Message Boards
Today's Active Topics Today's Active Cases Browse Forum Categories My Recent Activity My Messages Private Groups My Marked Threads My Subscriptions
Today's Active Images Today's Active Polls Most Active Topics Global Townie Map Advanced Message Board Search Message Board Terms of Use

Where Have All the Educators Gone? (And Will They Come Back?) Orhan C. Tuncay, DMD, FCPP

Start Discussion



by Orhan C. Tuncay, DMD, FCPP

Educator shortage is the single most major threat to the future of orthodontics as a specialty. Monetary compensation is the major problem, but there are those few who would not mind, or even embrace, the "call" to become an educator scholar despite the meager earnings. But they can't. Even if they concede to meager earnings, they will still drown in their educational debt. Becoming an educator is simply not an affordable option for the majority of graduates who could become interested in a career in education. Instead, they choose to feed their families. In the end, they might spend a life in regret that they could have been an academic, a somebody – making a difference, advancing the field. Perhaps, becoming an excellent golf player is a form of coping mechanism, as it certainly could occupy one's mind enough to take away the sting of academic disappointment and channel it to disappointment on the green.

Who then is the guilty party for the accumulated mountain of debt? The oft-reported high figure is around $450,000. The new graduate will be paying – for a very long time – approximately $3,000 every month on his debt. After this installment, chances are, the academic paycheck will not put bread on the table and pay the rent in the same month. Whose fault is it?

Are the residents who try to get an education to pursue happiness the guilty party? Or are the universities who charge high tuition to be blamed? Obviously, if the universities did not charge astronomical figures for tuition, the student would not need to borrow that much. Then, why must the universities charge what they do? Well, it is not cheap to run a university. Every time the cost of heating oil goes up by a dollar, it becomes a significant burden for the university to heat all the classrooms, gyms, offices and the like. Universities must maintain a sizeable police force that they did not have only a few decades ago. Then there is the cost of living increases for faculty and staff. Insurance policies of all sorts, and many, many expenses, overwhelm the finances of the university. As high as it is, the tuition money covers only a small portion of the residents' training costs. It is an ever-so-expanding feedback loop. By and large, foreign universities don't do tuition; only some miniscule-scale fees. But we do. It is the difference between government sponsorship and non-profit private enterprise models. It is indeed complicated. It might not be solvable within the foreseeable future, at least, by the means available to us.

How do we attract new recruits to academia in the midst of such colossal financial restraints? Universities are cash-strapped; especially, the state-owned ones. Just about every state has cut their allocations, in some states by as much as 50 percent. This is a major blow. Universities are now in a survival mode. We cannot expect a major rise in the salaries earmarked for orthodontic faculty positions any time soon. Fortunately, benefits have stayed the same so far, and they are significant: health care for the family, tuition remission for kids, malpractice, disability, insurances are covered, one-month vacation time in addition to time off for travel to professional meetings, sick leave, personal leave, job security in lifetime employment for tenured faculty, discounts from vendors (mostly electronic devices such as mobile phones, computers, etc.) for being a faculty member, all in addition to retirement benefits, post-retirement long-term health care, and the like. These fringe benefits can be costly in private practice; especially, in the earlier years. If the doctor is not in the office, the cash register does not register. Thus, for the business owner professional meetings, payments for insurance, post retirement expenses, and many other necessary expenses are cash layouts where they are all covered, and are pre-tax at the university. Perhaps, the biggest difference between academia and owning a business is lifestyle.

Certain personalities are more suitable for an academic career and others for owning a business. In an institutional environment there is always someone above, who makes decisions that profoundly affect the life of the faculty member. Whereas, in practice the business owner is the one who affects the lives of others, or his/her own. In this landscape of two different employment schemes, it is reasonable to think there are still a good number of personalities (younger, talented, skilled, more enthused, and better educated) who would want to be academic. But where is the money to pay for the educational loans?

This portrayal above reveals one interesting fact: universities had to tax the students to such an extreme extent, and now, they cannot recruit them to become educators. This is cutting off your nose to spite your face. Unfortunately, if they are to stay in business, they must collect enough tuition to stay in business. This is the ever-so-expanding feedback loop. In our current economic climate, in a manner of speaking, universities must eliminate their supply lines to stay alive until the reinforcements or rescuers arrive. But will they arrive?

