Interdisciplinary Education In Dental Hygiene: A Pilot Project

This study describes a five-hour interdisciplinary experience involving sophomore dental hygiene students, dental hygiene faculty and medical technology faculty. This experience met the objectives of interdisciplinary teaching while reinforcing and expanding on a present topic in a four-year dental hygiene curriculum. The results of this experience are documented by pre- and post-testing and student evaluations. Statistical analysis of the test results along with student commentaries support interdisciplinary education as a viable and positive teaching approach. Student ability to correctly answer topic-related cognitive questions increased significantly while their understanding of the medical technology profession and its relationship to dental hygiene also developed. The experience was included within the framework of the pre-clinical dental hygiene course which kept the implementation efficient and perhaps contributed to its success. This pilot project was a positive step toward cθntinued interdisciplinary experiences between the dental hygiene and medical technology programs and created enthusiasm for expanding the experiences in the future to include the other health programs

Use of Interdisciplinary Education to Foster Familiarization among Health Professionals

This paper describes a pilot interdisciplinary experience between the dental hygiene and medical technology programs at Marquette University. It was designed, in part, to familiarize dental hygiene students with the medical technology profession. Comments solicited from students on the final evaluation form indicated that this pilot project was highly successful and met the objectives. Affective, multiple-choice questions on pretests and posttests showed a positive change in attitude, but this change was not statistically significant. Possible reasons for this are discussed. Benefits of this pilot project were an improved understanding of medical technology on the part of the dental hygiene students, enhanced interdepartmental communication, and plans to develop a reciprocal interdisciplinary experience for the medical technology students. It is hoped that this pilot project will serve as a stimulus for similar experiences among other health science programs

Dosimetric considerations in dental applications

The integration of the Lixiscope into dental procedures was studied and compared with conventional dental radiographic techniques. It was found that through the use of intraoral sealed sources in conjunction with microchannel plate technology, the Lixiscope gives increased diagnostic information with decreased radiation dosage

Student Partnership in E-learning: the Development of Online Resources for Students by Students in Dentistry

Dentistry is a dynamic and ever changing specialty that has been strongly influenced by developments in technology and therefore our teaching strategies must evolve to keep pace with these changes. E-learning has become an integral part of the dental curriculum, with a marked increase in use over recent years. However dental students have up until now been the recipients rather than active participants in the development of dental e-learning resources. Bovill et al (2011) conclude that it is incumbent upon us to reconsider students' roles in their education and reposition students to take a more active part - as co- creators of teaching approaches, course design and curricula. In this paper the presenters will outline the design and product of a self- selected study module (SSM) offered to year five dental students in e-learning. The SSM offers the opportunity for students to work as small teams with the school learning technologist and academic staff to identify, design, develop and evaluate quality-assured e-learning objects. Each group (n=2) with the guidance and quality assurance of academic staff will create a resource that can be integrated within the current University of Glasgow BDS curriculum for future years. It will become a useful revision resource that will supplement the learning and teaching received elsewhere within the course and will be accessible to all dental students in Scotland via the Scottish Dental Education Online (SDEO) programme. The SSM provides the opportunity of student participation in learning with technology and designing aspects of the curriculum, and aligns with the University's Learning and Teaching strategic objective of building staff-student partnerships to promote student engagement with learning

Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink?

Biofilms are emerging as an increasing problem as medical technology advances. Dental practice is no exception and interest in the role of biofilms within dental units as a possible source of cross-infection is intensifying. It is difficult to quantitate the risks associated with aerosolised bacteria for the majority of patients seen in general practice. However, it seems prudent to eliminate this source of infection during treatment of compromised patients. This article attempts to provide a brief overview of current concepts and problems in this area of infection control

Developing a national dental education research strategy:priorities, barriers and enablers

