Dentaltown July 2018 - 10

howard speaks
column

hygienists from Wichita will commute out to my rural area." So
I suggested that they sponsor a "Why I Want to Be a Hygienist"
essay contest at their small-town high school, and award the best
one a scholarship for the tuition.
After that, one dentist called asking for help: Two students
had submitted great essays, and he wanted me to help him pick
a winner. I said no, and instead suggested that he give them both
the deal. "You're right," he said. "I mean, my practice would go to
a different level if I had two full-time hygienists-I've never had
even one in the past 10 years."
Both students applied to hygiene school ... and they didn't get
accepted! The deans and admission departments think that the

See Howard Live!
Howard Farran, DDS, MBA, is an international speaker
who has written books and dozens of articles. To schedule Howard to speak at your next national, state or local
dental meeting, email rebecca@farranmedia.com.

2018

Sept.
12

State of New York 9th District
Dental Association

Sept.
15

Ohio Dental Association Annual Session

Sept.
21

Patterson Dental

Crowne Plaza, Suffern

Greater Columbus Convention Center

Lamplighter Inn and Conference Center,
London, Ontario

Oct.
5

14th annual MegaGen
International Symposium

Nov.
2

Harrisburg Area Dental Society

Mandalay Bay Convention Center,
Las Vegas, Nevada

Radisson Penn Harris Convention Center,
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

JULY 2018 // dentaltown.com

most important thing is a student's DAT scores-their grades in
algebra, calculus, physics, geometry and biology.
They're loading up their dental and hygiene schools with
people who get straight A's in algebra and calculus. Most of those
students are from big cities-and when they're done with school,
they go back to the big city. If schools accepted a quota of students
from small towns, they almost always go back to those towns after
they graduate.
You can be one of the greatest dentists or hygienists in the world
and absolutely hate algebra, trig and calculus. I still am mesmerized
that at least 50 percent of my nine years of college had nothing to
do with dentistry. And so, if you want rural doctors, physicians,
lawyers, you need to start working with the deans to get off their
stupid entrance exams and start looking at the students themselves.

It's not happening just in dentistry, either
Another example: The last time I was out driving in the countryside with my son, we stopped to check out a mine in northern
Arizona. When I asked the manager what his biggest problem was,
he said that they needed more mechanical engineers but none of the
ones in Phoenix wanted to move to a small town of 5,000 people.
When the students from that mining town of 5,000 apply to
colleges, they probably don't have high-enough GPAs to get accepted
and become mechanical engineers. Why do state schools think
that it's better for state mines-the profits from which are funding
the taxes that pay for the schools-to have too few mechanical
engineers than to admit some that made B's and C's in high school?
Small towns don't need just dentists and hygienists, physicians and
nurses. They need engineers and electricians-they need all the
degrees-but all the universities are obsessed with entrance exam
scores and it's killing the rural towns.
Do you see any solutions to this problem? Should schools
instill a quota-a percentage of students that come from smaller
towns-similar to what Title IX did for women? ■

Is Howard spot-on, or
should he be told off?
To tell Dr. Howard Farran your opinion about dental
therapists, or about what you think could help bring
dentistry to the communities that need it most, visit
dentaltown.com/magazine and leave your comment in
the section under this column.

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Dentaltown July 2018