Patient availability in undergraduate

The purpose of this study was to determine whether undergraduate pedodontic programs currently have enough patients to meet adequately the training needs of their dental students. Indications are that many schools are experiencing declines in patient availability but information on the extent of the problem, why the problem exists, methods to alleviate it, or how it is affecting the training of dental students is lacking. Ninety-five per cent of the chairmen of all undergraduate pedodontic programs in the United States responded to a questionnaire addressing these problems. Sixty-six per cent of the 55 responding schools reported some degree of a patient procedure shortage problem. Chairmen indicated that third-party payments, fluoridation, and problems associated with treatment in dental schools contribute most to these shortages. Methods suggested to alleviate the problems included utilizing satellite clinics, sharing patients, increasing nonclinical experiences, and increasing education/public relations efforts. Fifty-two per cent of the respondents felt that the patient/procedure shortage is having a moderately to severely negative impact on students" abilities to treat children after graduation. Suggested changes in pedodontic curricula included expanding coursework in interceptive orthodontics and growth and development. Over the past 15 years, dental educators have become increasingly concerned about difficulties in obtaining adequate dental school patient populations.~-7 In 1979 a committee of the Pedodontic Section of the American Association of Dental Schools, in cooperation with the American Academy of Pedodontics, surveyed 59 U.S. dental schools regarding the availability of child patients. More than half of these schools (53%) reported problems securing patients generally or children requiring particular treatment procedures needed for teaching students. 8 pedodontic programs New information regarding decreased restorative needs in American children underscores the problem of child patient availability. Findings from the recent National Dental Caries Prevalence Survey indicate that the prevalence of dental caries among school children in the United States had decreased substantially in the last decade. 9 This study concluded that in 1979-1980, 37% of American children were caries-free compared with 28% reported by the National Center for Health Statistics in 1971-73. Increased use of fluoride in drinking water, dentifrices, professional applications, and school mouthrinse programs were cited as the most probable reasons for the decrease in caries prevalence. This decrease in restorative needs also has been reported by pedodontists in private practice, l° This information points to decreasing availability of children with significant dental needs. Little attention, however, has been paid to the exact nature of the shortages. Hence, it is the purpose of this study to determine: 1. The extent to which dental schools were having problems securing child patients 2. Why patient shortages exist 3. Methods to alleviate such problems 4. How these problems are influencing the education of dental students 5. Recommendations for changes in pedodontic education