title: The principles, competencies, and curriculum for educating dental therapists: a report of the American Association of Public Health Dentistry Panel.
abstract: A panel of academicians was formed to develop an educational plan for dental therapists. The panel met over a 14-month period of time (2010-2011). The panel interviewed leadership from dental therapy educational programs in New Zealand, Canada, Alaska, and the University of Minnesota. The panel was structured into three subcommittees--principles, competencies, and curriculum to develop an educational plan for a 2-year postsecondary school dental therapy program. Reports from the three subcommittees are presented in this article along with introductory information and a discussion about the reports. A fourth subcommittee considered career pathways, and its report is presented as a separate article in this special issue. The final work of the panel was to consider accreditation issues regarding dental therapist programs, and its report is also presented in this issue.
authors.affiliation: University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry, Associate Dean for Prevention and Public Health Sciences, Chicago, IL 60612, USA. casevans@uic.edu
authors.forename: Caswell
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Evans
mesh_terms: D000068:Accreditation; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003479:Curriculum; D032022:Delegation, Professional; D003727:Dental Auxiliaries / Q000193:education* / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D054625:Healthcare Disparities; D006801:Humans; D008507:Medically Underserved Area; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010560:Personnel Selection; D016730:Program Development; D011636:Public Health Dentistry; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012953:Societies, Dental; D014481:United States