ORAL HEALTH CURRICULUM IN ACCREDITED DIETETICS PROGRAMS

Abstract

The Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND) Accreditation Standards for Didactic Programs in Dietetics (DPD) outlines the required curricular topics and student knowledge competencies for accredited programs. Subjects that must be covered in DPD programs include medical nutrition therapy and the Nutrition Care Process; principles of food science, food safety, and food service management; and the roles of environment, food, nutrition, and lifestyle choices in health promotion and disease prevention.1 There is no current requirement to specifically cover oral health in DPD programs; however, programs are given discretion to integrate relevant topics into their curriculum above and beyond the subjects required in the standards. A survey was designed to learn more about the curriculum dietetics students receive and to understand whether, when, and how oral health and hygiene concepts are addressed in ACEND accredited dietetics programs. The survey was emailed to dietetics educators, preceptors, support staff, and program directors of ACEND accredited programs and remained open for a period of two weeks. More than half of the respondents reported that they currently cover oral health topics in their curriculum and that nearly ninety percent feel that it is important for future dietetics professionals to be knowledgeable about oral health and hygiene topics. I argue that oral health and hygiene are vital topics that all nutrition students should be knowledgeable about and should be implemented in the knowledge competencies for ACEND accredited DPD programs.