I’ve been a part-time professor instructing dental school students and graduates for more than 35 years now, and during my tenure, I’ve witnessed so much change in both practice and education. This month, Inside Dentistry presents some perspectives on dental education from a professor, a student, and a learning and development professional at a DSO. The commonalties found in their insights are interesting and point to several issues in dental education that require attention.
With all of the new technology, today’s students need to know more, but as I always emphasize, they must still possess the basic analog knowledge to back it up so that they can rely on their own clinical acumen. The first part of the problem is time. There’s so much more to teach, but there’s only so many course hours available. Recognizing that time is limited, the second part of the problem is agreeing on which traditional fundamentals are still fundamental, and which new technologies should be considered fundamental. When I was in dental school, porcelain jacket crowns and cast gold restorations were still part of the core curriculum. No one is going to argue that cast gold should still be a part of basic dental school education, but where do we draw the line? Many would agree that students should be leaning how to acquire both physical and digital impressions, but what about placing and restoring implants? It’s complicated.
Your wipes cost too much
Wherever dental school programs choose to draw the line, their faculty must have the appropriate knowledge to hold it. At one point, I realized that my graduate students knew more about some of the technologies than I did; I didn’t even have some of them in my own office. I’m digital, but I still incorporate a lot of analog techniques (I call it “digi-log.”). It was a wake-up call for me to improve my own knowledge as an educator—not only to be able to teach these technologies but also to be able to provide mentorship, which is a critical aspect of education.
Speaking of mentorship, I recently lost my college mentor, Gerald Denehy, DDS, to pancreatic cancer. He was a pioneer in dental education and had such a great influence on my career. He is greatly missed. In that regard, this month’s CE on exploring the links between periodontitis and various cancers, including pancreatic cancer, hits close to home. Cancer is a devastating disease, and as dentists, we need to do everything that we can to help prevent and reduce its incidence.
Robert C. Margeas, DDS
Editor-in-Chief, Inside Dentistry
Private Practice, Des Moines, Iowa
Adjunct Professor • Department of Operative Dentistry
University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
robert.margeas@conexiant.com
