A survey of predoctoral dental basic pharmacology education.

A survey of fifty-one of the fifty-three dental schools in the continental United States provided information about pharmacology curriculum content and time allocation. Most dental schools offer a traditional didactic course in basic pharmacology, with about 50 percent of the medical school-based (MSB) and 75 percent of the dental school-based (DSB) programs providing additional pharmacology material in other basic and clinical courses. The four combined medical-dental (M-D) student courses have more hours of instruction, clinical conferences and reviews, and number of instructors than either the dental school- or medical school-based courses. DSB and MSB pharmacology courses were similar in most regards, with a relatively low compliance with the current curriculum guidelines. The DSB and MSB courses provided more time for neuropharmacology and less time for agents related to various organ systems than the M-D courses. There is considerable potential to improve pharmacology instruction by expanding the inclusion of pharmacology in other courses, increasing the number of clinical conferences and discussions, and offering problem-based-learning sessions.