Educational innovations for dentistry

Active Learning Strategies for Improving Dental Students' Skills in Preclinical Restorative Dentistry

Practical assessment in dental education is crucial for developing clinical competencies. This study investigated the effectiveness of action research (AR) and active learning strategies in improving student achievement in a preclinical restorative dentistry course among 58 third-year dental students.The intervention focused on teaching composite cavity preparation techniques through student engagement and participation. Using a mixed-methods approach, data were collected over 10 weeks through observations, surveys, poster presentations, performance evaluations, and peer assessments. Data analysis employed SPSS-20.0 for quantitative measures, including one-sample t-tests with a mean value of 3.6 as the cutoff point on the Likert scale for high-quality ratings (Ho: μ = 3.6, p ≤ 0.05).The surveys demonstrated high internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.91). Students reported the highest satisfaction with topic relevance (90%) and showed significant improvement in learning outcomes through poster presentations and peer assessments (p < 0.05). However, activity organization (p = 0.526), clinical practice impact (p = 0.072), and cross-course applicability (p = 0.671) were nonsignificant. Pre- and post-test data were analyzed both statistically and descriptively to evaluate learning outcomes.These findings suggest that implementing AR and active learning strategies can enhance student learning and achievement in preclinical dental education, though further research is needed to optimize organizational aspects and clinical practice.

Knowledge and Attitudes of Dental Students on E-portfolios as a Tool for Learning, Assessment, and Professional Development in Dental Education

Background E-portfolios are evolving electronic/online resources that record, store, and archive the artifacts of learning and reflection for an individual learner. They have become more popular nowadays. This study aimed to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes of dental students regarding the use of e-portfolios as a tool for assessment, learning, and professional development in dental education. Methods Three hundred seven dental students completed a five-point Likert scale questionnaire, which was administered using Google Forms (Google, Inc., Mountain View, CA) on e-portfolios. The questionnaire comprised three sections: general information, knowledge, and attitude assessments. Data were stored in EpiData 3.1 (Jens M. Lauritsen, Odense, Denmark) and analyzed with Stata 16.0 (StataCorp LLC, College Station, TX). Results The research shows that 83.7% of students appreciate using portfolios for reflecting on their skills, and 82.1% believe that e-portfolios are effective for self-assessment. Portfolios help 55.0% of students identify their strengths and weaknesses, and 68.7% report experiencing better independent learning. Moreover, 70.0% of students feel that portfolios help to connect theoretical knowledge with practical application. Challenges include 71.3% of students finding portfolios time-consuming and 49.5% feeling stressed. It is essential to have effective guidance from instructors, with 77.2% agreeing on the importance of clear goals and 70.7% valuing faculty consultations. Conclusion While e-portfolios are generally viewed positively by the majority of dental students for their role in learning, assessment, and professional development, the study highlights the need for proper guidance and integration into the overall grading system to address concerns about time and stress.

Assessment of the effectiveness of an introductory general chemistry course in dentistry students enrolled in a biochemistry course

As a strategy to carry out a better achievement in the Biochemistry course, undergraduate dentistry education manage a traditional course on the basic concepts of general chemistry necessary in the understanding of Biochemistry. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of learning outcome, we aimed to develop an evaluation tool that was applied to first-year dental students before and after receiving the general chemistry classes. Randomized trial consisted of 50 items distributed in 10 categories. The evaluation was applied to the students who took the Oral Biology course in the periods comprising 2020, 2021, and 2022 to a population of 109 students. Our results showed that after receiving the course the improvement rate was 20.71% with significant differences in each category. In conclusion, the introductory course allows students coming from different school systems to attend Biochemistry with similar knowledge of general chemistry.

An exploration of the impact of working in pairs on the dental clinical learning environment: Students' views

INTRODUCTION

The aims of this study were to explore the undergraduate dental clinical students' experiences and perspectives of paired working in the clinical learning environment.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

An interpretivist methodological approach with a socio-cultural lens was used. A stratified purposeful sampling strategy was chosen. Students digitally recorded three audio-diaries using Gibbs' cycle to guide reflection on collaborating clinically with a peer. 1:1 semi-structured interviews were held using a topic guide. Inductive thematic data analysis was undertaken.

RESULTS

Eight participants were recruited. Main themes related to individual characteristics (motivation, professionalism, knowledge and experience) and relational features (feeling safe, attaching value, positive working relationships) that contributed to effective collaborative partnerships. The social setting is important for learning in the dental clinical environment. Benchmarking is used by students to motivate and reassure. Students learnt from their peers, particularly when they felt safe and supported and had developed good relationships. A lesser quality learning experience was highlighted in the assistant role.

