The current status and future tasks of the prosthodontics curriculum in Korean dental schools and graduate dental schools / 대한치과보철학회지

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Prosthodontics education of Korean dental schools is developing under liberal regulation according to the character of each school. Diversity in the current environment and condition for each school make it impossible to apply the same and uniform education curriculum. Therefore the purpose of this paper is to analyze and validate the status of the 2012 prosthodontics education curriculum in Korean dental schools, and to suggest future direction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A survey was completed by all the 11 dental schools in South Korea. RESULTS: The number of students, age, sex, credits for prosthodontics lecture and practice courses, evaluation method before senior students' clinical practice, modalities for minimum requirement for graduation, beginning and finishing timing of clinical practice and faculty personnel involved in the education varied among the dental schools. CONCLUSION: High-quality educators leading an expanded teaching personnel are required, education hours must be increased and efficient curriculum must be organized to improve the prosthodontics education.