Survival of black colleges from a dental perspective.

If we are to achieve health for all in the US by the year 2000, as proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO), we must consider dental health needs as a component of total health. The failure to address dental health needs has reached a crisis level, particularly in the black and underserved communities throughout the nation.The dental delivery system in the US requires a continuous upgrading of the quality of education received by the students who will be the deliverers of dental services, the dental educators, and the researchers of the future. In order to accomplish this, we must utilize fully the present academic system to assure access, quality, and availability of dental health care for all Americans now and in the future.