Short-term international dental experiences in undergraduate dental students at an Australian university.

INTRODUCTION: Learning through international experience has been well documented in USA literature, yet not well explored in Australia. The aim of this study is to understand Australian dental students' experiences and perceptions of international dental experience by: (i) capturing past participation; (ii) identifying potential interests for participants who have not been on a trip and (iii) ascertaining perceived benefits of the trip/s. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A 19 question paper survey was distributed to 310 eligible undergraduate dental students of The University of Queensland (UQ). An online counterpart survey was created via Google Forms and promoted on relevant Facebook groups targeted at current dental students of UQ. RESULTS: A total of 203 of the 310 eligible UQ undergraduate dental students responded to the distributed paper and electronic surveys making the response rate 65.5%. A total of 13 undergraduate respondents participated in an international experience trip. The majority of respondents who had not participated in an international dental experience trip were interested in participating in one. Education (84.6%) and improved dental skills (84.6%) were the most reported perceived benefits by the students who had participated in an international dental experience. CONCLUSION: A majority of respondents were interested in participating in international dental experiences. Despite this, only 1 in 15 respondents had participated in an international dental experience. Further exploration of this concept is needed; however, dental schools within Australia could potentially explore integration of international short-term dental experiences into formal curricula in the future.

Color formulation and reproduction of opaque dental ceramic.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to determine the validity and accuracy of mixing opaque feldspathic dental ceramic to obtain specific shades using two methods: (1) Concentration Additivity of Optical Parameters (CALAB) and (2) Concentration Additivity of Kubelka-Munk Optical Coefficients (CAK/S). METHODS: A total of 25 opaque feldspathic dental ceramic specimens were fabricated by mixing six different pure shades in different concentrations. The reflectance spectra were measured and the actual CIELAB L*, a* and b* coordinates were obtained for the 25 specimens. The CALAB and CAK/S methods were used to predict the L*, a* and b* values with reference to the concentrations of the pure shades. Correlation analysis was carried out between the actual and predicted L*, a* and b* values for both methods. The color differences (DeltaE*) between actual and predicted L*, a* and b* values were also calculated and analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA. RESULTS: Pearson's correlation coefficients between predicted and actual values for both methods were greater than 0.98. The mean DeltaE*s were 0.24 (0.11) for CALAB method and 0.21 (0.11) for the CAK/S method. The repeated measures ANOVA revealed a statistically significant difference (P=0.0213) between the mean DeltaE*s from the two methods. SIGNIFICANCE: Both methods produced mean DeltaE*s between the actual and predicted methods that were below the threshold of human perceptibility. The simpler CALAB method can be used to determine the opaque ceramic mixture for specific shades with accuracy.