advancing Oral Health in America, the first of two new reports on oral health undertaken by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). Commissioned by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Health Resources and Services Administration, the report builds on and supplements the 2000 Surgeon General’s Report, Oral Health in America, and the National Call to Action to Promote Oral Health in 2003.

U.S. Representative Michael K. “Mike” Simpson, one of two dentists in the U.S. Congress, addressed attendees at the 2011 AADR-ADEA Deans’ Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill on Monday, April 4. He provided an insider's perspective from the vantage point of a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee.

National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Francis S. Collins has announced that Dr. Martha J. Somerman, Dean of the University of Washington (UW) School of Dentistry, has been named Director of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR).

Most rural areas in California have shortages of dentists, and the state has many low-income urban communities with concentrations of racial and ethnic minorities. In response, the California Pipeline Program Phase II was implemented to reduce the disparities in access to oral health care in California. ADEA was then charged in 2007 with leading a three-year evaluation of these efforts and “bridging the gap” between California and national policy issues.

Presented by Dr. W. David Brunson, Associate Director of ADEA Center for Equity and Diversity (ADEA CED), “Defining Interprofessional Studies and Its Benefits for Academic Dentistry” addressed the call for development of a National Oral Health Plan in the 2000 Oral Health in America: A Report of the Surgeon General.