CONCLUSION

Paired working for clinical training was viewed mostly positively. Working with a variety of peers was beneficial and enabled development of interpersonal skills and professionalism. More effective collaborative learning partnerships were described when students felt they belonged and had affective support. Disadvantages of paired working were noted as reduced hands-on experience, particularly for senior students and when working in the assistant role. Ground rules and setting learning goals to change the mind-set about the assistant role were recommended. Emotional and practical support of students is needed in the clinical setting.

Preparing dental students for independent practice: a scoping review of methods and trends in undergraduate clinical skills teaching in the UK and Ireland

Introduction The governing bodies for dentistry in the UK and Ireland require dentists, at graduation, to possess the knowledge, skills and attributes which enable them to practise safely, without supervision. The means by which dental schools achieve this may differ and may undergo modification in response to changes in the expectations of governing bodies and challenges within the teaching environment. It is therefore important to identify which of these approaches works well and to disseminate good practice described in the literature.Objectives To use a scoping review to identify from the published literature the methods used to teach clinical dental skills, including innovations, motivations for changes, and factors affecting the delivery and quality of teaching.Method Scoping review methodology was used to select and analyse 57 articles published between 2008 and 2018.Results Innovations in didactic teaching were facilitated by advances in IT and development of virtual learning environments, which promoted independent, self-directed learning. Pre-clinical practical teaching took place in clinical techniques laboratories utilising mannequin heads, with a minority of dental schools using virtual reality simulators in addition. Clinical experience was gained mainly in multi-disciplinary clinics and offsite outreach teaching centres. Insufficient numbers of suitable patients, increasing student numbers and a fall in teaching staff contributed to a reported reduction in clinical experience of certain treatments.Conclusions Contemporary clinical dental skills teaching produces new graduates who possess excellent theoretical knowledge, are prepared and confident in basic clinical skills, but are lacking in experience of complex treatments which may result in a reduced preparedness for independent practice.

A multicenter study of dental curricula in Asia/Pacific nations: The views and experiences of final-year dental students

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this qualitative study was to gain greater understanding of final-year dental students' views on and experience of their dental curricula in 4 universities from different Asia/Pacific countries, including New Zealand, Australia, and Hong Kong (China).

METHODS

A qualitative study approach was used, with semistructured interviews conducted with final-year students from each of the 4 universities.

RESULTS

Interviews were conducted with 60 final-year dental students, and 5 main themes were extracted from the interviews: (1) the definition of an "ideal" dental curriculum, (2) theoretical teaching, (3) transitional tools, (4) assessment, and (5) grading.

CONCLUSION

The findings provide insight into final-year students' views of dental curricula and suggestions on possible areas of reform in the dental curriculum. Further investigations are necessary to provide a curriculum that enables students to become competent, future-ready dental practitioners.

Development of e-portfolio in undergraduate clinical dentistry: How trainees select and reflect on evidence

INTRODUCTION

Self-reflection is a fundamental part of health professional development, especially in the unstructured clinical stage of dentistry, medical and health profession education, since it plays important role in experiential learning. A portfolio-both conventional and digital-records various aspects of knowledge, skills and attitudes over a long period of time to help students develop their professionalism by conducting self-reflection. This study aims to explore the process of selecting and reflecting on professionalism evidence recorded in e-portfolios during undergraduate clinical dentistry training.

METHOD

This pilot study is a qualitative study with a phenomenological design. The selection of respondents was conducted using a maximum variety sampling method. Following a 6-week pilot programme, a total of six in-depth interviews and five focus group discussions were conducted with undergraduate students representing different clinical rotations to explore the process conducted by undergraduate clinical dentistry students in e-portfolio development. The study of documents was also conducted on the respondents' reflective writing from the e-portfolio back-end data to explore their self-reflection skills.

RESULT

The results of the present study highlighted two different approaches used amongst trainees in developing a reflective e-portfolio: selective and non-selective. The observed reflective e-portfolio utilisation frequency and trainees' self-reflection skills were low, with several affecting factors identified. These identified factors consisted of external factors, such as the undergraduate clinical dentistry programme curriculum, the hidden curriculum, the availability of feedback, the availability of role models, and features of the e-portfolio and internal factors, such as understanding the self-reflection concept, the availability of time and mood, cultural factors, and understanding the content reflected.

