Didactic community dentistry curricula in U.S. dental schools.

A national survey of predoctoral community dentistry faculty members provided "ratings of importance" for each of 32 community dentistry topics. Departmental chairpersons, identified by respondents, were sent a second questionnaire to determine clock hours of didactic instruction for each topic. A response rate of 79 percent (N = 121) was achieved for the faculty survey with a 91 percent response rate (N = 53) for the chairperson survey. Mean clock hours of didactic instruction in community dentistry ranged from .5 to 3.1 hours per topic with a cumulative mean total of 51.3 hours. Mean ratings of importance for each of the 32 community dentistry topics ranged from 4.3 to 2.7 (on a five-point scale). The results of this survey provide information on the current status of predoctoral community dentistry curricula in U.S. dental schools.