Objectives: This study aimed to identify national dental education research (DER) priorities for the next 3-5 years and to identify barriers and enablers to DER. Setting: Scotland Participants: In this two-stage online questionnaire study we collected data with multiple dental professions (e.g. dentistry, dental nursing, dental hygiene) and stakeholder groups (e.g. learners, clinicians, educators, managers, researchers, academics). Eighty-five participants completed the Stage 1 qualitative questionnaire and 649 participants the Stage 2 quantitative questionnaire. Results: Eight themes were identified at Stage 1. Of the 24 DER priorities identified, the top three were: role of assessments in identifying competence; undergraduate curriculum prepares for practice; and promoting teamwork. Following exploratory factor analysis, the 24 items loaded onto four factors: teamwork and professionalism, measuring and enhancing performance, dental workforce issues, and curriculum integration and innovation. Barriers and enablers existed at multiple levels: individual, interpersonal, institutional structures and cultures, and technology. Conclusion: This priority setting exercise provides a necessary first step to developing a national DER strategy capturing multiple perspectives. Promoting DER requires improved resourcing alongside efforts to overcome peer stigma and lack of valuing and motivation

Application of modern technologies in the teaching of dental students

Introduction: In today's society, technology is an increasing part of processes and activities, including the education of dental students. In recent years, the use of technology has expanded in educational institutions, especially in the field of healthcare, which covers dental medicine and dental technology and allows for the inclusion of new educational tools. In order to make this technology feasible, better conditions and greater resources for the learning process are sought.Aim: This article is a comprehensive overview on the use of information and communication technology (ICT) for teaching dental and dental students.Materials and Methods: The following research databases were used for the study: MEDLINE, Scopus, EMBASE, and PubMed from January 2001 to August 2019, focused on studies specifically evaluating the application of technology to students' dental training and dentistry.Results: In relation to the curriculum structures of the course, the application of modern technologies in the preparation of dental students will enhance their knowledge and skills.Conclusion: Modern technologies, applied in the process of teaching dental students, are seen as tools that act in building the connections between theory and practice, which have a constant influence on the development of professional skills

Dentistry

The specialty of Dental Surgery has progressed from the "blood and acrylic" of the early seventies. Dentistry has undergone a quantum leap over the past twenty-five years, with improvements in both technique and technology, bringing us the sophisticated procedures used in today's practice.peer-reviewe

Active noise control for high frequencies

There are many applications that can benefit from Active Noise Control (ANC) such as in aircraft cabins and air conditioning ducts, i.e. in situations where technology interferes with human hearing in a harmful way or disrupts communication. Headsets with analogue ANC circuits have been used in the armed forces for attenuating frequencies below 1 kHz, which when combined with passive filtering offers protection across the whole frequency range of human hearing. A dental surgery is also a noisy environment; in which dental drill noise is commonly off-putting for many patients and is believed to harm the dentist’s hearing over a long period of time. However, dealing with dental drill noise is a different proposition from the applications mentioned above as the frequency range of the peak amplitudes goes from approximately 1.5 kHz to 12 kHz, whereas conventional ANC applications consider a maximum of 1.5 kHz. This paper will review the application of ANC at low frequencies and justify an approach for dealing with dental noise using digital technologies at higher frequencies. The limits of current ANC technologies will be highlighted and the means of improving performance for this dental application will be explored. In particular, technicalities of implementing filtering algorithms on a Digital Signal Processor will be addressed

Self-reported oral hygiene practice and utilization of dental services by dental technology students in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria

Background: Dental technology students are Dental surgery technicians under training, trained to assist patients maintain good oral health. Hence, their oral hygiene is expected to be optimal. Objective: To determine the oral self-care practices and pattern of utilization of dental services among dental technology students. Material and Methods: This was a descriptive, cross-sectional study, consisting of 109 participants. The questionnaire had three sections. Section A had questions on sociodemographic, section B was on self-reported oral hygiene practices and section C was on pattern of dental service utilization. Statistical analysis was done using the SPSS version 20.0. Results: The mean age was 23.66 years; age range was 18 – 42 years. There were 20 males and 89 females, 95.41% of the participants used toothbrushes and paste, while 4.59% used both chewing sticks and toothbrushes. 22% used horizontal/scrub method of toothbrushing, 10.1% used modified bass method, whereas 5.0% do not know which method of toothbrushing they use. 81.3% of the participants had visited the dentist previously for routine dental check-up while 10.71% visited for dental pain. Conclusion: The self-reported oral hygiene practice of the dental technology students is commendable, however, further education on the importance of scaling and polishing is advocated. Keywords: Dental technology; Dental utilization; Oral health practices