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Abstract: Altruistic dentists play a central role in treating minority populations, the poor, the uninsured, and those living in underserved communities. This study examines factors associated with graduating dental students' altruistic attitudes. We use a nationally representative dataset, the 2007 American Dental Education Association Survey of Dental School Seniors (n=3,841), and a comprehensive framework to investigate individual, school, and community characteristics that may influence altruism. Student characteristics were the most significant predictors: women, African Americans, Hispanics, Asian/Pacific Islanders, and students with low socioeconomic status expressed greater altruism than their counterparts. These results inform dental educators and administrators to expand efforts to recruit underrepresented racial/ethnic and low-income students into dentistry. Additionally, we found that students with altruistic personalities attend schools where the social context is more accepting and respectful of diversity. This suggests that schools can promote altruism in their students by creating a positive culture and environment for diverse populations.
Key words: Dental education, altruism, access to care.
Millions of Americans are unable to obtain quality dental care services needed to maintain a healthy mouth and body. Although oral health is integral to overall health and well-being, an estimated 25 million individuals reside in areas lacking adequate oral health care services according to Oral Health in America: A Report of the Surgeon General.1 The access to oral health care crisis is most evident among lowincome and racial minority populations.2,3 African Americans, Hispanics, and American Indians and Alaskan Natives generally have the poorest oral health of any racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. and are less likely than Whites to utilize preventive and specialty dental services.1,4,5
In response to a call by the U.S. Surgeon General to improve the dental safety net for the nation's underserved and disadvantaged populations, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and The California Endowment (TCE) funded a five-year initiative.6,7 The program-Pipeline, Profession, and Practice: Community Based Dental Education (Dental Pipeline Program)-had three major objectives: (1) increase the proportion of minority and low-income students in dental schools; (2) provide didactic and clinical training for students to care for diverse and disadvantaged patients; and (3) establish community-based clinical education programs to provide dental students with 60 days of experience in a patient care environment. Fifteen dental schools of the 56 U.S....