Identifying Needs to Ensure a Humanistic Academic Dental Environment: A Multi-Site Survey of Dental Students' Perspectives.

Dental school academic environments, whether the overall environment or the smaller environments of the classroom, lab, clinic, or community, are critical to student learning and professional development. The aims of this study were to assess dental students' experiences in the overall academic environment related to discrimination, destructive communication, belittlement, and isolation and to explore the relationships between students' emotional health and such experiences. Dental students in all four years at five U.S. dental schools were invited to participate in an electronic survey in April 2017. A total of 358 students responded for a 19.4% response rate. These students reported a total of five cases of discrimination that had been formally reported to their schools. Among these respondents, 24% had experienced destructive communication, 33% had experienced belittlement, and 33% reported feeling a sense of isolation. Non-males and students with disabilities were more likely to experience belittlement and isolation. Both destructive communication and feeling belittled increased with program year (relative to year 1)-spiking in year 3. Destructive communication and isolation were associated with behavior changes such as weight change, increased alcohol or over-the-counter medication use, and consultation with a health professional. To improve overall academic environments, dental educators should create learning environments to foster development of professional relationships, and schools should continue to provide student support services. Identifying and acknowledging shared issues across dental education might stimulate a national discussion that could lead to concerted approaches to address these issues. Identifying the proportions of students with feelings of isolation or loneliness along with experiences of belittlement and destructive communication could provide schools with a useful picture of their academic environment.

An Interprofessional Small-Group Learning Experience in Early Childhood Caries With Fluoride Varnish Application.

INTRODUCTION: Early childhood caries has become a significant public health issue in selected populations in the US and is one of the most common infectious diseases of childhood. It is imperative therefore that medical and dental professionals collectively advocate for children's oral health and establish a medical workforce that is comfortable screening and providing anticipatory guidance related to dental caries. To address this issue, we used an interprofessional small-group approach to teach oral health concepts to both first-year medical and dental students, who are at the same learning stage regarding infectious disease knowledge and its relationship to oral health. METHODS: This small-group learning exercise uses the concept of the flipped classroom, in which students acquire foundational knowledge prior to the classroom experience, demonstrate their understanding prior to class by means of an online assessment, and actively apply this knowledge to a specific case. The instructional activities include a preparatory reading and assessment, a case-based interactive exercise, and a concluding hands-on oral exam and fluoride varnish application exercise. RESULTS: More than 81% of participating faculty members and dental and medical students rated the experience as excellent or very good. Students stated they valued the presence of their peer counterparts in the learning experience. DISCUSSION: This interprofessional experience, conducted early in professional school curricula, establishes a foundation for future cooperative working relationships as well as faculty development regarding oral health and local community health resources.

Evaluation of Team-Based Learning and Traditional Instruction in Teaching Removable Partial Denture Concepts.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of team-based learning (TBL) methodology on dental students' retention of knowledge regarding removable partial denture (RPD) treatment. The process of learning RPD treatment requires that students first acquire foundational knowledge and then use critical thinking skills to apply that knowledge to a variety of clinical situations. The traditional approach to teaching, characterized by a reliance on lectures, is not the most effective method for learning clinical applications. To address the limitations of that approach, the teaching methodology of the RPD preclinical course at the University of Florida was changed to TBL, which has been shown to motivate student learning and improve clinical performance. A written examination was constructed to compare the impact of TBL with that of traditional teaching regarding students' retention of knowledge and their ability to evaluate, diagnose, and treatment plan a partially edentulous patient with an RPD prosthesis. Students taught using traditional and TBL methods took the same examination. The response rate (those who completed the examination) for the class of 2013 (traditional method) was 94% (79 students of 84); for the class of 2014 (TBL method), it was 95% (78 students of 82). The results showed that students who learned RPD with TBL scored higher on the examination than those who learned RPD with traditional methods. Compared to the students taught with the traditional method, the TBL students' proportion of passing grades was statistically significantly higher (p=0.002), and 23.7% more TBL students passed the examination. The mean score for the TBL class (0.758) compared to the conventional class (0.700) was statistically significant with a large effect size, also demonstrating the practical significance of the findings. The results of the study suggest that TBL methodology is a promising approach to teaching RPD with successful outcomes.

Training school nurses: screening and brief intervention for tobacco use.

This field project focused on training school nurses to do screening and brief interventions for tobacco use. Needed resources were organized in a kit.