Hematology OSPE In The First Year MBBS Curriculum - A Feasibility And Acceptability Study.

Abstracts: Background and Objectives: The use of OSPE (Objective Structured Practical Examination) for formative assessment has great potential as the learners can gain insight into the elements making up their competencies as well as ongoing feedback on personal strengths and weaknesses. The first year MBBS students are required to perform one hematology practical during university exams (Maharashtra University of Health Sciences). One of the important practical, Differential Leucocyte Count (DLC), was therefore chosen to introduce the OSPE pattern in hematology assessment and study its acceptability and feasibility. Methodology: The study was conducted in the Department of Physiology. 100 students were introduced to OSPE by a short lecture and a role play. Seven important steps (skills) of the DLC practical were assessed. Feedback from students was taken by a questionnaire and from faculty members and laboratory assistant by interview. Results: More than 90% of the students accepted OSPE in terms of learning the steps of the practical, clinical relevance and fairness in assessment. However, majority of students felt that the physical and mental effort needed was greater. The faculty commented favourably on the objectivity of assessment and potential to give feedback to learners and the support staff commented on greater workload and time needed for OSPE. Conclusion: Our study showed a high acceptability among students and faculty towards OSPE as a fair, objective and unbiased method of assessment compared to traditional method. The resources required, however, were greater. The study highlighted a need for continuous faculty development and increase in human resources to develop a comprehensive OSPE bank in future

Curriculum for training module on Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) for Dental Specialists: A Need Assessment Study.

Abstracts: Background and Objectives: A needs assessment study is recommended as the foundation of any curriculum development process. In India, CBCT has lately gained popularity as preferred imaging modality. However, CBCT is included neither in the Under graduate nor the Post graduate dental curriculum. There is also a lack of any standardized training modules on CBCT. Hence, the overall goal of this project was to conduct the educational need assessment amongst the dental practitioners, in order to design a curriculum for training module on Cone Beam computed Tomography (CBCT). Methodology: Need assessment was done by recruiting the structured questionnaire method which included item generation by literature review and a consensus development survey amongst 50 dental specialists. This was complemented with the opinion of the experts in the field. Results & Conclusion: We developed a consensus on 14 items for inclusion in the curriculum for training the dental specialists in CBCT. The study results indicate a definite gap in knowledge of CBCT applications amongst the dental specialists. The major concern of the dental specialists is the lack of awareness regarding the appropriate and optimum use of this relatively new imaging technology. A strong perceived need of training in this field was evident amongst the dental specialists, and the same in reflected in the experts’ opinion.

A nodular growth on maxillary gingiva.

A case of angiosarcoma of maxilla is presented. The occurrence of angiosarcoma in the oral cavity is a rare incidence and maxilla is one of the rarest sites to be involved. The purpose of this article is also to emphasize the fact that sometimes small, innocent-looking masses in the oral cavity might actually turn out to be a highly destructive malignant tumor. Hence, a complete radiographic and histopathologic examination is mandatory.

Analgesic efficacy of diazepam and placebo in patients with temporomandibular disorders: A double blind randomized clinical trial.

Aim: The aim of the study was to evaluate and compare the analgesic efficacy of placebo and diazepam in patients with temporomandibular disorder. Materials and Methods: Thirty-five patients were recruited with a diagnosis of temporomandibular disorder based on standard clinical diagnostic criteria for temporomandibular disorder. The patients were put in to one of the two groups: placebo or diazepam at random. The average pain intensity was recorded with visual analog scale (VAS) at pretreatment, at weekly interval till the completion of a three-week trial and at post-treatment visit on the eighth week from baseline. The secondary outcome measures were changes in masticatory muscle tenderness, viz. massater muscle, lateral pterygoid muscle, medial pterygoid muscle and temporalis muscle and changes in mouth opening. Statistical Analysis: Intra-group comparison for analgesic efficacy and mouth opening was carried out by Wilcoxon's signed ranked test. Inter-group comparison for analgesic efficacy was also carried out using Mann-Whitney's test. Results: A statistically significant (P<0.01) decrease in temporomandibular disorder pain in the placebo group (65%) and statistically highly significant (P<0.001) decrease in the diazepam group (72%) were observed on VAS after three weeks of treatment. The inter-group comparison demonstrated no statistically significant difference between the groups. Conclusion: This study suggests that the placebo can give near similar results as diazepam can. So the role of placebo should also be considered as one of the important management strategies. In the short term, reduction in the masticatory muscle tenderness and significant improvement in the mouth opening in both the groups were observed.

Reliability of Logicon caries detector in the detection and depth assessment of dental caries: An in-vitro study.

Background: Digital radiography has so far not resulted in improved rates of proximal caries detection. Historically, automated caries detection tools have been largely academic. Opinions regarding the performance of the only such commercially available tool, viz., Logicon caries Detector (LCD) have been equivocal. This study was conducted to evaluate the reliability of LCD in the detection and depth assessment of proximal caries. Materials and Methods: Digital images were obtained of 100 proximal tooth surfaces using the Kodak RVG 5000 sensor and analyzed by three observers. The images were then analyzed by the principal investigator using the LCD software. The teeth were then sectioned and magnified photographic images were obtained which were taken as the gold standard. All the grades were entered in proformas and the data were statistically analyzed using the chi-square test. Five parameters of reliability were calculated. Results: The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and overall accuracy of LCD for the grade No caries were 33, 96, 73, 82, and 81%, respectively; for the grade Enamel caries were 5, 97, 33, 80, and 79%, respectively; and for the grade Dentin caries were 100, 96, 50, 100, and 96%, respectively. Conclusions: In conclusion, LCD appears to be more reliable in ruling out (both enamel and dentin) caries than in detecting caries.