bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Assessment of Full‐Time Dental Hygiene Faculty Participation in Clinical Practice
Authors: Kiser Jessica R. , Wilder Rebecca S. , Fleming Deborah E. , George Mary C. 
Published: June 2020

AbstractThe purpose of this research project was to determine how many U.S. dental hygiene (DH) programs had full‐time (FT) faculty members who provided direct patient care unrelated to the curriculum. Questions in this project also assessed attitudes and opinions of DH directors regarding clinical practice and opportunities for salary supplementation. A questionnaire of twenty open‐ended and closed‐ended questions was designed on Survey Monkey, an online survey engine. After IRB approval and pilot testing, 278 U.S. DH program directors received two emails with the survey link requesting their participation. A response rate of 69.1 percent (n=192) was achieved. Results revealed that 14.2 percent of the programs required FT DH faculties to participate in clinical practice settings unrelated to the curriculum, while 67 percent of the programs had faculties who also participated in clinical practice. Eighty‐three percent of respondents reported faculties who participated in clinical practice were financially compensated. The majority (95.4 percent) of directors indicated maintaining clinical skills was an advantage to clinical practice, while 48 percent of directors indicated participation takes time away from being an educator. Overall, the majority of DH programs did not require FT faculties to participate in clinical practice; however, respondents were generally in favor of allowing faculties the opportunity to practice and thought that it enhanced their competency as clinical instructors.
Matching Student Personality Types and Learning Preferences to Teaching Methodologies
Authors: Jessee Stephen A. , O'Neill Paula N. , Dosch Robert O. 
Published: June 2020

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to identify teaching styles that complement the learning preferences of undergraduate dental students while enhancing the quality of patient care. A formidable challenge to reform in dental education has been overcoming the resistance by faculty and administration to recommended changes. The organizational structure of dental institutions, with their independent departments, makes obtaining consensus on educational issues difficult. For beneficial change to occur, clear evidence of the benefits to all within the organization must be presented. The objectives of the study were to 1) identify the most common personality types among first‐ and second‐year undergraduate dental students at the University of Texas Dental Branch at Houston using the Myers‐Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI®); 2) identify the learning preferences of these personality types; and 3) determine a more effective approach to teaching clinical dentistry based upon student personality types and learning preferences. Four common personality types were identified among respondents: ISTJ, ESFJ, ESTJ, and ISFJ, with a predisposition for Sensing (S) (desire for facts, use of senses) over Intuition (N) (look for possibilities, relationships) and Judging (J) (prefers decisiveness, closure) over Perceiving (P) (desire flexibility, spontaneity). The most common occurring personality type, ISTJ, represents an Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, Judging individual. Specific clinical curricular techniques that would appeal to these common personality types are identified, and an explanation of their benefit is provided. Results of this study demonstrate the importance of faculty understanding and acknowledging different student personality types and related learning preferences as a way to initiate improvement of undergraduate dental education, promote student motivation, and allow for an expression of learning style preference.
Oral Cancer Education in Dental Schools: Knowledge and Experience of Nigerian Undergraduate Students
Authors: Uti Omolara G. , Fashina A.A. 
Published: June 2020

AbstractThe objective of this study was to determine the knowledge and experiences of clinical dental students of the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Nigeria related to the management and prevention of oral malignancy and premalignancy. A self‐administered questionnaire was distributed to all clinical dental students. Most of the students (87.7 percent; n=57) had witnessed at least a patient with oral malignancy, while 61.5 percent (n=40) had witnessed or examined a patient with oral premalignancy. While 61.5 percent of the students had observed biopsies of malignant and premalignant lesions, only 13.8 percent (n=9) had ever performed one under supervision. All the respondents believed that oral malignancy is always or sometimes associated with pain, and most of the students were more familiar with the late signs of oral malignancy than the early signs. Almost two‐thirds (64.6 percent) of the respondents believed that oral screening programs were effective for early diagnosis and management of oral malignancies. This study revealed a need for a more structured teaching program with increased emphasis on the early signs and symptoms of oral malignancies and involvement of the students in the examination and biopsies of malignant and premalignant lesions.
Perceptions of Professionalism Vary Most with Educational Rank and Age
Authors: Nath Charlotte , Schmidt Rebecca , Gunel Erdogan 
Published: June 2020

