Geriatric dental education and training in the United States: 1995 white paper findings.

“As the 21st century quickly approaches with an expansive geriatric population growth, are we adequately preparing health professionals to address patient needs? Will there be a shortage of competent clinicians and proficient faculty? Is there a proposed agenda to improve educational outcomes, clinical expertise, and oral health status of older adults? These and related concerns have prompted a focused geriatric education project within the United States. The Bureau of Health Professions (BHPr) of the Health Resources and Services Administration has provided the impetus and leadership through the Geriatric Education Futures Project. Dentistry is one of eleven disciplines invited to participate in this important effort which also includes medicine, nursing, social work, public health, allied and associated health, managed care, long-term care, case management, interdisciplinary education, and ethnogeriatrics. The first two phases of this project were: 1) writing White Papers which give “a critical review of the state of the art of geriatric education, project a future response to societal need and provide policy recommendations to achieve the preferred future;” and 2) sponsoring an invitational National Forum on Geriatric Education and Training in the spring of 1995 to present, discuss, and accept the White Paper findings, as well as enlisting broader participation and support from appropriate educational institutions, professional organizations (including the American Society for Geriatric Dentistry and the American Dental Association), government agencies, foundations, consumer organisations, etc. The third phase is ongoing and includes the development of national innovative educational collaboratives, dissemination of the White Papers and related documents, and continued “catalytic activities directed toward the implementation of a national agenda for action in geriatric education.” The complete text of all discipline-specific White Papers can be found in A National Agenda for Geriatric Education, Volume 1: White Papers1. In an effort to more extensively disseminate the findings from the Dentistry White Paper, Gerodontology is reprinting the first two-thirds of the Dentistry White Paper which includes the state of the art in geriatric dental education and future vision needed to meet the needs of older adults, as well as summary identification of the 19 dental policy recommendations (See Table 3). Special Care in Dentistry2 has recently published the complete text of these specific recommendations including the rationale, action required, responsible agents, and expected outcomes. Although some information contained in this White Paper may be specific only to the United States, it is also apparent that much of its content has relevance to gerodontology efforts in industrialised countries throughout the world.”–Bernice A. Parlak and Susan M. Klein (see endnote)