Dental schools filling classrooms

Through the 1980s, the worst cavities found in dental schoolswere unfilled classrooms, but officials are starting to smile again.

"This year we will see an increase in applications for the firsttime since 1978," said Barbara Callahan, director of admissions forLoyola University's school of dentistry.

At Northwestern, said admissions director Christy Sheasley, thisis the second year of increased admissions after 15 years of decline.Last year, applications to the school of dentistry rose 10 percent;thus far this year they are up 17.3 percent.

At the University of Illinois, however, applications are runningthe same as last year.

Nationally, said American Dental Association spokesman PhilipWeintraub, the number of applications has fluctuated for severalyears, but enrollment was down for 12 years before last fall when itrose by 4,001.

The salutary effects of fluoride on reducing tooth decay islargely credited with reducing the demand for dentists, but thatsituation is expected to change. Weintraub said current projectionsshow there will be fewer dentists by the turn of the century thanthere are now.

Women accounted for 35 percent of first-year students last fall,an 11.3 percent increase from the 1989 school year.

"It's a particularly good career for women," Callahan said."Very rarely in dentistry do you get a call in the middle of thenight for consultation. A woman can easily structure her family lifeand professional life to accommodate both."

Medical schools have been drawing increased interest in the lasttwo years following a steady decline starting in 1976-77. This yeara 15 percent jump in applications is expected nationally, but at someChicago area schools gains are even more impressive.

At the University of Chicago, applications are up 37 percentwith 5,333 applicants vying for 104 first-year openings.

At the University of Illinois, the nation's largest medicalschool, applications are 20 percent higher with about 4,000applications for 300 spots. Many applicants from out of state willbe disappointed, however, because only 10 percent of the slots can goto nonresidents, said Donna Kanofsy, assistant admissions director.

At Northwestern, applications are up 26.6 percent.

At Loyola they are up 30 percent.

"More people are applying from non-science backgrounds, morewomen, all slightly older by a half year or so on average, but at themargins a goodly number of older folks," said Louis Kettel, aphysician and vice president for academic affairs of the Associationof American Medical Colleges.