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to assess whether the perception of what constitutes professionalism varies with age, discipline, gender, or educational level among students and faculty at the major academic health sciences center in West Virginia. This exploratory descriptive survey study asked participants to classify behaviors described in a survey as professional, unprofessional, or unrelated to professionalism. Results were analyzed using contingency tables. For 2 × 2 contingency tables, test of independence of homogeneity was carried out by using Fisher's exact test. For tables of higher dimensions, chi square test was used. The survey yielded a 45 percent return rate and demonstrated that the perception of professionalism varied most with the level of education and age and, to a lesser extent, with gender and health care discipline. Undergraduates, females, the youngest age group (≤ 26), nursing students, and faculty other than dental or medical were more likely to label behavior depicted in the survey statements as unprofessional. The findings of this study underscore the complexities of the genesis of professionalism. Further study in regard to the teaching of professionalism is warranted.
Teaching Style Beliefs Among U.S. and Israeli Faculty
Authors: Behar‐Horenstein Linda S. , Mitchell Gail S. , Notzer Netta , Penfield Randy , Eli Ilana 
Published: June 2020

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to determine if self‐reported teaching style beliefs were different among faculty at a U.S. and an Israeli dental school. Teacher‐centered practices refer to beliefs that the teacher holds the subject matter expertise and students are generally passive learners who must be told what to think. Student‐centered practices refer to beliefs that students must learn how to construct their own understanding. Student‐centered teaching is directed towards enabling students to think about complex issues. Twenty‐seven of fifty‐eight (47.37 percent) faculty at a dental school in the United States and thirty of thirty‐four (88 percent) Israeli dental faculty teaching in basic science courses completed the Teaching Behavior Preferences Survey (TBPS). The TBPS is a thirty‐item instrument that measures two domains of teaching styles—teacher‐centered (TC) and student‐centered (SC)—and four subdomains: methods of instruction (MI), classroom milieu (CM), use of questions (UQ), and use of assessment (UA). Findings revealed that there were no significant differences in student‐centered and teacher‐centered teaching practices and methods of instruction, classroom milieu, and use of questions. There was a significant difference between the U.S. and Israeli groups in their reported use of assessment. The U.S. faculty reported a greater preference for student‐centered assessment practices than did the Israeli faculty.
Implications of the Growth of Dental Education in India
Authors: Mahal Ajay S. , Shah Naseem 
Published: June 2020

AbstractBy influencing the supply of trained human resources, the dental education sector can play a significant role in influencing policy goals of ensuring good quality and equitable access to oral health services in developing countries. Our research goal was to assess quantitatively the size of the Indian dental education sector, its growth over time, and the implications of this growth for equity and quality in oral health care. Information on the location of teaching institutions, the year of establishment, type of ownership, and seat capacity was obtained from government sources, the Dental Council of India, and websites of individual institutions to estimate the growth in the undergraduate dental education sector, including the role of the private sector from 1950 to 2005. Data on location of training capacity and institutions were used to assess the geographical distribution of undergraduate dental education capacity in India. Registration data on dentists, the size of available faculty relative to regulatory requirements, and penalties imposed on offending faculty and education institutions were used to assess the impact of the growing Indian dental education sector on graduate quality and equitable access. Dental colleges and enrollment capacity have grown rapidly over the five decades since 1950, mainly due to a growing private sector. There is regional inequality in the location of dental education schools in India with a bias toward economically better‐off regions. The growth in the dental education sector has translated into increased overall access, although accompanied by rising inequality in access and possibly lower quality of dental education.
Increasing Access to Care with Diversity
Authors: Edmunds Ryan K. 
Published: June 2020

AbstractWhile many factors contribute to lack of access to dental care along racial and ethnic lines, one of the most prominent factors is a lack of diversity among oral health professionals. Surveys and studies show that individuals in minority communities are more likely to seek treatment from people of their own racial or ethnic background and, in turn, that those caregivers are more likely to work in minority communities and have a desire to provide care to the underserved. Further studies show that increasing diversity in dental schools can help motivate all dental students, not just minorities, to provide care to the underserved after graduation. To increase diversity in the workforce, there must be an increase in diversity at dental schools. Admissions committees need to reanalyze standard admissions criteria to achieve the goal of building a diverse student body that is representative of the ethnic and cultural diversity of our nation. Increasing the diversity of our schools enhances the educational experience and increases the likelihood that dental school graduates will practice in ways that extend oral care services to all segments of society.
Educational Strategies Associated with Development of Problem‐Solving, Critical Thinking, and Self‐Directed Learning
Authors:   ADEA Commission on Change and Innovation in Dental Education, Hendricson William D. , Andrieu Sandra C. , Chadwick D. Gregory , Chmar Jacqueline E. , Cole James R. , George Mary C. , Glickman Gerald N. , Glover Joel F. , Goldberg Jerold S. , Haden N. Karl , Meyerowitz Cyril , Neumann Laura , Pyle Marsha , Tedesco Lisa A. , Valachovic Richard W. , Weaver Richard G. , Winder Ronald L. , Young Stephen K. , Kalkwarf Kenneth L. 
Published: June 2020

