Universities and Education in Orthodontics

Educators are faced with the realization that dental practice has advanced to such an extent that it is now unrealistic to expect a graduate to have mastered all the basic science knowledge and necessary clinical skills by the time he completes the traditional five-year curriculum. The increased utilization of dental auxiliaries in treatment situations throws doubt on the wisdom of continuing our present system of education which attempts to graduate one type of dentist who has moderate skills in all branches of general dentistry. A pathway curriculum would go a long way towards producing dentists with the special expertise that will be required in the future.

Should orthodontists be general practitioners of dentistry first? If the answer to this question is ‘Yes’, then it will be difficult to achieve any substantial increase in orthodontic training in the traditional dental curriculum and the gap between orthodontist and general practitioner will remain. If the answer is ‘No’, then the pathway approach provides the Chance of commencing some orthodontic education at an earlier time by including much of the basic science and clinical training thought to be essential but excluded from conventional undergraduate courses. In addition, this system would at last break down the technical approach to dentistry that underlies many of the profession’s problems today.