Roles and competences for educators of undergraduate dental students: a discussion paper.

INTRODUCTION: Dental educators are important people who contribute to the development of every aspect of dental education. In part due to the lack of understanding of their roles and competences, dental educator development has so far received little consideration. With the aim of enhancing the dental profession's contribution to the development of undergraduate dental education, this article explores common roles of educators of undergraduate dental students and the competences needed to be effective educators. METHODS: This is a discussion paper based on a wide reading of the literature on the education of health professionals with a specific focus on roles and competences of educators. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Roles of educators of undergraduate dental students typically encompass four areas: teaching, research, administration and providing healthcare. Educators may not be involved in every role; they normally perform the roles relevant to their work contexts. Competences for dental educators based on the four main roles comprise 12 domains: educational theories and principles; modes of education; learner issues; educational materials and instructional design; assessment and feedback; curriculum matters; evaluation; educational research; educational management; quality assurance; patient care and healthcare system and professionalism. Not all competences are required by all educators although educators need to be competent in the areas related to their roles and duties. CONCLUSION: Understanding the roles and competences for educators of undergraduate dental students can help individual educators to improve their personal effectiveness and institutions to tailor staff development programmes appropriate to the needs of their staff. Faculty development contributes to sustained enhancement of undergraduate dental education.

Culture and its influences on dental education.

INTRODUCTION: Culture is an important factor influencing how students develop learning and how educators provide support to students. The aim of this paper is to explore a concept of national European cultures, and relationships between culture and educational practice with the intention of helping the dental profession gain a better understanding of effective teaching and learning in dentistry. CONTENT: Culture represents the collective behaviours, values and beliefs of people in a society. How people react to education is partly explained by culture. Students utilise different culturally based strategies to develop learning. We apply Hofstede's model to explore European cultures and implications for dental education and educational practice. Most Western students possess assimilating learning styles enabling them to learn effectively in student-centred contexts while most Eastern students have accommodating learning styles and are more familiar with teacher-centred learning. Eastern students may need to adapt their approach to learning to better benefit from student-centred learning. CONCLUSION: Culture influences students' learning and educational practice. Dental educators should be aware of such influences and provide support that acknowledges students' different cultural backgrounds. Cultural competence is fundamental for effective teaching and learning in dentistry.

Developing educators of European undergraduate dental students: Towards an agreed curriculum.

INTRODUCTION: Recent developments in European dental education are student-focused, concerned with competency-based and problem-based learning. The development of dental educators has so far received little consideration. This study aimed to agree curriculum content for developing dental educators so that they are better able to support changing undergraduate dental education. METHODS: Adopting consensus methodology, a 2-round Delphi was conducted in 2012. Fifty-three dental educators and 39 dental students across Europe volunteered to take part. The Delphi questionnaire was developed based on literature, piloted and sent to participants to gather opinions and seek consensus on educational content using rating scales and open-ended questions. Numeric data were analysed using descriptive statistics, and qualitative data were analysed thematically. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: This study revealed 7 domains of curriculum content for dental educators. Four of these domains were considered essential: educational principles; educational practice in dentistry; curriculum, quality and improvement; and educational professionalism. Three domains were viewed as optional and could be tailored to local needs: educational principles in relation to specific contexts, educational research, and educational and healthcare management. When developing training for dental educators, factors which need consideration were identified as the academic position and teaching experience of educators, and the nature of clinical dental education. CONCLUSION: The results are beneficial for individual educators to inform professional development plans; institutions to devise faculty developments; ADEE to inform policies on developing European dental educators; and other disciplines to inform training for their educators.

Competence, competency-based education, and undergraduate dental education: a discussion paper.

INTRODUCTION: The aim of undergraduate dental education is to provide competent dentists to serve societal needs and improve population oral healthcare. Competency-based education has influenced the development of dental education for decades but this term is problematic. This article explores components of competency-based undergraduate health professional education in order to help the dental profession have a better understanding of the context and purposes of undergraduate dental education. METHODS: This is a discussion paper based on a wide reading of the literature on the education of health professionals with a specific focus on competency-based undergraduate education. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Competence comprises an integration of knowledge, skills and attitudes indicating a capability to perform professional tasks safely and ethically. The process of becoming a competent practitioner is complex. Four characteristics of competency-based education are: curriculum components and content shaped by societal needs; focused on student-centred learning; learning achievement; and limited attention to time-based training and numerical targets. Alongside a competency-based approach, undergraduate dental education can be influenced by institutional features and external factors but these receive little consideration in the literature. CONCLUSION: Understanding competence, competency-based education, and institutional and external factors will help to improve educational quality, define roles and professional development for the dental educator, and inform further research.

