b'members were also observing that more andIve heard concerns about aging facultiesplanning, and treatment, but the fact remains more of the patients who were being referredand fears that we arent recruiting enoughthat periodontistsas they shouldhave faror who were coming to periodontistsyoung people into academia. Fortunately, thesuperior knowledge of periodontics. Case in without being referredwere presenting withreport suggests that our predoctoral facultypoint: Yesterday, a second-year predoctoral alarmingly severe periodontal conditions.members were not as close to retirement agestudent was very excited to tell me that hed as expected. This could be very dependent onjust performed his first dental cleaning at an On top of this, there was a growing awarenessthe institution and area, however. outreach clinic overseen by general dentists in that many dental schools were shifting fromour program. The problem: We havent taught a discipline-based teaching model in whichDr. Okano: While registered dental hygienistsour second-year students how to perform dental periodontists and other specialists overseeare involved in predoctoral periodontalcleanings yet. Were about to start teaching it the predoctoral teaching of their specialtieseducation in some schools, their role isntnow, and theres a reason we structured our to a generalist-based model in which generalas widespread or as deep as many of uscurriculum that way. But our general dentists dentists oversee the teaching. While all ofhad suspected. In addition, the role of thehad him do the cleaning anyway.these feelings were quite pervasive, they wereperiodontal residents isnt as great in most also based largely on anecdote. As a result,schools as we might have thought or hoped.What are some of the challenges facing we decided in late 2019 to form a task forceDr. Chris Richardson, President of the AAP,predoctoral periodontal educators?to thoroughly and quantitatively study thehas said that we need residents to play aDr. Bain: I believe its vitally important to ensure matter. I was named the chair and held thatbigger role in predoctoral education, and thethat periodontists continue to play a key role role for two years before handing over thefindings certainly reinforce that need. in predoctoral education despite the fact that reins to Dr. Palomo. Does the report match what you see inmost new schools are going with the generalist-What have we learned from the report? your predoctoral program? based programs, and many existing schools are switching from discipline-based programs to Dr. Geurs: One of the questions we wereDr. Palomo: The survey and my experiencegeneralist-based programs as well.Our school charged to answer was, How do dentalboth highlight the vital importance ofhas traditionally followed the discipline-based students learn periodontics? Periodontalpredoctoral periodontal education not onlyapproach, but our dean recently decided to education is still being delivered in large partto dentistry, but to the overall health of ourconvert to more of a generalist-based approach. by periodontists who have clinical experiencecommunities. Across the board, the TaskOur program will technically be called an and who are dedicated to the training ofForce data confirms the benefits of re- Integrated Patient Care Model. Our pilot plan general dentists, and that there is still a lot ofinvigorated emphasis on predoctoral studies. calls for a hybrid approach in which most of the emphasis given to periodontal therapy. I have seen it from my vantage point as awork with the predoctoral students will be done Dr. Okano: The report definitely made itprivate practitioner, academician, and pastby the general dentists, but our department is in chair of the AAP Education Committee. Wecharge of the didactic curriculum as well as the quite clear that periodontists are in fact stilldiscuss it in our clinical meetings as well asreferral protocol. deeply involved in predoctoral periodonticour educational meetings, but this Task Force education. The predoctoral directors ofdata delivered objective evidence of what weWhat Im trying to do as Chair of the Department periodontal education are quite experienced,all perceive.of Periodontics and Preventive Sciences is to with an average of 16 years in the role. Mostmake sure were involved at the ground level of of the periodontists doing the teaching areDr. Okano: The survey findings indicate thatthe planning process to ensure that we continue highly experienced as well; these predoctoralperiodontal education directors at generalist- to play a vital role in the program. In fact, the students arent being taught by periodontistsdriven programs have a lower satisfactionother three periodontists on my staff and I who just graduated from their postdoctorallevel than at discipline-driven programs due tohave created clear guidelines for referral to a programs. Importantly, we learned that thehaving less control over the periodontal exam,periodontist. Once a referral has been made, the periodontists are also very involved in thediagnosis, or treatment plan. Id say that mystudent will still provide the care, but under the predoctoral curriculum committees in almostfellow periodontists and I in our generalist- guidance of a periodontist rather than a general all of the programs. driven program at the University of Utahdentist. We created these guidelines using the Was there anything in the report thatSchool of Dentistry share that frustration ofAAPs new disease classification system to surprised you? not being allowed to make the full contributiondevelop referral patterns to better determine that our greater experience and knowledge ofwhich cases are appropriate for our generalist Dr. Bain: I was somewhat surprised that theperiodontics would enable us to make.clinic and which ones need to be referred to a average experience level of faculty membersperiodontist. was only 16 years. I say only becauseTo be clear, there are a lot of general dentists who are very good at periodontal diagnosis,Continued on page 10AAP Periospectives| 9'