CONCLUSION

Through the process of independently selecting and recording learning activities in e-portfolios as well as repeatedly conducting self-reflection, trainees can improve their overall reflective abilities. However, producing a systematic approach to forming a reflective learning environment is necessary to aid the implementation of reflective e-portfolios, especially at the early stage of e-portfolio implementation.

Innovative Integration of Facebook Groups in Biomaterials Course: Perception of Dental Students

BACKGROUND

Calls for incorporating Facebook into the academic process to achieve educational purposes were done since more than 10 years.

OBJECTIVES

This study was designed to assess the perception of the dental students towards the use of Facebook in learning of the Biomaterials course and to determine if there is a gender-based difference in the students' perception.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

This cross sectional study was conducted on the 3rd year undergraduate dental students, at one of Saudi universities during the academic year 2016-2017 using a self-administered questionnaire that was distributed to all students with a response rate 100%. Data was analyzed using the SPSS version 16.

RESULTS

The female students were significantly more satisfied with the course than the male as they wanted to use Facebook to study the other topics of the Biomaterials course (p=0.01) as well as to study the other subjects (p=0.012) and they thought that Facebook can be used for scientific discussion (p=0.01).The willing to use Facebook in future learning was high among the female students but with no significant difference between both males and females. It was unexpected to find low agreement score among the participants on their preference to have assignments, movies, feedback or even reminders on Facebook with no significant difference between males and females.

CONCLUSION

Integrating learning through Facebook groups into the dental courses was generally well-perceived among the dental students and specifically accepted for the Biomaterials course. Students were willing to apply such model in other dentistry subjects. Further investigation of the impact of the approach on students' performance is recommended.

Interprofessional Education in an Orthodontic Outreach Training Centre

Interprofessional education (IPE) describes those occasions when students from two or more professions learn about, from and with each other to enable effective collaboration and improve health outcomes. In the UK, orthodontic treatment is now delivered by a highly skilled team. Historically, education and training for orthodontic team members has been delivered 'uniprofessionally' in secondary care hospital settings, despite 96% of dental care, including orthodontics, being delivered in primary care. This paper describes an evaluation of IPE in Leamington Spa Orthodontics (LSO), a University-approved, primary care outreach training centre, where all members of the orthodontic team deliver patient care and are educated together in an IPE environment. The study methodology is realist evaluation, which aims to describe and understand the educational environment and identify how stakeholders perceive their experiences. This study describes a quality assured, primary care model of integrated education and patient care, which enhances interprofessionality and offers an alternative strategy for the future for commissioning of education and clinical care.

Reflection on fitness to practise

Aim The focus of this review was to identify the role of reflection in continuing dental education. By understanding the expectations that our statutory regulative authority has of their registrants there is an opportunity to help to shape the continued professional development activities undertaken by current registrants in the future.Objective Conduct a review of General Dental Council (GDC) Fitness to Practise cases which were given conditions (restrictions) between February 2012 and November 2015, identifying relevant emergent outcomes in relation the Fitness to Practise (FTP) process.Design A Framework Approach (FA) was used to interrogate the qualitative data generated from GDC cases, the data were reviewed by a secondary person to ensure inter-rater reliability. Ethical approval was not sought for this research project as the GDC cases are published and available for open access via the internet. However, this does not negate the need for consideration of those GDC registrants who have been reviewed by the FTP process, indeed information regarding their identities was removed during data collection, as individual identification as part of this research project may have impacted on these individuals (bearing in mind the principle of non-maleficence; do no harm) and disclosure of personal information would not have contributed to the findings of this review. Although FTP cases are in the public domain, the information is still sensitive to those registrants, therefore it was not possible to review those cases which were not available for public view. To ensure that individual identification of registrants did not occur for the available to view cases (n = 56), each case file was individually downloaded from the GDC website and immediately given an individual numerical identifier before the frame work analysis. For the purpose of this research only the data from the FTP cases which resulted in 'conditions' were subject to review, as these were cases where it was felt that the registrants were able to remedy their personal professional practices.

Can undergraduate student learning in prevention influence oral health self-care practices? - a report from a South African University

INTRODUCTION

Student attitudes and behaviour towards their own oral health status could reflect their understanding of the importance of oral health promotive activities.

OBJECTIVES

This was a qualitative and exploratory study designed to gain a deeper understanding of the extent to which the undergraduate curriculum could act as an enabler for student oral health self-care practices.

