The Survey of Predoctoral Dental Education is an annual survey conducted by the American Dental Association (ADA). The purpose of this survey is to gather information from dental schools regarding enrollment, administrative organization and responsibility, admissions policy and procedures, financial statistics, curriculum, and faculty positions. The 1997-98 survey was mailed to all 55 United States dental schools and 10 Canadian dental schools in July 1997. All schools are required to complete the survey in order to maintain accreditation from the ADA or the Canadian Dental Association (as appropriate). The survey instrument used in this project consisted of four sections, with each section focused on a particular aspect of the dental school. For the trend analysis, data on the United States dental school graduates by gender and race/ethnicity was used from the past Surveys of Predoctoral Dental Education. While the overall number of dental school graduates each year has decreased, from 4,717 in 1987-88 to 3,930 in 1997-98, the percentage of dental school graduates who are female has increased over twelve percentage points, from 24.1% in 1987-88 to 36.9% in 1997-98. Compared to 1987-88 in 1997-98, the percentage of White graduates has decreased by 13.2% and the percentage of Asian graduates has increased by 11.1%. The proportions of Black and Hispanic graduates have increased slightly (approximately 0.5-1.0%) since 1987-88. The information collected is useful to dental school administrators, ADA Board of Trustees, and potential school applicants.
Learning Objectives: Identify and evaluate the trends in graduates of the United States Dental School based on the gender and race/ethnicity data
Keywords: Accreditation, Minority Research
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.