Ann Arbor, MI - September 11, 2008 - "The future is now. Some of this we're already doing, but look for more in the future. We're ready to change dental education," said Dr. Lynn Johnson during the School of Dentistry's annual convocation program August 29.

Per Kjeldsen

Lynn Johnson, director of Dental Informatics, outlines new initiatives in education and technology during the convocation ceremony.

The annual event, inaugurated in 2004, celebrates the beginning of the new academic year for the School's faculty, students, and staff.

Johnson, the program's keynote speaker and the School's director of Dental Informatics, gave an overview of how technology is offering new opportunities to educate students, enhance patient care, and foster greater collaboration with other schools and colleges at the University of Michigan and around the world.

Developing innovative ways to use technology to educate students and enhance oral health care is an important component of Dean Peter Polverini's vision to build a new model of dental education that he hopes other dental schools worldwide will imitate. "Now is the time for us to develop learning systems that will put us in the forefront of new and exciting ways to educate our students," he said during the convocation program.

Upgrading the School's technology infrastructure and enhancing the electronic information system known as MiDENT, "has affected hundreds of students and faculty and thousands of patients," Johnson said. MiDENT allows dental students and their clinical supervisors to track patient scheduling, treatment histories, and other data.

This, however, is just the beginning.

Other Initiatives Underway

Video conferencing, computers in the School's high tech preclinic, the e-learning dental hygiene program, and a new U-M Health Sciences Education Building...which will offer countless opportunities for collaboration among the schools and colleges of dentistry, nursing, medicine, pharmacy, public health, and social work...are just a few of the initiatives that have the potential to transform oral health education.

Per Kjeldsen

Dean Peter Polverini discusses some of his initiatives with dental students Jason Dulac (right) and Daniel Armstrong following the convocation ceremony.

Another program, dubbed Open Michigan, offers some of the School's educational resources to schools and colleges worldwide. One course, Dentistry 718, Advanced Removable Prosthodontics, taught by Dr. Jeffrey Shotwell, includes lectures, notes, graphics, and other information that is available to anyone any where in the world with a high-speed Internet connection.

Some of the information, Johnson said, "is being shared with two schools in Ghana and two in South Africa to enhance their dental programs. In the future, we would like our educational program to benefit from learning materials provided by these four African dental schools as well."

Significant potential to transform dental education exists with handheld or portable computers.

Johnson said about 80 percent of the School's predoctoral students have handheld units that can be used in various ways. One software program, for example, allows students to retrieve information about medications patients may be taking to determine the impact of drug interactions.

Students, faculty, and staff, she said, are actively involved in helping to transform dental education and patient care with the use of new technologies. "Their familiarity with and comfort in using technology generates new ideas and encourages adoption," Johnson added. "They want and expect us to lead in the use of technology. We are doing that."

The University of Michigan School of Dentistry is one of the nation's leading dental schools engaged in oral health care education, research, patient care, and community service. General dental care clinics and specialty clinics providing advanced treatment enable the School to offer dental services and programs to patients throughout Michigan. Classroom and clinic instruction prepare future dentists, dental specialists, and dental hygienists for practice in private offices, hospitals, academia, and public agencies. Research seeks to discover and apply new knowledge that can help patients worldwide. For more information about the School of Dentistry, visit us on the Web at: www.dent.umich.edu.

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