Dental accreditation

Dental school gets ADA A-OK

Programs at the School of Dentistry have been granted the accreditation status of "approval" by the Commission on Dental Accreditation, which operates under the auspices of the American Dental Association.

Approval status was granted after a lengthy review process that included an extensive self-study, an on-site review and site visit report, and the school's response to the site visit team's recommendations. The accreditation review process is based on nationally accepted standards that address areas such as administration, curriculum, faculty, financial support and physical facilities.

Since the site visit in November 1995, the school has made significant changes in response to the commission's recommendations, reports Dean Jerold Goldberg. "The School of Dentistry has now been designed and configured in such a manner that we have not only met their recommendations, but that we are stronger, both fiscally and in faculty resources, than we have been in years," he said.

Key changes include an increase in class size (from 62 to 70) and in faculty size and strength. To accommodate this growth, the school has expanded lab space for students and is installing six new faculty offices.

"In the past six months, we have hired five full-time faculty members who represent specific areas of need and who are appropriately credentialed in their represented disciplines," Goldberg said. "Four additional highly skilled preceptors have also been added, and five faculty members from the CWRU School of Medicine have been appointed to co-teach some basic science courses." These changes shift the faculty/student ratio in the clinics from 1:9 to 1:6 and will also have a significant impact on research capabilities, he noted.

"All faculty will be awarded release time, creating both an opportunity and expectation to participate in research and scholarly activities, whether on an individual or interdisciplinary basis," Goldberg said. "Between existing faculty and new hires, the School of Dentistry will reestablish its commitment to research and expanding our frontier of knowledge related to oral health."

Goldberg also cited the opening earlier this year of a faculty practice, which allows current and new faculty to maintain a private practice within the school to serve patients from the surrounding area. The faculty practice serves as a recruiting tool and as an income source for the school's operations, he noted.

"I am indeed grateful to all who have worked with me over this period to bolster our structure such that we are building on our tradition in dental education, scholarly activity and community outreach," the dean said. "Today we are bigger, stronger, and more diverse, with tremendous opportunities for growth and excellence."

Under the commission's guidelines, all programs are reviewed every seven years, except for programs in oral and maxillofacial surgery, which are reviewed every five years.

The following is the commission's statement on the school's accreditation status:

"Programs in dental education and advanced dental education in oral and maxillofacial surgery, orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics, pediatric dentistry, periodontics, endodontics, and general dentistry are accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation and have been granted the accreditation status of 'approval.' The Commission is a specialized accrediting body recognized by the Commission on Recognition of Postsecondary Accreditation and by the United States Department of Education. The Commission on Dental Accreditation can be contacted at 312-440-2719 or at 211 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611."