THE BLACK DENTISTS IN THE NEW MILLINEUM: WHERE ARE THEY?
by Dr. Michael Rowland

Introduction

The Black dentist is dying a slow and painful death. The loss of the Black dentist is painful for our children, our communities and for our future. You see, as the minority population in the United States continues to grow in size, the number of minority applicants, particularly of African Americans to medical, dental, and other health professional schools, continues to decline. The rising costs of a college education and professional education and the further dismantling of Affirmative Action is having an impact on the numbers of African American students enrolling in health professions. At the same time, research shows that African American dentists, physicians, and other health professionals are more likely to see and treat African American patients and to work in the African American community (AADS, 1999). Therefore, the African American community may face a lack of total quality health care by African American health care providers.

A decline in the number of committed African American health professionals is resulting in the impoverished health care services for African Americans. This is directly reflected in the five-year survival rates for minority and low-income African Americans (32%) versus minority and low-income whites (54%) suffering from oral cancer, according to 1999 reports of the American Association of Dental School's (AADS) Division of Equity and Diversity. According to AADS, "Oral cancer is more common than leukemia, Hodgkin's disease, melanoma of the skin, and cancers of the brain, cervix, ovary, liver, or stomach. Each year, there are approximately 30,000 newly diagnosed cases of oral cancer and 8,000 deaths." Like other forms of cancer and disease, early detection and treatment can reduce the likelihood of more serious illness and death. 

Enrollment of African Americans in dental schools in the United States continues to decline at an alarming rate. During the 1998-99 school year, of the 17, 033 students enrolled in U.S. dental schools, only 841 were African American. 

% of U.S. Population  (1990 U.S. Census) 11.7%
(Source: American Dental Association Division of Equity and Diversity 10/98)

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