The current status and impact of oral biology in dental education.

Twenty-four oral biology departments were surveyed with respect to number of faculty, graduate programs, and role in the dental schools (ORB schools). The mean full-time and part-time faculty per department is eight and 2.6, respectively. There are nine graduate programs, but only one has actually granted Ph.D.'s in oral biology. Students of these ORB schools were compared with students of 32 dental schools which did not have oral biology departments (NOB schools) in performance on the dental National Board Examinations. With respect to mean scores, students from the ORB schools performed better on both part 1 and part 2 examinations from 1969 to 1974. There has also been an impressive difference in the failure rates, students in the ORB schools experiencing a lower failure rate. Further analysis demonstrated that oral biology departments have developed largely in dental schools which have relied upon medical school basic science departments for teaching the basic sciences.