Dentistry in the United States

In order to be accepted to an American dental school, most candidates must possess at least a bachelor's degree as well as the pre-requisite courses.

The first 2 years of dental school consist mostly of didactic education as well as simulation courses. The last two years generally involve direct patient care under supervision. There tends to be much overlap in most schools' curricula; the didactic years may have some clinical components, while the last two years still have significant didactic coursework.

During dental school, students must take and successfully pass Part I and Part II of the National Board Dental Examination (also known as "the Boards"), which are administered by the ADA. Part I is usually taken after the second year of dental school, while Part II is usually taken sometime in the fourth year.

The cost of attending dental school is high; most newly graduated dentists have borrowed US$200,000 or more in student loans and other debts to pay for their education.[2]

Dental graduates have the option of pursuing specialty training. Currently, the American Dental Association formally recognizes 9 specialties:

• Dental public health
• Endodontics
• Pediatric dentistry
• Periodontics
• Prosthodontics
• Oral and maxillofacial pathology
• Oral and maxillofacial radiology
• Oral and maxillofacial surgery
• Orthodontics

Until the late 20th century, most of dentistry was paid directly by patients. Today funding for dentistry includes self-payment, private insurance, employer-sponsored insurance, Medicaid and SCHIP.

Four out of five dental practices in the US are for-profit small businesses owned directly by the dentist.[2] As preventive care and routine cleanings are not lucrative activities, paying off student debt and being financially successful is dependent upon the dentist performing a large number of invasive dental procedures.[2]

Dentistry has been widely criticized for the lack of evidence or scientific principles behind its practices. Although medical schools are the center of medical research, many dental schools are not involved in research of any kind.[4] In areas where research has been done, common practice often runs counter to the scientific conclusion. Notably, evidence since 1977 has shown that seeing a dentist every six months, as is standard in the United States, is not associated with improved dental or oral health.[5][6][7][8][9]

Compared to similar fields, there is a relative abundance of fraudulent dentistry practices.[2] Patients often do not question information given them by a dentist or seek a second opinion, and, for centuries, dentists have taken advantage of this to treat patients with costly procedures that are either unneeded or ineffective.[2] Some of the largest dentistry companies in the United States have been subject to class-action lawsuits for their fraudulent practices,[10][11][12] Dentists operate with very little oversight, such as a colleague in the next room or a manager who might notice that a particular dentist billed for an unusually high number of procedures, which compounds this problem. While this is relevant today, fraud and overtreatment is not a new problem. Evidence of fraudulent dental treatments date back to the 18th century.[2]

• Dentistry in rural Alaska
• Dentistry in Canada

1. American Dental Association
2. Bureau of Labor Statistics
3. NERB
4. WREB
5. CRDTS
6. SRTA
7. Minnesota Board of Dentistry
8. Dental Board of California
9. Connecticut Department of Public Health
10. American Student Dental Association - Licensure by State
11. Complete List of Dental Schools in USA