Perceptions and practices of U.S. dental schools regarding curriculum integrated format and traditional format licensure exams.

The dental licensure exam in the United States has evolved over the past ten years, and two formats-the traditional format and curriculum integrated format-are now available for students to satisfy licensure requirements. The objective of this study was to examine the differences and relative merits of the two formats. A twenty-five-question survey was distributed to the fifty-seven U.S. dental schools at the time. The survey included both quantitative and discrete variables and followed a strategic sequential order. The first set of questions sought to determine what type of board preparatory/mock exam each dental school offered, and the next set of questions asked which licensure exam each school formally offered. The final questions were qualitative in nature and aimed to determine the school representatives' opinions about the curriculum integrated format versus traditional format. Of the fifty-seven schools contacted, thirty-seven agreed to participate (response rate=64.9 percent). Fourteen schools reported that they administer the traditional format only and twelve administer the curriculum integrated format only, while eleven offer both. Thirty-two schools offered mock board exams to their graduating students, and twenty-four of those said their mock exams were identical in format to the actual qualifying clinical exams offered at their institution. The respondents reported no significant advantage to preparing for the curriculum integrated format examination as compared to the traditional format examination with regards to number of clock hours taken from regular curriculum time. In reporting on this study, this article provides an overview of the relative advantages and disadvantages of the two examination formats used for the dental licensure process in the United States.

Discharge patterns of orthognathic surgeries in the United States.

PURPOSE: The aim of the present study was to provide a nationally representative estimate of the number and type of different orthognathic procedures performed in hospitalized patients in the United States. METHODS: The Nationwide Inpatient Sample for 2008 was used. All hospitalizations for orthognathic surgeries were included. Procedures were identified using the procedure codes of the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification. Outcomes, including complications, hospitalization, charges, and length of stay, were examined. All estimates were projected to national levels, taking into consideration the complex sampling frame of the dataset and the discharge weight variable. RESULTS: There were 10,345 hospitalizations for orthognathic surgery. The average age of the hospitalized patients was 26.7 years. Whites, blacks, Hispanics, Asian/Pacific Islanders, Native Americans, and other races constituted 71.9%, 4.9%, 12.6%, 5.6%, 0.4%, and 4.6% of the hospitalizations, respectively. Private insurance plans were the primary payers for 77.3% of all procedures. Segmental osteoplasty of the maxilla was the procedure performed most often (45.8% of all hospitalizations), followed by open osteoplasty of the mandibular ramus (31.7%). Complications included iatrogenic-induced complications (1.5% of all hospitalizations), hemorrhagic complications (1.2%), and bacterial infections (0.6%). The mean charge per hospitalization was $47,348. The total hospitalization charge for the entire United States was close to $466.8 million. The mean length of stay was 2.95 days and the total duration of hospitalization in the entire United States was 30,580 days. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides nationwide estimates of hospital discharge patterns and outcomes in patients undergoing orthognathic surgeries in United States hospitals. Future studies should examine factors associated with outcomes.