The annual Federal Service Dental Educators’ Workshop (FSDEW) continues to play a central role in aligning and advancing dental care education across the Military Health System.
Hosted each year by the Uniformed Services University’s (USU) Postgraduate Dental College (PDC) in Bethesda, Maryland, the workshop brings together senior dental educators from across the Army, Navy, and Air Force to guide the future of Tri-Service Graduate Dental Education (GDE) programs. Planning for the event follows a 12-month cycle that rotates leadership among the Services, with the U.S. Army partnering on the 2026 workshop.
Retired Air Force Col. (Dr.) Jay Graver, associate dean for Faculty Affairs at the PDC, said early and continuous coordination is essential to the workshop’s success.
“We begin planning the next workshop while the current one is still underway,” Graver said. “That continuity allows us to stay responsive to emerging educational needs and advances in dental medicine.”
FSDEW also serves as a key forum for federal collaboration. Participants include partners from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which operates its own graduate dental education programs. VA involvement in the upcoming workshop reflects renewed opportunities for shared learning and alignment across federal agencies.
According to Graver, the workshop provides a structured environment to assess evolving requirements and technologies.
“FSDEW allows us to systematically review needs, requirements, and new and emerging technologies,” he said. “Topics range from artificial intelligence and innovations in teaching, to improved clinical techniques that enhance training and patient care.”
In-person engagement is a cornerstone of the event. FSDEW convenes directors from 55 graduate dental education programs, including 19 Master of Science programs, 26 one-year programs across the Services, and 10 Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery programs.
The workshop is designed to break down historical silos between Services. Through service-specific and specialty-specific breakout sessions, educators share best practices, review inspection outcomes, and identify opportunities to improve efficiency, effectiveness, and resource management across the GDE enterprise.
Service-specific sessions also provide a direct channel for feedback to representatives from the Defense Health Agency, ensuring that insights from educators inform broader policy and decision-making.
By strengthening collaboration, FSDEW helps ensure that military dental educators remain academically current and operationally prepared. The workshop emphasizes operational dentistry, reflecting the unique demands placed on military dentists in deployed and battlefield environments.
“The best trained educators provide the best trained residents, who provide the best care to our Department of War beneficiaries,” Graver said.
Through its leadership of FSDEW, the USU Postgraduate Dental College reaffirms its commitment to educational excellence, collaboration, and readiness, supporting high-quality dental care and the long-term health and operational effectiveness of the military force.