Gerodontology as a dental specialty in Brazil: What has beenaccomplished after 15 years?

MARCHINI, Leonardo; MONTENEGRO, Fernando Luiz Brunetti; ETTINGER, Ronald

Fifteen years ago, as a response to its rapidly aging population, Brazil was the first country to recognize gerodontology as a dental specialty. The aim of this paperis to evaluate the outcomes of this change by examining theincrease in number of advanced gerodontology-trained dentists and identifying the volume of gerodontology related research that has been published. The Brazilian Dental Board web site was searched in order to verify the number of specialists in gerodontology and their geographic distribution. In order to provide a quantitative assessment of the number of gerodontology-related graduate programs generated since the specialty was recognized, three sites were searched a) the government database for post-graduate theses, which compiles all theses and dissertations completed as part of the requirements of accredited post-graduate courses in Brazil; b) the Brazilian Dental Library (Biblioteca Brasileira de Odontologia,BBO), which compiles papers published in Portuguese; and c) the PubMed database. Recognizing gerodontology as a dental specialty in Brazil required advanced training programs to be developed in geriatrics and gerodontology. The current number of specialists in gerodontology(276)is still lower than the needs of the Brazilian dental work force. Recognition of the specialty seems to have resulted in a significant increase in gerodontology-related research; however, this growth coincides with an overallincrease in research in Brazil and is less extensive thanforother specialties, which were recognized at the sameti me. More still needs to be done to add gerodontology to dental school curricula, even though a significant number of schools do teach the discipline...(AU)

BVS Odontología

Información y Conocimiento para la Salud

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Gerodontology as a dental specialty in Brazil: What has beenaccomplished after 15 years? / Odontogeriatria como especialidade odontológica no Brasil: o que alcançamos após 15 anos?

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