Training status and interest in certification of nondiplomate faculty teaching predoctoral dental public health

Objectives: A survey was conducted to better understand the training needs of faculty members without dental public health (DPH) specialty board certi fication who teach DPH to dental students. Methods: An I I-item questionnai re was sent to 193 non-DPH diplomate faculty members at US dental schools w ho were dentists and at least one of the following: a member of the America n Association of Dental Schools Community and Preventive Dentistry Section, a referral from an academic American Board of Dental Public Health diploma te, a DPH faculty listed on the school's Web pages, a DPH contact from the AADS institutional Directory, or the school's dean if no other contact Resu lts: A 70 percent response rate was obtained Seventy-nine percent of the re spondents taught at least one national board-related DPH topic Among these faculty members, 67 percent ha ve or are in training for the master of publ ic health, 26 percent have completed or are in a DPH residency, and 63 perc ent desire training in one or more of the DPH topics. The majority (64%) do es not plan to fake the specialty exam, while 28 percent plan to take the e xam within five years. About half reported no personal incentives to take t he exam and 39 percent perceived no institutional incentives. Conclusions.. These nondiplomate teachers of predoctoral DPH desire training, but appear to have barriers and perceive few benefits to achieving DPH board certific ation.