Journal of Dental Education最新文献

Purpose: To examine the perceived self-efficacy of dentists who recently completed Graduate Dental Education (GDE) programs and identify how closely it aligns with their supervisors' assessments of them. Self-efficacy has been associated with academic pursuits, motivation, and engagement, which may affect how dental providers practice, seek continuing education, and pursue future opportunities.  METHODS: Recent graduates of military GDE programs rated their self-efficacy on specific tasks within each of the seven domains of dental competencies. Their supervisors completed a similar survey, rating the graduate's performance in the same tasks. Graduates' mean ratings were calculated for each domain, spearman correlations were calculated for all graduate-supervisor task ratings, and the magnitude of differences between graduate and supervisor domain means were examined.

Results: Graduates' perceived self-efficacy ranged from 3.57 to 4.41 out of 5.0. Correlations for each task were universally weak (ρ  =  -0.04-0.27). Correlations for domain means were also weak (ρ  =  0.06-0.14).  Overall, graduates rated themselves lower than their supervisors, with mean differences ranging from -0.17 (p = 0.003, Cohen's d = 0.20) for Professionalism to -0.95 (p < 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.90) for Health Promotion.

Conclusions: Overall, graduates' perceived self-efficacy was moderate to high for 26 tasks across seven domains. However, in aggregate, graduates underestimated their abilities compared to performance measures from their current supervisors, although effect sizes were small. The accuracy of graduates' self-efficacy varied by program length and the clinical specialty of their supervisors. High-performing graduates always underestimated themselves while low-performing graduates often overestimated themselves.

Background: Cybersecurity threats are a growing concern in healthcare, where digital systems now underpin patient care, financial management, and educational operations. A cybersecurity breach in a Dental school environment can have widespread consequences to the mission of the school-patient care, research, education and service. For dental school administrators, these risks highlight the necessity of robust cybersecurity measures. For student learners, the impact may include interruptions to their education. For patients, it could mean compromised personal data and reduced access to clinical care.

Results & conclusion: While many sectors have responded to increasing cyber threats by enhancing their defenses, healthcare and dental schools, often lag in implementing necessary protections. This emphasizes the need for proactive measures, such as regular system audits, advanced encryption methods, and ongoing cybersecurity training for administrators and students alike, to mitigate future risks and safeguard institutional integrity.

Objectives: This study aims to assess dental residents' perinatal oral health (POH) knowledge and Regulatory Focus Types' (RFT) impact on their knowledge before and after education.

Materials and methods: A total of 53 dental residents from upstate New York participated from 2019 to 2021. A validated questionnaire collected demographic data, resident's POH knowledge, RFT, and self-reported burnout levels. In the wave 1 cross-sectional setting, 22 residents participated; while in the wave 2 longitudinal setting, 31 residents completed the questionnaire at the baseline and an 1-hour POH lecture. Multiple linear regression assesses factors related to baseline and post-education POH knowledge and burnout, and logistic regression examined factors related to the RFT types (high-on-promotion and high-on-prevention).

Results: Overall, 43.40% of the dental residents were high-on-promotion focus, and 47.17% were high-on-prevention focus. Baseline POH knowledge was relatively low, with an average score of 2.57 ± 1.05 out of the maximum score of 5. Residents with high promotion-focus had statistically significant lower scores on the baseline POH (p < 0.05), while high prevention-focused residents demonstrated less improvement of POH following perinatal oral health education (p < 0.05). Residents who were high on-promotion appeared to have a lower burnout rate (p < 0.001).

Conclusions: The study revealed that education effectively enhanced POH knowledge among participating dental residents. RFT significantly influenced knowledge improvement, with high promotion-focused residents showing more substantial gains. To encourage adherence to perinatal oral health policies and guidelines among dental practitioners, future educational approach should consider practitioners' RFT to improve knowledge adoption.

Purpose/objectives: The aim of this study is to evaluate students' perceptions of the reinforcement of knowledge via innovative, case-based, hands-on learning regarding indirect prosthetic material choice.

Methods: Six different clinical cases that represented common prosthetics were used in this simulation training. In each case, clinical pictures were associated with three-dimensional (3D)-printed replicates of final restorations and PolyJet polychromatic models with the goal of enabling students to deliberate and exchange ideas in small groups. After a debriefing session regarding the therapeutic potentialities of the first three cases alongside teachers, a lecture concerning prosthetic material choices was provided, and a zirconia crown was stained by each student to enable them to obtain a better understanding of the dental technician profession. Finally, the latter three cases were studied and analyzed in the same manner. The students' perceived reinforcement of knowledge was recorded before and 1 month after the hands-on simulation training experience, and their satisfaction was evaluated immediately thereafter on Likert scales. Students' perceived reinforcement of knowledge was subjected to statistical evaluation.

Results: A high level of overall satisfaction was observed (4.60). All of the items pertaining to students' satisfaction received scores >3. One month after this hands-on approach, students' confidence in their ability to choose a material on the basis of its mechanical, optical, and luting properties increased significantly (from 2.58 to 3.64; from 2.83 to 3.64; and from 2.72 to 3.58, respectively) (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: This innovative, hands-on approach had a significant positive effect on students' perceived reinforcement of knowledge.

Objectives: This study aimed to compare the haptic perception of clinicians to the cutting response of 3D-printed typodont teeth and commercial typodont teeth and human extracted teeth.

Methods: Twenty clinicians were asked to perform a Class I cavity preparation on commercial typodont teeth, 3D-printed typodont teeth, and human extracted teeth, while the forces were recorded via a three-axis load cell. The haptic perception of clinicians was also evaluated through a response questionnaire comparing commercial and 3D-printed typodont teeth.

Results: The study found that clinicians used similar forces (p = 0.53) to cut both the 3D-printed typodont teeth (1.37 N) and the human extracted teeth (1.44 N), but more force was needed to cut the commercial typodont teeth (3.71 N). The response questionnaire indicated that clinicians rated the 3D-printed typodont teeth highly compared to the commercial teeth. The 3D-printed dentine received favorable feedback from clinicians, and the 3D-printed enamel was rated higher compared to the commercial equivalents.

Conclusions: The results of the study suggest that 3D-printed typodont teeth offer a comparable haptic perception to human extracted teeth and can be used as an effective tool for preclinical dental learning. Moreover, the study highlights the advantages of 3D-printed typodont teeth over commercial typodont teeth in terms of haptic perception.

Purpose/objectives: The objective of this study was to assess the empathy levels of dental students during their clinical practice training in pediatric dentistry and to evaluate various factors that influence changes in these empathy levels.

Methods: The study evaluated the empathy levels of a total of 350 students (70 third-year, 140 fourth-year, and 140 fifth-year dental students) who received pediatric dentistry clinical practice training and/or observation between October 2022 and December 2023. The Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy-Student Version was used to assess empathy levels before and after the training. The data were subjected to statistical analysis using the Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis test, Wilcoxon test, and Dunn Test (p < 0.05).

Results: The response rate of the participants was 92.10%. The highest empathy level was observed in third-year students, while the lowest empathy level was observed in fifth-year students. A statistically significant relationship was found between these two variables (p < 0.001). Additionally, the empathy level of female students was statistically significantly higher than that of male students (p < 0.001). Following the completion of the pediatric dentistry training, a statistically significant increase was observed in the empathy levels of the students in comparison to the baseline (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: Empathy levels in students are found to be correlated with academic year, sibling count, and gender. It is of paramount importance to enhance empathy skills through training in order to foster the development of human-oriented physicians capable of effective patient communication.