AbstractThis article was developed for the Commission on Change and Innovation in Dental Education (CCI), established by the American Dental Education Association. CCI was created because numerous organizations within organized dentistry and the educational community have initiated studies or proposed modifications to the process of dental education, often working to achieve positive and desirable goals but without coordination or communication. The fundamental mission of CCI is to serve as a focal meeting place where dental educators and administrators, representatives from organized dentistry, the dental licensure community, the Commission on Dental Accreditation, the ADA Council on Dental Education and Licensure, and the Joint Commission on National Dental Examinations can meet and coordinate efforts to improve dental education and the nation's oral health. One of the objectives of the CCI is to provide guidance to dental schools related to curriculum design. In pursuit of that objective, this article summarizes the evidence related to this question: What are educational best practices for helping dental students acquire the capacity to function as an entry‐level general dentist or to be a better candidate to begin advanced studies? Three issues are addressed, with special emphasis on the third: 1) What constitutes expertise, and when does an individual become an expert? 2) What are the differences between novice and expert thinking? and 3) What educational best practices can help our students acquire mental capacities associated with expert function, including critical thinking and self‐directed learning? The purpose of this review is to provide a benchmark that faculty and academic planners can use to assess the degree to which their curricula include learning experiences associated with development of problem‐solving, critical thinking, self‐directed learning, and other cognitive skills necessary for dental school graduates to ultimately become expert performers as they develop professionally in the years after graduation.
Fluoride Knowledge and Prescription Practices Among Dentists
Authors: Narendran Sena , Chan Jarvis T. , Turner Stewart D. , Keene Harris J. 
Published: June 2020

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to assess dentists’ knowledge about fluorides as well as their prescription practices. The study population consists of all general and pediatric dentists in Houston, and the sample consists of 360 general and forty‐one pediatric dentists. Data were collected with a self‐administered mail questionnaire, which consisted of thirteen open‐ended and twenty‐nine precoded items. After three mailings, the effective response rate was 46.4 percent. Respondents had been in practice on an average of 18.9 ±6.6 years; the majority were male. More than 75 percent of respondents believed fluoride level in drinking water is an important determinant of fluoride supplement prescription, and 29 percent felt the same about a patient's weight. The correct ages at which to begin (six months) and to discontinue (sixteen years) the fluoride supplements to children were identified by 14.7 and 14.9 percent of the respondents, respectively. Only 6.7 percent of those prescribing fluoride supplements routinely tested the fluoride level in the patient's drinking water. Even though pediatric and general dentists differed in certain items, the two groups did not differ significantly in prescribing fluorides (OR=2.4, 95% CI=0.94, 6.27). Deficiencies and ambiguity in respondents’ fluorides knowledge as well as prescription practices indicated a need for educational interventions.
Use of an Electronic Patient Record System to Evaluate Restorative Treatment Following Root Canal Therapy
Authors: Shelley Peter Q. , Johnson Bradford R. , BeGole Ellen A. 
Published: June 2020

AbstractElectronic Patient Record (EPR) systems are rapidly gaining acceptance as an important tool for managing patient information. The purpose of this project was to evaluate the use of an EPR system for assessment of quality of care in an academic dental institution. The primary outcome of interest was the timeliness and completeness of restorative care following completion of nonsurgical root canal therapy. An initial query of the EPR database was performed using the following inclusion criteria: root canal treatment performed in the postgraduate endodontics clinic between September 2002 and June 2004, patient age ≥18 years old, and posterior tooth (premolars and molars). A total of 925 patients with 1,014 endodontically treated teeth met the inclusion criteria. A random sample of 30 percent of the treated teeth (302 teeth on 281 patients) was selected for detailed review. This sample of 302 teeth was then screened to determine if any restorative treatment had been performed between September 2002 and November 2005. Forty‐eight percent (n=146) of the 302 teeth did not receive any form of permanent restoration over the time period studied. Twenty‐five percent (n=75) of the teeth received a buildup only, and 27 percent (n=82) received the recommended treatment, a full occlusal coverage restoration. This study documents the use of an EPR system to objectively and efficiently assess one aspect of quality of care in a dental school environment.
Bridging the Gap in Caries Management Between Research and Practice Through Education: The Indiana University Experience
Authors: Fontana Margherita , Zero Domenick 
Published: June 2020