The answer to this question is a depressing one: there might never be bailout money for education – certainly, not for the orthodontic educator. For the past 50 years, education was the constant victim of great robberies. Budgets have decreased while the expenses increased. Every government of every U.S. president chose to cut back spending on education. It is a very sad track record for the greatest nation on earth. It we were to look at reduction of funding in education as an attack, then we must develop systems and protocols for defense.

The American Association of Orthodontists has been proactive to establish AAOF fellowships to young faculty. Given the size of educational debt a graduating resident is burdened with, however, the fellowship money does not go far. Here is a proposal for a system of debt burden relief:

Educational loan debt monthly payments are made by a foundation or departmental discretionary funds. Payments will be made as long as the faculty member stays on the job. If s/he wishes to move to a different university or practice, then the payments stop. The funds can come from a variety of sources: increased clinical income, alumni donations, donations from corporations, donations from non-alumni friends, planned giving, and many other sources.

Endowments dedicated to this cause are more meaningful and better return on the investment when compared to endowed professorships. It is important, however, to protect the funds and their earmarked status. Institutions are known to be much too eager to get their hands on any discretionary funds under the university umbrella.

In the grand scheme of things the amount of money paid out for the educational loans of faculty members does not demand big donations from the alumni. For example, if a graduate program has about 200 alumni/ae, each will have to contribute about $36 per month.

One does not have to be an intellectual celebrity to realize our specialty is under attack and invasion. But it is not limited to orthodontics. In medicine, the otolaryngologist, plastic surgeon, dermatologist, they all do everything. The distinction between the specialties has disappeared. Even spinal surgery may be performed both by neurosurgeons or orthopedic surgeons. This invasion of property in the medical model, however, is limited to specialty areas. Consequences of an invasive attack by the general practitioners will be equally devastating to the specialties in medicine and dentistry. Orthodontics has always been at the crosshairs of general practitioners. And recently, the crosshair scope, the weapon and ammunition have gotten easier to use. Fortunately, the orthodontist is still the better marksman because of the educators who have educated him/her.

We, the orthodontists, need to maintain the educational system to stay as the better and special soldiers. The imaging technology has made appliance construction easier, less dependent on manual dexterity; hence, the fuzzy distinction between the orthodontist and the general practitioner. If the general practitioner and orthodontist are armed by the same high-quality weapons (scanners, robots, materials, and software) the excellence of marksmanship will be determined by the level and quality of training and education.

The kind of educational establishment needed is the one that will advance the field away from the rest of the fields of dentistry where orthodontists are equipped with very special knowledge and skills. Advancements are not left only to the manufacturers. Instead, the advances created in the academic settings will pull the specialty away so far that no other dentist can catch up. These advances may be made in imaging technology and biotechnology.

It should behoove everyone to preserve the educational leg of orthodontics. The cost is not much, but the departments must offer payments on the educational loans of newly recruited faculty. It is a matter of self-preservation. We cannot turn to the government or to the universities. It is in our will and power to make the specialty of orthodontics stay special, or to lose it.

I ask all our readers to make it happen.
Author’s Bio
Orhan C. Tuncay, DMD, FCPP, is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Orthodontics at Temple University Kornberg School of Dentistry.
Orthotown Magazine
October 2025
Orthotown Magazine October 2025 Read Current Issue Read Archived Issues
Sponsors
Townie® Poll
When did you last increase your fees?
  
Site Menu
Message Boards Magazine Continuing Education Podcasts Blogs Classifieds News Events Townie® Poll Ebooks Townie Choice Awards
Company Info
Contact Us Advertise With Us Howard Farran DDS, MBA Policies and Agreements
Site Help
Sally Gross, Member Services Specialist
Phone: +1-480-445-9710
Email: sally@farranmedia.com
©2025 Orthotown, a division of Farran Media • All Rights Reserved
9633 S. 48th Street Suite 200 • Phoenix, AZ 85044 • Phone:+1-480-598-0001 • Fax:+1-480-598-3450