Current teaching of cariology in North American dental schools

All 65 dental schools in the United States and Canada were contacted to obt ain information relevant to their cariology teaching effort, the caries man agement philosophy, the diagnostic threshold for surgical intervention and the non-surgical treatment alternatives implemented. Forty-three schools (66%) responded to the request for information. Marked variations in the teaching of cariology and the implementation of modern di agnostic and treatment modalities were noted. The results indicate that wit h exceptions, efforts to increase curricular time and make organizational c hanges that would promote cariology as an important academic and clinical e ndeavor have fallen far short of predictions made more than 20 years ago fo r North America. Many cariology programs in North American dental schools lack the detail an d depth expected for this important area of clinical dentistry.