title: Major long-term factors influencing dental education in the twenty-first century.
abstract: With evolutionary advances in oral science over the long term, clinical reliance on chemotherapeutics, bacterial replacement therapy, and immunization will necessitate a broader background in medicine. The dramatic increase in the old age population will also require a much stronger medical background. By 2050, those over fifty-five years of age will represent 56 percent of the population, and 25 percent of these will be sixty-five years of age and older. The merging of dental and medical education is predicted to occur within the twenty-first century. Other topics addressed include research activities, with recommended strategies to enhance the integration of scientific and clinical dental approaches; the problem of dental faculty isolation; and the implications of financial constraint and accountability.
authors.affiliation: Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. michael.cohen@dal.ca
authors.forename: M Michael
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Cohen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D003468:Cultural Evolution; D003469:Culture; D003710:Demography; D018865:Dental Research / Q000639:trends; D003813:Dentistry / Q000639:trends; D004497:Education, Dental / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends*; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000639:trends; D005179:Faculty, Dental; D005378:Financial Support; D005544:Forecasting; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009909:Oral Health; D011157:Population Dynamics; D012586:Science / Q000193:education; D013192:Staff Development; D013663:Teaching