Accreditation Results(Accreditation Results for School of Dental Education)

The Nippon Dental University School of Life Dentistryat Tokyo Department of Life Dentistry

Basic Information of the Institution
Ownership: Private

Location: Tokyo, Japan

Accreditation Status
Year of the Review: 2023
Accreditation Status: accredited （Accreditation Period: April 1, 2024 – March 31, 2031）

The Nippon Dental University, School of Life Dentistry at Tokyo
Department of Life Dentistry

Accreditation Results
for the Nippon Dental University, School of Life Dentistry at Tokyo,
Department of Life Dentistry
The basic educational mission of the Nippon Dental University, School of Life Dentistryat Tokyo, Department of Life Dentistry, defined in the University Regulations is “toprovide broad-based educational opportunities while simultaneously carrying out
specialized research into, and providing medical knowledge of, the teeth, the jaw, and themouth, based on a proper development of intellectual, moral, and practical capabilities.
Furthermore, it is the University's mission to contribute to the development and wellbeing of human culture and assist in the creation of a healthy citizenry” while aiming tonurture dentists with the competence to provide dental care independently. To highlightthe principle that “dentistry involves the study of life in general, and dental treatment
involves medical treatment relating to life,” the Nippon Dental University has prefixed
the names of every faculty and department with the word “life,” and formulated ten basic
educational goals through thorough and extensive discussions and deliberations to ensurealignment with this principle.
To achieve its goals the School of Life Dentistry’s integrated six-year education
program is designed to enable students to study each element of the dental education
model core curriculum consisting of courses in the subject groups of basic dentistry, socialdentistry, and clinical dentistry offered sequentially and across disciplines. The
curriculum is managed by the five working groups of PBL Tutorial, Workshop,Communication, Clinical Skills, and Electronic Information,which play direct andindirect roles in their respective areas of responsibility in improving the curriculum,teaching methods, and learning assessment. The working groups also develop new
pedagogical approaches, including the interactive class format adopted in all year levels
to help improve students’ critical thinking skills and the strategy to enhance student
engagement in lessons through administering tests at the beginning, during, and at the endof classes. Furthermore, all lecture materials are provided in digital formats and uploaded
to the learning management system, allowing students to access these materials on theirtablets and other devices not only during class but at all times.
Also of note, classes adopt instructional approaches designed to develop
problem-solving skills, such as Project-Based Learning (PBL), Learning throughDiscussion (LTD)-Based PBL (LBP), an upgraded version of PBL, and Team-Based
Learning (TBL). A commendable aspect of the School’s student learning assessment is
the year-level-based comprehensive exam developed by a team of teachers administered
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The Nippon Dental University, School of Life Dentistry at Tokyo
Department of Life Dentistryin addition to the usual course-specific final exams, which ensures fair and stringent
measurement of student performance.
Clinical clerkships are generally rotation-based, but the School concurrently
uses the “patient-based care” training approach that puts each student in charge of anumber of patients, providing an opportunity to treat the same patient from start to finish.
Clinical students also participate in a three-day house-call clinical training where they
provide care in patients’ homes and elderly care facilities under the supervision ofteachers from the Oral Rehabilitation Department of the Nippon Dental University
Hospital and the Nippon Dental University Oral Rehabilitation Tama Clinic. This is ahighly commendable learning opportunity for students to gain experience in both oral
care for patients requiring nursing care and dentistry aid.
Other notable features of the education program include the student exchange
program with partner institutions, offered as an advanced curriculum component, and theSchool’s own grant-type scholarship program.
The faculty organization has been split into two groups: the undergraduate
clinical program faculty with teachers focusing on teaching and research and theUniversity Hospital department faculty with teachers focusing on teaching and seeing
patients, thereby clearly delineating the faculty’s roles and responsibilities. This
organizational structure of two faculty groups promotes the achievement of the School’s
educational goals through more efficient management and coordination of duties. TheSchool also offers commendable student support services to promote effective learning.
For example, the School appoints a leader teacher and multiple sub-leader teachers foreach year level whose roles are to assist students with academic or administrative
concerns, and provides students with the teachers’ email addresses for easy access. For
clinical training, certified psychologists are available to provide counseling.
There are several areas of improvement the School should address, however,despite the various strengths noted above.
First, the “patient-based care” method, a unique feature of the clinicalclerkships course, was suspended in AY2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, andalthough having been reinstated to some extent since AY2023, the practice is not
implemented on a scale considered effective compared with the pre-pandemic days andrequires the School’s greater commitment to return the course to a full scale.
Second, although the process to draw up and revise course syllabi is in place,the syllabi fail to include the teaching methods used in class, such as PBL, LBP, and TBL.
A course syllabus acts as a contract between the School and the students enrolled in thecourse and plays a significant role in assuring the quality of education in terms of teaching
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Department of Life Dentistry

and learning assessment, among other things. As such, further efforts should be made toimprove the quality of the syllabi.
Third, the School lacks a curriculum map that sequentially shows how eachcourse aligns with the degree award policy. As a tool displaying the specific path guiding
students admitted to the School in accordance with the Admissions Policy on their journey
to achieving the expected learning outcomes of graduates specified in the degree award
policy, a curriculum map plays an important role in enhancing student motivation forlearning. It was reported that a curriculum map is now under development in response toa third-party evaluation recommendation. Work on the curriculum map should becompleted as soon as possible to further improve the School’s standard of education.
To improve these issues the School is advised to utilize the results of thisaccreditation for schools of dental education and continue its self-study efforts forimprovement, while assuring and enhancing the quality of its undergraduate dental
education and further developing the unique characteristics of its dental education
program.

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