Mainstream dental schools increased the number of underrepresented minorities enrolled by more than half through a pilot recruitment program, according to the American Dental Education Association (ADEA).
The Pipeline, Profession, and Practice: Community-Based Dental Education program was based on the concept that dental institutions can improve access to dental care by recruiting more underrepresented minority students and others with characteristics shown to predispose an individual to community service.
The program also tries to provide more services in underserved communities -- and give students more experience in public clinics -- by teaching students in these clinics.
An evaluation published in the Journal of Dental Education (JDE) found that 300 facilities participated in the program and nearly 130,000 patients from underserved communities were treated.
During the course of the study, underrepresented minority enrollees increased by 27% in all Pipeline schools and 54% in Pipeline schools that do not traditionally serve large populations of minority students.
The Pipeline project was sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the California Endowment.
"The study is remarkable because it provides important insights about how to gain diversity in the dental profession and ways to increase access to dental care in underserved areas," said Laura Leviton, Ph.D., special advisor at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
The dental schools in the study included the following:
- Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine
- Howard University College of Dentistry
- Loma Linda University School of Dentistry
- Meharry Medical College School of Dentistry
- Ohio State University College of Dentistry
- University of California, Los Angeles School of Dentistry
- University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine
- University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Dentistry
- University of Southern California School of Dentistry
- University of the Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry
- University of Washington School of Dentistry
- West Virginia University School of Dentistry
Currently, eight more schools are engaged in the Pipeline program.
ADEA members can log on at www.adea.org to read the full report in the supplement to the February 2009 JDE. Others can e-mail Lesley Ward for a copy.
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