
Let's face it...
Students are under pressure.
New dental providers are expected to diagnose & practice faster than ever before while juggling new challenges.

Today's grads confront new challenges

The U.S. Population is Aging
The number of older Americans (>65 years old) will more than double over the next 40 years.
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In this population, the mean number of drugs taken is now 4.3 per person.

Polypharmacy Kills
2 in 3 U.S. adults take 1+ prescription drug. 1 in 3 older Americans take 5+.
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Adverse drug reactions are reportedly the 4th leading cause of death in the U.S., though the actual impact may be even greater.

Greater Responsibility
Internists and orthopedic surgeons are increasingly shifting responsibility onto the dentist to make the final clinical decision regarding pre-medication.
Sources: Urban Institute; Innes 2024; U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Gøtzsche 2024
Students are struggling. Are your resources enough?
With 83%* of students lacking confidence, it's clear we need to transform how they manage medication information.
*From an October 2024 survey of 54 students from one school
How do you typically feel when tasked with looking up medication information for a patient?

For the same price as a drug reference book, our students now have access to the MedAssent DDS web portal which offers easily searchable drug information with a focus on oral implications.
We are using this tool to enrich students' pharmacology projects and their clinical experience. The feature we are most excited about is that the portal allows students to search for possible drug interactions.

We have found that MedAssent DDS offers our students a superior interactive learning experience, and our Pharmacology professors report that, because of the interactive nature of the website and ease of looking up information, students use this resource more often than traditional methods.
Harold Jennings, RDH
Associate Director of Dental Hygiene Programs, Plaza College
Director of Part-time Evening and Weekend Track, Plaza College
Immediate Past President, New York Dental Hygienists' Association