The Role of Faculty Development in Improving the Quality of Multiple-Choice Questions in Dental Education.

Valid and reliable assessment of students' knowledge and skills is integral to dental education. However, most faculty members receive no formal training on student assessment techniques. The aim of this study was to quantify the value of a professional development program designed to improve the test item-writing skills of dental faculty members. A quasi-experimental (pretest, intervention, posttest) study was conducted with faculty members in the dental school of Majmaah University, Saudi Arabia. Data assessed were 450 multiple-choice questions (MCQs) from final exams in 15 courses in 2017 (prior to the intervention; pretest) and the same number in 2018 (after the intervention; posttest). The intervention was a faculty development program implemented in 2018 to improve the writing of MCQs. This training highlighted construct-irrelevant variance-the abnormal increase or decrease in test scores due to factors extraneous to constructs of interest-and provided expert advice to rectify flaws. Item analysis of pre- and post-intervention MCQs determined the difficulty index, discrimination index, and proportion of non-functional distractors for each question. MCQs on 2017 and 2018 exams were compared on each of these parameters. The results showed statistically significant improvements in MCQs from 2017 to 2018 on all parameters. MCQs with low discrimination decreased, those with high discrimination increased, and the proportion of questions with more than two non-functional distractors were reduced. These results provide evidence of improved test item quality following implementation of a long-term faculty development program. Additionally, the findings underscore the need for an active dental education department and demonstrate its value for dental schools.

Evaluation of Bond Failure Rate of Orthodontic Brackets Bonded with Green Gloo-Two Way Color Changes Adhesive: A Clinical Study.

BACKGROUND: Bonding is an important step in fixed orthodontic mechanotherapy. Many new materials introduced an adhesive for bonding. This study was designed to evaluate the clinical bond failure rate of orthodontic brackets bonded with green glue: two way color changes adhesive and transbond XT adhesive paste. METHODS: Eighteen male patients with a mean age of 16 years were included in the study. Convenience sampling technique was used to select the sample for this study. The split-mouth design was used to bond 360 brackets by one operator and both adhesives were used in each patient. Bond failure rates were estimated with respect to bonding procedure, dental arch, tooth type (incisor, canine, and premolar). The results were evaluated using the chisquare test. Kaplan - Meier analysis and the log rank test were used to estimate the survival rate of the brackets. Bracket failure rates for each system were analyzed, and failure causes as reported by the patients and the quadrant of each tooth in which brackets failed were recorded. RESULTS: The bond failure rate was 5.00% and 4.44% for green gloo and transbond XT group. No significant difference was found in the bond failure rate between transbond XT and Green gloo group. No significant difference was found in the bond failure rate between the two groups, in relation to right and left side and the type of teeth. CONCLUSION: Green gloo adhesive can be effectively used to bond orthodontic brackets.

Evaluation of bond failure rate of orthodontic brackets bonded with green gloo-two way color changes adhesive: a clinical study

BACKGROUND: Bonding is an important step in fixed orthodontic mechanotherapy. Many new materials introduced an adhesive for bonding. This study was designed to evaluate the clinical bond failure rate of orthodontic brackets bonded with green glue: two way color changes adhesive and transbond XT adhesive paste. METHODS: Eighteen male patients with a mean age of 16 years were included in the study. Convenience sampling technique was used to select the sample for this study. The split-mouth design was used to bond 360 brackets by one operator and both adhesives were used in each patient. Bond failure rates were estimated with respect to bonding procedure, dental arch, tooth type (incisor, canine, and premolar). The results were evaluated using the chisquare test. Kaplan ­ Meier analysis and the log rank test were used to estimate the survival rate of the brackets. Bracket failure rates for each system were analyzed, and failure causes as reported by the patients and the quadrant of each tooth in which brackets failed were recorded. RESULTS: The bond failure rate was 5.00% and 4.44% for green gloo and transbond XT group. No significant difference was found in the bond failure rate between transbond XT and Green gloo group. No significant difference was found in the bond failure rate between the two groups, in relation to right and left side and the type of teeth. CONCLUSION: Green gloo adhesive can be effectively used to bond orthodontic brackets

Bilaterally impacted mandibular supernumerary premolars associated with unusual clinical complications.

Supernumerary teeth are extra teeth in comparison to the normal dentition. Their prevalence varies between 0.1% and 3.8%. Supernumeraries are more common in permanent dentition and its incidence is higher in maxillary incisor region, followed by maxillary third molar and mandibular molar, premolar, canine, and lateral incisor. The prevalence of supernumerary premolars is between 0.075-0.26%, and they may occur in single or multiple numbers Bilateral occurrence is uncommon and large percentage of supernumerary premolars remains impacted, unerupted, and usually asymptomatic; radiograph plays an important role in diagnosis of these. The present paper reports a case of bilaterally impacted completely developed supernumerary premolars associated with common clinical complication in unusual manner along with taurodontism of the upper and lower molars.