Orthodontic curriculum in Saudi Arabia: Faculty members' perception of clinical learning outcomes.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to assess the perception of orthodontic staff members around clinical learning outcomes (LOs) of the undergraduate orthodontic curriculum with a focus on dental schools in Saudi Arabia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-three LOs were formulated, all of which were associated with skills required in the undergraduate orthodontics course. Orthodontic staff members were invited to provide their opinion regarding the curriculum using a Likert scale, whereby participants could answer each question on a scale from "Strongly Agree" to "Strongly Disagree." RESULTS: Sixty-one teaching staff members agreed to partake in this study. The highest level of agreement among the participants pertained to conducting systematic orthodontic intraoral and extraoral examinations (100%), followed by explaining causes for space loss (98.3%). The lowest level of agreement was regarding executing a treatment plan for non-skeletal cases (62.2%) followed by skills of fabrication and activation of removable appliances (77%). Around 67.1% of the academics refused to allow dental students to select and bond orthodontic brackets. CONCLUSION: It is time to amalgamate the objectives and create a unified national list of LOs for all orthodontic curriculums across the country without any distinction of knowledge or skills required at the undergraduate level.

Effect of various digital cement space settings on the adaptation of CAD/CAM occlusal veneer "micro-ct evaluation".

The aim was to evaluate the adaptation of CAD/CAM occlusal veneer with different cement space settings using micro CT scan. Three groups of IPS e.max-CAD lithium disilicate occlusal veneers with different cement space settings (30, 40, and 50 µm) were produced. A circle with 20 different diameters was centered at the center of the same image position of every scanned specimen using micro CT scan to measure four different locations [Occlusal (OCG), axial (AXG), Marginal (MAG), and absolute marginal discrepancy values (AMD)]. Kruskal-Wallis test revealed that there were no statistical differences between (OCG), (AXG), and (AMD) tested groups (p>0.05), and statistical differences between (MAG) group and other two groups (p<0.05). An increase in the digital cement space significantly improved the marginal fit of IPS e.max-CAD occlusal veneer.

Side Effects Reported by Jordanian Healthcare Workers Who Received COVID-19 Vaccines.

Background Distribution of COVID-19 vaccines has been surrounded by suspicions and rumors making it necessary to provide the public with accurate reports from trustworthy experts such as healthcare professionals. Methods We distributed a questionnaire in Jordan among physicians, dentists and nurses who received a COVID-19 vaccine to explore the side effects (SE) they encountered after the first or the second dose of one of three vaccines namely: AstraZeneca Vaxzevria (AZ), Pfizer-BioNTeck (PB), and SinoPharm (SP) vaccines. Results A total of 409 professionals participated. Approximately 18% and 31% of participants reported no SE after the first dose and second dose, respectively. The remainder had mostly local side effects related to injection site (74%). Systemic side effects in the form of fatigue (52%), myalgia (44%), headache (42%), and fever (35%) prevailed mainly after the first dose. These were significantly associated with AZ vaccine, and age ≤ 45 years (p = 0.000 and 0.01, respectively). No serious SE were reported. Conclusions We can conclude that SE of COVID-19 vaccines distributed in Jordan are within the common range known so far for these vaccines. Further studies are needed to include larger sample size and longer follow-up period to monitor possible serious and long-term SE of the vaccines.