Acceptability of a reflective e-portfolio instituted in an orthodontic specialist programme: a pilot study.

AIM: The purpose of the study was to highlight students' and mentors' acceptability of a reflective e-portfolio instituted in a postgraduate orthodontic programme in the UK. METHODS: A reflective e-portfolio was developed on the basis of principles provided by a literature search and was piloted for 2 months with six students and seven mentors. At the end of the experience, mentors' and students' acceptability of the e-portfolio with a reflective component was studied using questionnaires. The data were analysed using basic quantitative and qualitative methods. RESULTS: Students' response highlighted acceptability issues related to each aspect of the e-portfolio derived from the literature: relevance of the e-portfolio reflective part; time required for the process; support and mentoring; the implementation method; and the electronic medium. Mentors showed a more positive attitude towards the e-portfolio, expressing only some concerns about the time involved in using it. Furthermore, the analysis of the data highlighted some other acceptability matters: the specificity of the e-portfolio, the communication amongst students and the relationship between students and mentors. CONCLUSIONS: The future successful implementation of the reflective e-portfolio will depend on the productive management of the acceptability issues identified by students and mentors, in particular:(i)the specificity of the e-portfolio that would avoid its overlapping with other part of the programme;(ii)the increasing communication amongst students to improve their knowledge of the reflective writing process; and (iii)the development of a relationship between students and mentors helping to create the appropriate environment for reflection.

Deformation of the palate in preterm infants.

AIM: To investigate the effect of gestation, postmenstrual age, and orotracheal intubation on palate morphology. METHODS: A prospective study was made of 76 newborn infants of 25 to 41 weeks' gestation. Palate dimensions were measured on plaster models produced from serial palatal impressions. Palate size relative to that of the mouth was assessed using a ratio of palate depth to palate width (Palatal Index). RESULTS: Palate depth and width were related to postmenstrual age and gestation. Palatal Index ranged from 0.15 to 0.57, indicating a wide variation in palate shape, but gestation and postmenstrual age had no effect. Prolonged intubation had a small effect, equivalent to an increase in palatal depth of less than 2 mm at 32 weeks' postmenstrual age. The effect was transient. CONCLUSION: Prolonged orotracheal intubation (> 10 days) leads to a small and temporary increase in palatal depth. However, this is unlikely to account for palatal grooving, which is probably caused by an overgrowth of the lateral palatine ridges.

Loss of the first permanent molar and caries experience of adjacent teeth.

The caries experience of the occlusal and distal surfaces of the second premolars and the occlusal and mesial surfaces of the second permanent molars was examined in four groups of subjects aged 19-20 years. Group 1 comprised subjects with first permanent molars present, Group 2 subjects with early loss of the first permanent molar (before the age of 11-12 years), Group 3 subjects with late loss of the first permanent molar (after 11-12 years but before 15-16 years) and Group 4 included a combination of Group 2 and Group 3. Loss of the first permanent molar was associated with increased caries or restorations in the occlusal surfaces of adjacent teeth, but reduced caries or restorations in the proximal surfaces of adjacent teeth. Early loss of the first molar was associated with significantly greater caries or restoration experience in proximal surfaces than late loss, but no difference was detected for occlusal surfaces.

A computerised method of monitoring and assessing undergraduate clinical activity.

This article describes the development and use of an electronic data acquisition system for monitoring and assessing the clinical activity of undergraduate dental students. The advantages of such a system over a paper-based one is that it can generate reports quickly and easily, showing the variety of clinical experience gained by the undergraduates and an assessment of the level of skill displayed. It also relieves academic staff of the tedious, repetitive task of collecting and collating data by hand.

Tongue size, oral cavity size and speech.

Methods of measuring tongue size are evaluated, and protruded tongue size is related to sex, malocclusion, and speech. Significant correlations are found with sex and speech.

Case report: treatment of the late eruption of an ectopic maxillary canine.

A case is documented which presents an unusual sequence of events that led to the eruption of a previously impacted tooth. Treatment using fixed appliances and restorative measures achieved an acceptable result for the patient.

Root resorption of a partially erupted tooth: a case report.

This article reports a case of a maxillary second premolar which on presentation was partially erupted, and which resisted attempts at orthodontic extrusion. The crown of the tooth was eventually restored using an adhesive composite onlay technique. The patient subsequently complained of pain and the root of the tooth showed radiographic evidence of resorption. The root of the extracted tooth had a vital pulp but massive external resorption was evident, with repair with bone-like material.