Board of Governors Laud Appearance and Remarks of Dental School Leaders

Dental Ethics

The subject of dental ethics drew a significant amount of interest from participants.

Lantz, who is president-elect of the American Society for Dental Ethics, told Board members that she teaches a course to first-year dental students and that content from that course "is of interest to other dental schools."

Pointing out that the School has an Honor Code, Lantz mentioned that there have been cases where students were dismissed for violations. "It's only a small number, and it doesn't happen a lot," she said.

Lantz mentioned that ethics is of concern to the dental profession in general and cited differences in the way violations are handled.

"There's a big difference, which we try to take into account, between a dentist who is suspended by a state board for an infraction and later reinstated, and a dental student who violates the Honor Code," she said.

"When a student violates the Honor Code, that's it for them, but that's not necessarily the case in the profession. So when we're faced with an Honor Code violation, we need to look at the whole picture of the dental profession and not just what may have taken place in school," she said.

The Cost of Dental Education

Director of Budget and Finance, Jayne Nyman, spent some time talking about the cost of dental education today and how it's closely tied to what happens at the state level when it comes to educational appropriations for the University of Michigan.

"We have had to increase tuition in recent years because of declines in funding from the state during the past five or six years," she said.

Noting that there are some indirect costs recovered from NIH and NIDCR funding, as well as an increase in clinical revenues, "we've been fortunate, but we're walking a tightrope currently," she said.

In response to a question from a Board member, Nyman said the School of Dentistry is doing better in terms of its mix of in-state and out-of-state students.

"If you look at the Ann Arbor campus, about 35 percent of the students are from out of state," she said "while the professional schools have a 50/50 or 40/60 in-state versus out-of-state mix."

"But the mix at this School is better than those numbers because about 60 percent of our students are Michigan residents," she said.

Dr. Lynn Johnson, director of Dental Informatics and Information Technology, said advances in technology are fueling the rise in the cost of dental education. She mentioned some of the improvements taking place, including electronic simulations in education and a transition from paper records to electronic records.

Community Outreach

"We have a very solid program," said Dr. Bill Piskorowski, director of Community and Outreach Programs.

"The foundation of our outreach program is very strong. In fact, were looking to expand the program in the future," he added. "But if we do, we want to do so in such a way that we maintain the quality of the program."

Dental Student Perspectives

Third-year dental student Jamie Luria, student representative on the Board, delivered an enthusiastic report.

"I'm proud to be a part of this School and I'm sure there are many other members of my class who feel the same way I do," he said.

"To be a success, you have to be self-motivated which means you have to pursue opportunities to become strong in areas where you are weak and even stronger in areas where you are strong. That's part of what being a professional is all about," Luria said.