Another Howard/Meharry

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Yet another possible dental school opening.

http://rattlernews.tallahassee.com/article/20091128/FAMU/911280321

Hopefully they don't go overboard with all these new schools.:scared:

We actually need new schools! We're facing a bad situation in America where for every 5 dentists who retire every year, only 4 graduate. This is going to be a big problem within 20 years or so - not in big areas, but smaller areas all across the country not having enough dentists.
 
We actually need new schools! We're facing a bad situation in America where for every 5 dentists who retire every year, only 4 graduate. This is going to be a big problem within 20 years or so - not in big areas, but smaller areas all across the country not having enough dentists.

The problem isnt even a supply issue, its a distribution issue. 4 new dentists replacing every 5 that retire wouldnt be a problem if the distribution is even, but as you said, the smaller areas will suffer. Where I live, there are about 10 dental practices within every square mile. That's just crazy. But in places like Idaho and Wyoming, I'm sure theres less than 1 per square mile.

They should open dental schools with specific goals in providing these areas with new dentists. But of course, such a school would bring even more complaints about the schools that accept mostly inferrior applicants.
 
The problem isnt even a supply issue, its a distribution issue. 4 new dentists replacing every 5 that retire wouldnt be a problem if the distribution is even, but as you said, the smaller areas will suffer. Where I live, there are about 10 dental practices within every square mile. That's just crazy. But in places like Idaho and Wyoming, I'm sure theres less than 1 per square mile.

They should open dental schools with specific goals in providing these areas with new dentists. But of course, such a school would bring even more complaints about the schools that accept mostly inferrior applicants.

Here in Utah, you can throw a stone and hit a dentist...

I totally agree about opening new dental schools that promote serving in areas that have a need. That was one of the things that I really liked about ASDOH. They focus A LOT on community service (they said 25% of their graduates immediately go out and become directors of public dental clinics), and as such they accept many students with lower stats than other schools. I don't think anyone would accuse them of accepting inferior applicants, they are still very capable dental students, but they are more interested in what you plan on doing after dental school than what you did before it. In my opinion, we need more schools like this to help counter the problems that we're seeing/will start to see with underserved areas.
 
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