As part of its continued commitment to help address the dental school faculty shortage across the United States, Stony Brook School of Dental Medicine celebrated its third annual Dental Educators Day event on the South Campus on October 6.
Dental Educators Day festivities are held during the first week of each October. It was established at Stony Brook in 2023 as dental schools face an ever-growing need for faculty. A recent study published in the Journal of Dental Education noted that more than 40 percent of full-time dental faculty at United States schools were over the age of 60. Additionally, increased vacancies nationwide have contributed to higher faculty:student ratios, as well as repercussions negatively impacting education and morale.
“National data indicate that less than two percent of US dental school graduates go on to be full-time academics,” said Patrick Lloyd, dean of the school. “With so many new schools popping up in the country, the need for more faculty has never been greater. We need each dental school to do more to encourage this generation to consider a career in dental education.”
To commemorate the event, students met with a faculty panel that included Jennifer Englebright, DMD, clinical assistant professor, Department of General Dentistry; Brian Howe, DMD, MS, associate dean for clinical operations and patient care at the SDM’s Dental Care Center, and associate professor, Department of General Dentistry; and Patricia Swanson, DDS, clinical associate professor, Department of Prosthodontics and Digital Technology.
Englebright joined the SDM faculty earlier this year after spending 15 years in private practice on the north shore of Long Island. She got a taste of teaching when she served as an attending in the general dentistry residency program at St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson, New York, an experience that she called especially fulfilling. From a family of teachers, it reinforced her own interest in teaching, and now on faculty at Stony Brook, she has gained even more perspective.
“When I was an undergraduate at Stony Brook, I had a professor who really helped shape my character,” she said. “Now that I’m looking back on my experience through a different lens, I realize what she did for me, and that’s the same kind of impact that I want to have on students.”
Howe came to Stony Brook from the University of Iowa College of Dentistry, where he was on faculty as a clinical associate professor and also the director of clinics. Previously, he had spent several years in private practice in both Iowa City, Iowa, and Madison, Wisconsin, but found better work-life balance and overall satisfaction in academia.
“Private practice can be monotonous, and I found that I needed something else,” Howe said. “Here you have this variety, whether it’s with teaching courses, in clinic, research or administrative tasks to help improve the operation of the school.”
Swanson, a graduate of the school’s Advanced Dental Education Program in Periodontics, gravitated toward teaching when, as a resident in the program of which she is currently a part, she was tutored by a resident one year ahead of her. This tutelage helped her understand the material, with time management, and with other facets of being a successful student. She paid it forward, tutoring residents who followed her, an experience that nurtured her interest in teaching.
“I like being able to help people reach their full potential, and I felt that I could do that more consistently and fully in an academic environment than in private practice,” she said. “As faculty, we’re able to witness so many firsts – a student’s first crown prep or denture or impression – all these things that they’re so worried about. It’s then fun for us to see these light bulbs go off in students’ heads over and over again.”