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

Abstract

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.

Parental Perspectives of Early Childhood Caries

“…The federal government, through the Title VII program, has encouraged and funded the development of collaborative and interdisciplinary training in oral health between medicine and dentistry. 28 Several medical schools and residency programs have implemented oral health internships and training modules. [29][30] Our study highlighted important influences on children's oral health that could be addressed in clinical practice.…”

A Comparison of the Turkish and American Predoctoral Pediatric Education

“…Its first two years generally include basic science and preclinical instruction, whilst its last two years embrace clinical science instruction and patient care. After completing the predoctoral education, graduates may apply for a State Dental Board licensure (e.g., North East Regional Board of Dental Examiners Read-NERB--, and Western Regional Exam Board--WREB) (Ng, Glassman, & Crall, 2008). American dentists are also required to obtain Continuing Education credits every 2 years if they would like to renew their dental licenses.…”

“…Studies in dental education have focused on: (a) comparing special patient care programmes/needs (i.e., Saudi and U.S.; Malaysian and Australian) (Ahmad et al, 2014;Alkahtani, Stark, Loo, Wright, & Morgan, 2014;Schwenk, Stoeckel, & Rieken, 2017), (b) needs of community diversity (i.e., multicultural framework, minority/low-income) (Crall, Hewlett, & Friedman, 2009), (c) community-based dental education (Mascarenhas, 2011;Thikkurissy, Rowland, Bean, Kumar, Levings, & Casamassimo, 2008), (d) alternative educational strategies to enhance dentistry students' skills/abilities/competencies (Crall et al, 2009;Ng et al, 2008), (e) curriculum assessment and/or comparisons (Khatami et al, 2008;Komabayashi et al, 2012;Thikkurissy et al, 2008;Wu et al, 2010), and (f) subjectspecific topics (i.e. Behavior Management Teaching, Atraumatic Restorative Treatment, experiences of clinical procedures, factors influencing dental students' specialty choice) in pediatric dentistry programme (Adair, Schafer, Rockman, & Waller, 2004;Kateeb et al, 2013;Klein, Storey, & Hanson, 2014;Seale, & Casamassimo, 2003;Shin et al, 2015).…”