Planned change and the future of the dental education system.

Dentistry today faces an environment that clearly requires changes in dental education. Future dentists must be prepared to deal with new patterns of dental disease, revised manpower requirements, and new developments in the nature of dental practice. The dental education system can best adapt to this situation by initiating a process of planned change. A well-developed literature in this area provides both a theoretical framework and a practical approach that the dental education system can follow in its planning process. In this paper, the principles of planned change are interpreted in the context of dental schools' characteristic structure, goals, leadership, and communication mechanisms. The traits of successful change and specific strategies for achieving it are offered as a means for the dental education system to build with confidence a productive and healthy future.