Improving the oral health status of all Americans: roles and responsibilities of academic dental institutions: the report of the ADEA President's Commission.

Academic dental institutions are the fundamental underpinning of the nation's oral health. Education, research, and patient care are the cornerstones of academic dentistry that form the foundation upon which the dental profession rises to provide care to the public. The oral health status of Americans has improved dramatically over the past twenty-five to thirty years.