A clinically oriented complete denture program for second-year dental students.

Full Abstract

The traditional preclinical complete denture prosthodontic curriculum relies predominantly on the laboratory (e.g., bench-type) component of the complete denture fabrication process. In most cases, this involves a passive model of student knowledge acquisition utilizing lectures and low-fidelity laboratory exercises. A recently implemented program in the College of Dentistry at the University of Illinois at Chicago challenges this educational paradigm by introducing an active learning environment for second-year students based on significant clinical exposure with patients. The result is a major shift of emphasis, first, from a purely technical/laboratory aspect of the discipline to patient-centered education and, second, from mastering individual phases of denture fabrication to understanding the entire process of edentulous patient care. To compare student outcomes in the new program with those in the traditional program, their performance overall and in three components of the final examination for each program were statistically compared. The results of the one-way ANOVA analysis show statistically significant improvement in the students' total score in the new program, including their performance on the written, practical, and OSCE portions of the final examination. This article describes the rationale, logistics, challenges, and advantages of the new educational model of the complete denture prosthodontics curriculum.

Author information

Author/s: Obrez, Ales (A); Lee, Damian J (DJ); Organ-Boshes, Anna (A); Yuan, Judy Chia-Chun (JC); Knight, G William (GW);

Affiliation: Chicago, 801 South Paulina Street, Room 204K, Chicago, IL 60612-7211, USA. aobrez(-atsign-)uic.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article

Journal: Journal of dental education (J Dent Educ), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Oct; vol 73 (issue 10) : pp 1194-201

Dates: Created 2009/10/06; Completed 2009/10/19;

PMID: 19805784, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 10/19/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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