METHODS

Data collection comprised of document analysis (curriculum review) and in-depth face-to-face interviews with undergraduate dental therapy and oral health students and academic staff at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Ten students volunteered to participate in the study while five academic staff were purposively selected. A separate interview schedule was developed for students and staff, respectively. The emergent themes from document analysis were compared to the analysed data from the interviews.

RESULTS

The curriculum was underpinned by a strong foundation in prevention, and there was consensus among respondents that the curriculum met the needs for undergraduate training in preventive dentistry. The following themes emerged from data analysis: curriculum support for self-care practices; depth and scope of clinical training; role of clinical supervisors and challenges in clinical training. Respondents agreed that the curriculum could influence students' attitudes towards self-care practices such as toothbrushing and flossing but that academic responsibilities and clinical contact time placed constraints on these practices.

CONCLUSION

The undergraduate curriculum does provide support for enabling student knowledge acquisition and positive attitudes, but more effort is required to enable oral health behavioural modifications among students.

Integrated case scripts to enhance diagnostic competency

Background

The overwhelmingly high burden of disease and disorder especially in developing countries requires oral physicians to provide optimal dental treatment without complicating individuals’ general health. The opportunity for learners to extract the multiple aspects of a systemic condition and to relate them with the presenting complaint in order to devise an appropriate dental treatment plan is limited by time in chair- side teaching. To overcome the necessity of exposing students to real patients with varying degrees of underlying disease, those in medical and nursing education unanimously employ imaginary scenarios similar to real cases. However, such clinical scripts are seldom practiced in dental education, and the prospect of structured integration is almost never addressed.

Objectives

To evaluate the effectiveness of applying systematic and integrated case-based discussion in dental education in terms of enhancing five essential skills to novice Indian dental students.

Methods

A mixed- methods study was carried out with thirty graduating third-year students in 5 focus groups. The integrated case-based focused group training occurred in 6 weeks and lasted approximately 90 minutes per discussion. Ten case scripts of hypothetical situations were discussed and five integrated modules were organized as a part of this program. Revised Bloom’s taxonomy was adopted to achieve the expected level of competency.

Results

Students performance following integrated case-based discussions was improved and their acceptance to this practice is positive.

Conclusions

The present study supports the need for course specific, basic science integrated seminars with concurrent case scripts discussion to enhance students’ competencies.

Key words:Case scripts, Revised Bloom’s taxonomy, chair-side teaching, integrated teaching.

Developmental guidelines for good chairside teaching – a consensus report from two conferences

Developmental Guidelines for Chairside Teaching are a direct outcome of 10 years of research, originally prompted by feedback from undergraduate dental students who not only thought that the teaching they received was uneven and variable in quality, but also felt strongly that they learned more with educationally trained teachers than those with little or no teacher training. Workshops embracing the views of teaching colleagues from many other Dental Schools produced a consensus view that developmental guidelines for teachers would provide a valuable resource. A conference to consider all aspects on chairside teaching and learning was convened with delegates invited from all UK Dental Schools. This was subsequently followed by a second conference to develop specific guidelines for chairside teaching and learning. The Nominal Group Technique was used in the first chairside teaching conference, and Structured Small Expert Groups were used in the second. The overall consensus from these workshops and conferences were as follows: (i) developmental guidelines for chairside teaching can act as a useful resource for teachers to improve and maintain their standard of chairside teaching, (ii) developmental guidelines can be divided into themes of organisational issues and learner and teacher qualities, and (iii) Guidelines should be 'developmental' because they encourage chairside teachers to focus on the next immediate goal to maintain and improve quality and standards. These developmental guidelines could provide a universal toolkit for improved chairside teaching which would result in a better student learning experience. Set out in this way these guidelines have currency across academic and practical skills levels, different educational systems, philosophies and country boundaries.

Threshold concepts in dental education

The paper presents a conceptual framework to inform dental education. Drawing from a vast body of research into student learning, the simple model presented here has an explanatory value in describing what is currently observed to happen and a predictive value in guiding future teaching practices. We introduce to dental education the application of threshold concepts that have a transformative role in offering a new vision of the curriculum that helps to move away from the medieval transmission model of higher education towards a dual processing model that better reflects the way in which professionals operate within the discipline. Threshold concepts give a role for the student voice in offering a novice perspective which is paradoxically something that is out of reach of the subject expert. Finally, the application of threshold concepts highlights some of the weaknesses in the competency-based training model of clinical teaching.