RESUMO
Student engagement while learning a new, unfamiliar vocabulary is challenging in health science courses. A group role-play activity was created to teach students medical terminology and learn why its correct usage is important. This activity brought engagement and relevance to a topic traditionally taught through lecture and rote memorization and led to the development of an undergraduate and a stand-alone introductory course to teach students medical terminology. The undergraduate course was designed to be a fully online medical terminology course for health science students and a face-to-face course for first-year dental students founded in active learning and group work. The course's centerpiece learning activity focused on using published case studies with role-play. In this group activity, students are challenged to interpret a published patient case study as one of the members of a healthcare team. This course models the group work inherent in modern health care to practice building community and practicing professional skills. This approach gives students the capacity to work asynchronously in a team-based approach using our learning management system's wiki tool and requires students to take responsibility for their learning and group dynamics. Students practice identification, writing, analyzing, and speaking medical terms while rotating through the roles. Students in both classes self-reported a 92% to 99% strong or somewhat agreement using a five-point Likert scale that the course pedagogy was valued and helpful in their learning of medical terminology. Overall, this method has proven to be an engaging way for students to learn medical terminology.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Role-play can engage students and encourage learning in identification, pronouncing, writing, and understanding medical terminology in multiple course formats.
RESUMO
Most mandibular second molars are usually found to have either one or two roots. However, mandibular second molars can also present with variations in the number of roots as well as differences in the morphology of their root canals. An 18-year-old male presented to the Department of Graduate Endodontics clinic with a morphologically variable mandibular second molar with three roots-two mesial and one distal. Two periapical radiographs were taken at different angles, revealing that there were three different canals in separate roots, each with independent portals of exit. This is a rare anatomical configuration. The success of endodontic treatment depends on accurate diagnosis, careful examination, identification of additional roots and canals, as well as detection of variations in root canal morphology. Failing to recognize these variations may lead to failures of root canal treatments and thus unsuccessful endodontic treatment.
RESUMO
PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: To determine the perceptions about the ill-effects of nicotine in students and faculty at a Midwestern dental school. This information will help inform the school and improve teaching on this subject during a time when electronic nicotine delivery systems are increasingly popular. METHODS: An online survey of dental students and faculty of a Midwestern dental school was deployed in November, 2020 to determine their level of misperception about the ill effects of nicotine. An online Qualtrics survey was administered to approximately 212 predoctoral students at a dental institution and approximately 100 part- and full-time faculty at the same school. RESULTS: The response rate for faculty was 55.1% and that for students was 37.5%. The majority of faculty and students "agreed" or "strongly agreed" that nicotine causes cancer, birth defects, cardiovascular disease, oral inflammation, and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. CONCLUSIONS: Dental school faculty and students linked the risks of smoking tobacco to nicotine. Based on the results of this study, we feel our institution's curriculum should consider including information specific to nicotine in addition to tobacco in general.