AbstractAlthough dentistry recognizes that dental caries management encompasses more than restoring the consequences of the disease, caries risk assessment and management that go beyond traditional restorative care have not always had a strong and organized voice during clinical curriculum development and competency assessment in U.S. dental schools. This has resulted in confusion and great variability between the need for risk‐based caries management and prevention and how practitioners apply these concepts in private and community settings. Dental education is in the unique position of being able to help bridge the gap to improve dissemination of new information and to enhance communication between research and the practice of dentistry to accelerate adoption of validated approaches for the diagnosis and management of dental caries. This paper presents one example of how a dental school totally revamped its approach to teaching cariology—from a few lectures scattered throughout the curriculum to a Cariology Management Program that is integrated into all four years of the curriculum, that includes both didactic and clinical components, and that emphasizes critical thinking and problem solving. From its inception, the program was centered on a competency requirement for graduation and the principles of evidence‐based practice. The process, competency, and initial programmatic outcomes assessment measures are discussed. Barriers encountered are briefly reviewed from the following perspectives: dental school structure, faculty support/calibration, students, reimbursement, and standard of care/public expectations.
Preparation Course for Part I of the National Dental Boards: Lessons Learned
Authors: Wright Edward F. , Henzi David 
Published: June 2020

AbstractStudent performance on national board examinations is the predominant litmus test for successful programs in health science education. Many different strategies have been used to increase passing rates among students. The objectives of this study were to investigate the influence of a voluntary eighteen‐hour National Board Dental Examination Part I (NBDE Part I) preparation course on student performance on the NBDE Part I and to assess students’ perspectives on the preparation course. Students’ perspectives were obtained through a questionnaire and focus groups. There were significant associations between the students’ GPA and the overall examination score and between the course grades corresponding with each section and the section scores. Students attending sessions devoted to specific NBDE subject areas did not obtain significantly better scores for that subject area than nonattending students. Also, the students did not obtain significantly better overall scores for NBDE Part I than in previous years when a preparation course was not conducted. Students most frequently rated the Dental Deck's NBDE Part I Cards as the most helpful study aid, followed by old NBDE Part I tests. The most frequent student rating for most of the presentations was “somewhat helpful,” while the most frequent rating for resources placed on Blackboard such as tables and summary material was “helpful.” Based upon the findings, we recommended discontinuation of the classroom presentation portion of the board preparation course.
Occupational Exposure to Bloodborne Pathogens and Management of Exposure Incidents in Nigerian Dental Schools
Authors: Sofola Oyinkansola O. , Folayan Morenike O. , Denloye Obafunke O. , Okeigbemen Sunny A. 
Published: June 2020

AbstractThe goal of this study was to determine the frequency of occupational exposures to bloodborne pathogens amongst Nigerian clinical dental students, their HBV vaccination status, and reporting practices. A cross‐sectional study of all clinical dental students in the four Nigerian dental schools was carried out by means of an anonymous self‐administered questionnaire that asked questions on demography, number and type of exposure, management of the exposures, personal protection against cross infection, and the reporting of such exposures. One hundred and fifty‐three students responded (response rate of 84.5 percent). Only thirty‐three (37.9 percent) were fully vaccinated against HBV. Ninety (58.8 percent) of the students have had at least one occupational exposure. There was no significantly associated difference between sex, age, location of school, and exposure. Most of the exposures (44.4 percent) occurred in association with manual tooth cleaning. There was inadequate protection of the eyes. None of the exposures were formally reported. It is the responsibility of training institutions to ensure the safety of the students by mandatory HBV vaccination prior to exposure and adequate training in work safety. Written policies and procedures should be developed and made easily accessible to all workers to facilitate prompt reporting and management of all occupational exposures.
Use of the OSCE to Evaluate Brief Communication Skills Training for Dental Students
Authors: Cannick Gabrielle F. , Horowitz Alice M. , Garr David R. , Reed Susan G. , Neville Brad W. , Day Terry A. , Woolson Robert F. , Lackland Daniel T. 
Published: June 2020

AbstractAlthough communications competency is recommended by the American Dental Education Association, only a few (n=5) dental schools report evaluating students’ skills using a competency examination for communication. This study used an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) to evaluate dental students’ competency in interpersonal and tobacco cessation communication skills. All students were evaluated on their interpersonal communication skills at baseline and at six months post‐OSCE by standardized patients and on their tobacco cessation communication skills by two independent raters. First‐ and second‐year dental students (n=104) were randomized to a control or intervention group. One month after the baseline OSCE, students in the intervention group participated in a two‐hour training session in which faculty members communicated with a standardized patient during a head and neck examination and counseled the patient about tobacco cessation. There were no statistically significant differences from baseline to post‐test between the intervention and control group students as measured by the OSCE. However, among first‐year students, both the intervention (n=23) and control (n=21) groups significantly increased in tobacco cessation communication scores. Second‐year students in both intervention (n=24) and control (n=28) groups declined in interpersonal communication skills from baseline to post‐test. Overall, this one‐shot intervention was not successful, and results suggest that a comprehensive communication skills training course may be more beneficial than a single, brief training session for improving dental students’ communication skills.