Resolved: that a fifth year of dental education be a requirement. Remarks for the affirmative.
Evidence has been presented that leading deans of dental schools and leaders of the AADS support the assertion that the current four-year dental curriculum is overcrowded. Furthermore, it has been shown that the magnitude of the problem of overcrowding is regarded as serious and has been so recognized for at least twenty years. Evidence was also presented that educators, students, and the practicing profession support the assertion that the current four-year curriculum does not prepare students adequately for dental practice. Evidence was then presented that the overcrowding and inadequacies of the current curriculum cannot be corrected by merely manipulating or restructuring curricular elements within the context of predental and four years of predoctoral education. Finally, it was shown that, in the opinion of educators and students, the overcrowding and inadequacies of the current four-year curriculum can be overcome by establishing a fifth year of dental education as a requirement.
D002983:Clinical Competence; D003479:Curriculum; D004497:Education, Dental; D006801:Humans; D011364:Professional Practice; D013997:Time Factors