University Times

Pitt's School of Dental Medicine has been reaccredited by the American Dental Association (ADA).

An ADA committee accredited all of the school's academic programs for another eight years. They include the first professional DMD program, the dental hygiene education program and all of the advanced education programs including endodontics, oral and maxillofacial surgery, orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics, periodontics, prosthodontics, maxillofacial prosthodontics and general dentistry.

The ADA sent a full report of its findings, including detailed analyses and recommendations, to dental school administrators.

According to pediatric dentistry department chairperson Dennis N. Ranalli — who, as site visit coordinator, helped the school's departments prepare for the ADA accreditation committee visit — the report was "very positive, even more positive than we had expected. Of the 250 or so standards that the accreditation committee could have cited as needing improvement, they cited only a couple." The ADA released only a one-paragraph public statement confirming the reaccreditation. ADA policy leaves it to the discretion of individual school administrations to release details of accreditation reports.

When the University Times requested a copy of the report last month, Ranalli referred the newspaper to the office of dental school Dean Jon Suzuki. The dean's office has not responded to the Times's requests. The Times also tried, unsuccessfully, to get a copy of the report this week through the UPMC Health System News Bureau.

Dental school personnel prepared for the ADA site visit by undergoing a three-year self-study of all school programs, facilities, faculty and finances, Ranalli noted. The school assembled thousands of pages of documents for the accreditation committee, held pre-visit meetings of faculty, staff and students (including a faculty retreat last winter that was devoted to the accreditation process) and published an Accreditation Update newsletter.

— Bruce Steele