The status of geriatric education in dental hygiene curricula

To assess the status of geriatric education in dental hygiene curricula, a pretested survey was sent to a 55% random sample of the 198 US dental hygiene programs. Of the 109 surveys mailed, a 90% response rate showed that geriatric didactic material is most frequently presented via occasional lectures, rather than in a formal course or an organized series of presentations. Seventy-five percent of the programs have a geriatric clinical component. Baccalaureate programs and programs longer than 2 years are more likely than associate programs and programs shorter than 2 years, respectively, to teach geriatrics in a more formalized setting. There is no significant difference in the way geriatric material is presented between hygiene programs that are and are not within dental schools.