Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery - Dental Columbian Yearbook (New York, NY)

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not accepted the basic fact that dentistry, as a health profession, has passed beyond the concept upon which it was founded. The practice of dentistry today can no longer be looked upon as the artificial re- storation of diseased and missing teeth. The practice of dentistry today, and the future of the dental profession, must be based upon a concept that the treatment of disease, re- gardless of its anatomical location or the methods used, represents in the strictest sense of the word the practice of medicine. Dentistry is the practice of Medicine as related to the oral cavity. This conception of dentistry does not assume that dental students should first be physicians or that their teaching should be geared to the medi- cal curriculum. The dental student has, upon entering school, already elected his area of specialty practice and his educational pro- gram should be formulated upon this fact. The planning of a dental school curriculum should consider the necessity for education in the biological sciences and training in the clinical practice of dentistry. The two should be considered as integral parts of a total program and not as unrelated areas of teaching. The teaching of the biological sciences and clinical teaching should be a united effort towards the students ' edu- cation and not a competitive force for the students ' attention. Where does the dental student enter this concept of dental education? He is, of course, the focal point. Yet how many students ever realize their own responsi- bility for their education? How many stu- Doctor Uccellani instructs a sophomore on details of pack- ing a full denture case. vracticc of oral mcdianc

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Freshmen prepare for practice practical in microscopic anatomy laboratory. the dental school and the dental student Doctor DiSalvo explains significance of kymograph re- cording in the physiology laboratory. For many generations of students the dental school was, and for some still is, the beginning and the end of dental education. Students, and all too frequently faculties, still cling to the philosophy that gradu- ation from dental school should insure com- petence in the practice of dentistry. This at- titude stems from the beginning of formal dental education and persists in spite of the fact that the practice of dentistry has made tremendous advances. Even today the under- graduate student feels that his education is incomplete simply because he lacks ad- equate experience in all the areas of clinical practice. This attitude on the part of the student is understandable when we con- sider the fact that the profession itself has

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Dean Hickey, faculty and students listen as Paul Duboff points out significant case findings at a bi-monthly clinical pathological conference. dents ever realize their own responsibility for their education? How many students ever realize that the biological sciences are as fundamental to their professional education as their clinical courses? With the preconceived idea of dentistry carried by the entering student it is little wonder that the science courses are all too often merely hurdles that, if successfully crossed, lead to clinical dentistry. If this concept persists, it represents the failure on the part of the school to create in the student the full understanding of the depth of his profession. It is a faculty responsibility to guide the thinking of the entering student so that he may come to understand his own responsibility. The student should not be expected to blindly accept the statement that his curriculum is carefully planned for his needs. On the other hand, the student should be guided in his education and he should not expect to be led by the hand. The very fact that the volume of knowledge far exceeds the available time in a four year curriculum places directly upon the student the responsibility of dental practice. The student who expects the parts of his curriculum to fit like a jigsaw puzzle and spell out the word dentistry is lacking in intellectual curiosity. The student who fails to look upon each new course as an intellectual experience designed to further his professional education is cheating himself and his profession. He is denying himself the self-satisfaction that comes from self-improvement. responsibilities m dental education