Changes in the Clinical Training of Dental Students at the University of Tennessee College of Dentistry.

Dental education is an ever evolving process due to continual advancements in patient treatment. This article provides the reader with a look into an educational process that affords the student with better clinical experience without an increase in clinical training hours. When a comprehensive care model of education is introduced into a traditional care setting, the comparison of procedures completed with the previous 5 years results indicate an increase in the number of amalgam and composite restorations placed of 26% and an increase in crowns placed of 32.9%. Integration of the dental hygiene program and additional remote sites afford new populations of patients where clinical skills can be developed which will result in a graduate more able to go directly into private practice.

Comparing comprehensive care and departmental clinical education models: students' perceptions at the University of Tennessee College of Dentistry.

In summer 2012, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Dentistry transitioned from a departmental clinical education model to a comprehensive care/group leader model. The aim of this study was to investigate the perspectives of the fourth-year class of dental students who, because the transition took place during their training, had experienced treating patients under both educational models. To achieve this objective, a questionnaire was designed to assess the students' opinions on the efficiency of their effort, availability of specialty faculty, stress, collaboration with classmates, and availability of exposure to different practice styles and techniques under the two systems. The students were also given an opportunity to provide open-ended feedback on the shortcomings and advantages of the systems. The Class of 2013 had 81 students, 55 of whom participated in the survey for a response rate of 67.9%. The majority (86%) of the respondents preferred the comprehensive care model and reported feeling that, in it, they were able to accomplish more comprehensive dentistry with greater consistency of supervision from faculty in a more patient-centered environment than in the departmental model. However, 56 percent considered having the same group leader for two years a disadvantage and recommended rotation of at least one group leader every six months. The results of this survey can help this college and other dental schools that are seeking to optimize their educational model to best serve students' educational experience and the dental needs of their patient population.

Interprofessional education between dentistry and nursing: the NYU experience.

In 2005, New York University Colleges of Dentistry and Nursing formed an organizational partnership to create a unique model of interprofessional education, research, service and practice. This paper describes the first eight years of experience, from the early reaction of the public to the partnership, to examples of success and past and current challenges.

A glimpse into the curricular format of comprehensive care clinics in Brazilian dental schools.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to describe some curricular aspects of comprehensive dental care clinics in Brazil. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An email survey was sent to all academic affairs deans of Brazilian undergraduate dental programmes. It contained questions regarding the (1) curricular format and (2) characteristics of comprehensive dental care clinics. RESULTS: Sixty-seven dental schools agreed to participate. It was observed that curricular changes have contributed to modify the structure of these clinics in 88.1% of the schools surveyed. The main alteration was related to an increase in credit hours and offer of this type of care at different levels of the dental curriculum. In 95.5% of the schools, clinical procedures were prioritized according to level of complexity. Inter-disciplinarity (37.3%) and teaching innovation (58.2%) were frequent challenges in the process of change. Progress in combining teaching and clinical services was reported by 50.8% of schools. In 32.8%, clinical procedures were still being performed intra-murally. CONCLUSIONS: Changes in the curriculum of Brazilian comprehensive dental care clinics were observed by this survey.

Embedding a population oral health perspective in the dental curriculum.

Over the past 40 years, oral healthcare has changed dramatically as a consequence of changing disease profiles and population demography. However, dental disease continues to be highly prevalent and costly to treat. Furthermore, it has been recognized that there are inequalities, with tooth loss being influenced by social, cultural and economic factors. Undergraduate education has been task oriented, with a heavy emphasis on training in technical aspects of treating disease. However, oral healthcare education needs to include a population health perspective, and each professional programme should describe appropriate learning outcomes for population oral health. This includes the need to understand health systems and health trends, and to have knowledge of the evidence base for community prevention strategies and health promotion. A key challenge in embedding population oral health into the curriculum is to break down traditional boundaries in the curriculum and to make teaching of this subject context specific and interdisciplinary. Embedding population oral health offers the potential to create synergies between educators and health service providers with the ultimate benefit of producing a reflective and holistic oral health practitioner. There are challenges, but it is important to produce graduates whose attitudes and clinical practices will be shaped by a sound knowledge of population oral health.

Implant dentistry in Australian undergraduate dental curricula: knowledge and competencies for the graduating dentist.

AIMS: The aim of this paper is to define the key competencies (knowledge, skills, attitudes and values) in the field of implant dentistry, necessary for graduating general practitioners in Australia. The authors have produced a headline reference guide to outline the necessary educational outcomes which can be targeted by the undergraduate curricula in dental schools of Australian universities. This paper focuses on competencies and aims to clarify curricula 'endpoints' rather than processes. The process towards achieving these outcomes and the instructional methods and strategies might vary among universities. The authors acknowledge that there are different ways to reach the targeted learning outcomes and that there is a diversity of curricular approaches, structures and methodologies among Australian dental schools, which are enriching and desirable educationally. Specific educational strategies also with regards to the teaching of implant dentistry have been addressed in previous work and will not be covered in this paper. This paper will not address extracurricular courses, special degrees or training after graduation.

Comprehensive dental services for an underserved and medically compromised population provided through a community partnership and service learning.

