I enjoyed the editorial about the dearth of dental teachers (April JADA). Based on my experience of 50 years of part-time teaching, I would like to state some of the reasons why young dentists do not wish to teach.
Most of the clinical teaching in dental schools is done by part-time faculty. The bulk of this faculty consists of recent graduates whose prime interest is in establishing their own practices. As soon as they become busy enough, they leave the school.
Since these dentists are inexperienced in both teaching and practice, they present a poor role model for dental teaching. Those who choose to continue teaching become excellent teachers and the leaders of the clinical faculty.
To give even part time to teaching, a practitioner must either have a very remunerative practice or another source of income, as well as a strong desire to share his or her love of dentistry.
Devoting full time to teaching has other drawbacks. The politics in teaching institutions make governmental politics seem like a child’s game. The competition for promotion is based primarily on research and publication, so that teaching students takes a back seat. In addition, full-time faculty are obligated to serve on numerous committees and spend a disproportionate amount of time in administration, and without an independent income, a decent standard of living is difficult to achieve.
Unfortunately, society places actors and sports figures at the top of the ladder and teachers near the bottom. Dentists undergo the sacrifices and hard work required to enter the profession to be self-employed and responsible for their own success.
Unless universities and the professional schools they control adopt a different attitude toward the value of their faculty and the worth and importance of dentistry, good dental teachers will be scarce.
