Dental Schools Lag in Mental Health Education, Hindering Integration Efforts
A significant gap exists in mental health (MH) education within dental schools, with only 27 out of 80 accredited institutions in the US and Canada incorporating MH curricula. This deficiency poses a barrier to the routine integration of MH screenings into dental practice, despite growing evidence of their feasibility and the potential benefits for patient care.
While post hoc power analysis offers limited additional insight beyond existing statistical measures like p-values and confidence intervals, the practical implementation of MH assessments in dental settings faces challenges. A recent study highlighted the feasibility of integrating MH screening into dental workflows[[29]. tho, the lack of complete MH education in dental schools means that future dental professionals may not be adequately equipped to identify and address mental health concerns in their patients.
To address this, future research should focus on identifying the specific barriers preventing the inclusion of MH curricula in predoctoral dental education. Furthermore, studies should explore the practical application of validated MH screening tools, such as the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9)[[31]and the Generalized Anxiety disorder 7 (GAD-7)[[32], within dental school environments. This will help ensure that dental providers are better prepared to incorporate brief MH assessments as a routine part of patient medical history updates, overcoming concerns about time limitations.