The University of the Pacific, Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry in San Francisco established a comprehensive dental care program at Laguna Honda Hospital, a public, skilled nursing facility. The program had three goals: (1) to provide dental students and residents an opportunity to provide oral health care for adults who were frail and medically compromised who could not come into the clinics, (2) to increase students' access to patients who needed removable prosthodontics, and (3) to fulfill Pacific's commitment to public service. Laguna Honda and Pacific pooled their resources to bring comprehensive dental care to patients who were not able to access the dental school clinics. The long-term goals are to restore and maintain the oral health of those who reside in the facility, and to educate future dentists to provide oral health care for similar populations.

Increasing minority enrollment utilizing dental admissions workshop strategies.

Oral Health in America, the landmark U.S. surgeon general's report, inextricably connects oral health disparities with poor access to oral care by vulnerable populations. Furthermore, the report associates an insufficiently diverse dental workforce with oral health disparities among some minority groups. Successful strategies to curtail oral health disparities and remedy work-force issues require collaboration among all involved in dental education. As gatekeepers to dental programs, admissions committees are significant stakeholders in diversifying the dental workforce. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that a workshop on diversity in admissions can modify the perceptions of individuals involved in the student recruitment and admissions processes and lead to increased matriculation of underrepresented minority students. Emerging from the workshop were key concepts and action steps for promoting a holistic review of dental applicants. Results since implementing the workshop recommendations have been positive, with underrepresented minority dental student acceptances increasing sixfold. The workshop was cosponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and facilitated by two nationally recognized dental educators.

Evolution of dental school clinics as patient care delivery centers.

Dental school clinics, originally envisioned as closely similar to private practice, evolved instead as teaching clinics. In the former, graduate and licensed dentists perform the treatment while undergraduate dental students are assigned treatment within their capabilities. In the latter, dental students provide the treatment under faculty supervision. It is generally recognized that the care provided by the teaching clinics is inefficient. However, in the last quarter of the twentieth century, dental school clinics began to pay much more attention to how treatment is rendered. The comprehensive care movement and quality assurance systems are leading towards more efficient patient-centered care. Case studies at the University of Maryland, Columbia University, and University of Louisville describe activities to make their clinic programs more efficient and patient-friendly. This article explores whether the potential exists for faculty to take a direct patient care delivery role in dental clinics in order for those clinics to become efficient patient care delivery systems as originally envisioned in the early part of the twentieth century.

Evolution of dental school clinics as patient care delivery centers.

Dental school clinics, originally envisioned as closely similar to private practice, evolved instead as teaching clinics. In the former, graduate and licensed dentists perform the treatment while undergraduate dental students are assigned treatment within their capabilities. In the latter, dental students provide the treatment under faculty supervision. It is generally recognized that the care provided by the teaching clinics is inefficient. However, in the last quarter of the twentieth century, dental school clinics began to pay much more attention to how treatment is rendered. The comprehensive care movement and quality assurance systems are leading towards more efficient patient-centered care. Case studies at the University of Maryland, Columbia University, and University of Louisville describe activities to make their clinic programs more efficient and patient-friendly. This article explores whether the potential exists for faculty to take a direct patient care delivery role in dental clinics in order for those clinics to become efficient patient care delivery systems as originally envisioned in the early part of the twentieth century.

A new era of dental education at the University of Sydney, Australia.

Dental education is currently under scrutiny in order to most appropriately address community needs for the new millennium. Educational outcomes need to include a commitment to life-long learning, and an emphasis on professional ethics and moral responsibility. These needs are supported by new forms of information delivery with a focus on the electronic media, by student centred and self-directed coursework, and by clinical stimulation. Additionally, at the University of Sydney, selection will follow a first degree. This will allow candidates time for an informed decision to be made for their future professional career and for a period of experience in the tertiary education system.

Reflections on changes in geriatric dentistry.

The development of geriatric dental education programs in the United States and at the University of Iowa over the last twenty years is reviewed. The program at Iowa evolved from a didactic elective program taught by a single faculty person to required didactic and clinical programs that include a special care clinic in the dental school and a mobile unit with portable equipment serving ten area nursing homes with comprehensive care. Factors influencing the curriculum development are identified and discussed, and as no dental schools are the same, some general applications are suggested from the Iowa experience.

Veintisiete años de seguimiento de las clínicas integrales de la Facultad de Odontología de la U. de A. (1970 - 1996). Parte II: evaluación del período 1970 - 1989 / A twenty-year follow-up of the comprehensive clinics of the School of Dentistry, U. de A. (1970 - 1996). Part II: evaluation of the 1970 - 1989 period

La evaluación de las clínicas integrales en el período 1970 - 1989 fue hecha por medio del estudio retrospectivo de la historia de los pacientes. Se estudió una muestra de 102 historias de un total de 356, representativas a un nivel de seguridad del 98 por ciento. Esta investigación permite identificar las clínicas integrales como un método clínico para la docencia, pero que prsentó serias limitaciones en el período estudiado en aspectos curriculares y en la evaluación de la "estructura", el "proceso" y los "resultados" como elementos integrantes de la calidad de un servicio de salud. Se prestan varias sugerencias de apoyo político-administrativo de esas clínicas para mejorar sus resultados en el campo docente y en el de prestación de servicios