Postgraduate education to expand access to dental care: A roadmap to community dental program development

Abstract

Evidence indicates an increasing shortage of dentists in communities across the United States with potentially significant implications for oral health, as well as overall health and well-being. One strategy to increase access to dental care in rural and underserved communities is community-based postgraduate dental training. However, developing new dental programs requires navigating complex accreditation, financial and community governance, among other, barriers. The Roadmap for Teaching Health Center Dental Program Development presents a framework that guides institutions through the successive steps of developing new postgraduate training programs from identification of need to ultimate maintenance and sustainability. The tool assists programs in anticipating and understanding requirements, reducing time, expense, and uncertainty. While the framework was developed for community-based programs, the steps are applicable to postgraduate programs sponsored by academic institutions as well.