A mathematical simulation approach to testing innovative models of dental education.

A combination of the increasing costs associated with providing a complex clinical program and an ever-reducing education-based income finds dental schools throughout Australia continuing to face serious financial risk. Even more important is the growing workforce crisis in academic staffing faced in almost all dental schools as the impact of the widening gap between private practice incomes and academic remuneration takes effect. This study developed a model of core variables and their relationship that was then transformed into a mathematical simulation tool that can be applied to test various scenarios and variable changes. The simulation model was tested against a theoretical dental education arrangement and found that this arrangement was a commercially viable pathway for new providers to enter the dental education market. This type of mathematical simulation approach is an important technique for analysis of the complex financial and operational management of modern dental schools.