Research and Professional Workforce
Adequately
trained professionals are the lifeblood of dental education,
practice and research. Oral health researchers, educators, and
practitioners should reflect the diversity of America and have
the broad mix of skills needed to address complex oral, dental
and craniofacial diseases and conditions. However, the research
and professional dental workforce does not adequately represent
the composition of the U.S. population. Data show that underrepresented
minority dentists play a large role in increasing access to underserved
and minority populations, can influence other health professionals
to be more culturally sensitive, and serve as powerful role models
to other minorities and to would-be educators or researchers.
The challenges here include addressing the inadequate number
of underrepresented minorities in all aspects of dentistry, addressing
the critical shortage of clinical researchers, and developing
researchers who will be familiar with knowledge and methods from
a variety of disciplines. In terms of diversity, the magnitude
of the challenge is perhaps best expressed by looking at the “pipeline,” or
the number of underrepresented minority dentists and students
in U.S. dental schools. African Americans account for 12.9 percent
of the general population but only 2.2 percent of active dentists
and less than 5 percent of students enrolled in dental schools.
Hispanics comprise 12.5 percent of the population but only 2.8
percent of active dentists and 5.3 percent of enrolled dental
students in 1999–2000. Most troubling perhaps is the 15
percent decline in the number of underrepresented minority first-year
students in dental schools since 19906.
While enrollment of women in dental schools is increasing, they
are underrepresented in academics and research. Sustained efforts,
new partnerships, and innovative and flexible programs are needed
to ensure a competent, diverse and robust oral health research
workforce. These critical national needs are identified in the Surgeon
General’s report on oral health and in the National
Oral Health Call to Action.
Developing and Enhancing Key Research Infrastructure
Strong research-oriented academic environments are needed to
develop the intellectual talent for research, and to enable existing
investigators to acquire and expand their skills in new areas
of science. Oral health research can be carried out in a number
of settings including dental schools, different components of
academic health centers, hospitals and independent research institutions.
The capacity of dental schools to conduct research and to serve
as training grounds for future investigators is key to the future
of clinical and applied oral health research. However, major
barriers must be overcome. These include a critical shortage
of faculty, a lack of integration between the basic and clinical
sciences in pre-doctoral programs, inadequate incorporation of
research into the dental curriculum, and financial shortfalls.
Research, while exceptionally strong in some dental schools,
is almost non-existent in others. Between 50 to 60 percent of
NIDCR research support is concentrated in ten of the 55 U.S.
dental schools. Substantial investments will be needed to bolster
U.S. dental schools’ research infrastructure and to ensure
a workforce that is adequate both in numbers and in its ability
to address the changing scientific needs.
Further advancements in science will require continued developments
in technology, computer power, and analytic methods. New large
databases and mathematical methods will be required to catalogue,
organize and understand vast amounts of information generated
from the sequence of genes or proteins. The NIDCR
Scientific Expert Panel on Genomics and Proteomics highlighted
the need for significant development in bioinformatics, and for
creating “new algorithms to analyze and interpret the data
and ways to visualize and present genomic information to researchers.” The
panel also suggested a number of strategies that NIDCR could
pursue to make resources available to researchers and share the
cost of expensive technology development.
6Valachovic
RW, Weaver RG, Sinkford JC, Haden NK. Trends in dentistry and
dental education. Journal of Dental Education: June 2001; 65(6):539-561.
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