NSU CDM Lasting Impressions Spring 2019

8 | COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE A LOOK BACK One could say 1997 was a very good year for Nova Southeastern University’s (NSU’s) College of Dental Medicine (CDM) and for Richard Valachovic, D.M.D., M.P.H., M.S. In the fall of 1997, NSU opened the CDM, the first new U.S. dental school in a quarter century. In March 1997, Valachovic became president and CEO of the American Dental Education Association (ADEA). It was a daunting time in U.S. dental education. From 1986 to 1997, six private dental schools closed, and a seventh would be shuttered by 2001. Because the concern about dentistry and dental education was so great, the Institute of Medicine—a component of the National Academy of Sciences—released a report in 1995 declaring that dental education was at a crossroads. TV viewers were being bombarded with toothpaste commercials declaring that the United States was raising a generation of cavity-free kids. “Perception in the mid-1990s was that we have taken care of dental decay in children,” Valachovic recalled. “And we had, for children in well-off communities. Underserved communities were quite another story.” Enter the CDM. “The NSU leadership saw there was a future for dental education,” Valachovic said. “In fact, there was an incredible need. NSU took the bold step of opening the first dental school in 25 years.” A LOOK FORWARD Since NSU’s CDM opened, 13 new dental schools have opened nationally, with 9 of them affiliated with an osteopathic medical school, as is the CDM. Nova Southeastern University has been a leader in intercollaboration, championing greater interprofes- sional education between the disciplines, Valachovic said. The cross-training experience allows students to see what each type of caregiver can contribute to patients. “Once in real-world practice, dentists edu- cated like this are more likely to collaborate with others in health care,” he added. “Dental schools are imperative to modern health care,” Valachovic shared with Impressions on the eve of his retirement from the ADEA. “We have an obligation to help meet the need for access to dental care in the United States. And we need to respond to the demand for access to the dental profession.” He cited the 2018 U.S. News & World Report 100 Best Jobs ranking, which placed dentistry No. 2 overall and No. 1 in its ranking of health care jobs. The ADEA currently processes 20 applications for each first-year dental student slot. The 66 U.S. dental schools now graduate almost 6,000 dentists annually to serve a pop- ulation of 327 million. By contrast, in the mid-1970s, there were 6,300 dental graduates serving a population that was estimated at 226 million in 1980. u Dental Education BY SANDI DRAPER TRENDS TO SINK YOUR TEETH INTO