Attracting and retaining strong faculty members in dental schools have long been challenges in the United States. Faced with an emerging crisis in the availability and quality of dental educators, many researchers have focused on analyzing data and trends related to this subject. Even though there are substantial studies that provide a picture of…

Areas in the United States are experiencing limited access to dental care. A solution to this issue includes utilizing the dental hygiene workforce; however, changes to the existing dental hygiene curriculum will be needed. The purpose of this study is to determine the perceptions of dental hygiene program directors employed at two-year colleges…

This study explores dental hygiene faculty's perceptions regarding the issues surrounding the concept of critical thinking skills integration within Michigan accredited associate degree dental hygiene programs. The primary research goals are to determine faculty understanding of the concept of critical thinking, identify personal and departmental…

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to identify, compile, and describe how community college graduate dental hygienists perceived their initial dental hygiene curriculum preparation and how they subsequently adapted their curriculum preparation in order to perform their responsibilities in their first clinical dental hygiene job.…

This exploratory study was designed to develop a baseline model of expertise in dental education utilizing the Dreyfus and Dreyfus continuum of skill acquisition. The goal was the development of a baseline model of expertise, which will contribute to the body of knowledge about dental faculty skill acquisition and may enable dental schools to…

Currently, there is need for change in the way that dental schools in the United States educate their students to keep pace with the rapidly changing nature of the profession and to better address societal needs. Despite a well-documented change agenda put forth by individual authors and agencies both within and outside of dental education,…

Given the predicted shortages of minority dental healthcare providers in the United States and the expanding diversity of the general population, it is important to recruit and retain an ethnically and culturally diverse allied dental workforce. The objectives of this study were to explore why the profession of dental hygiene exhibits minimal…