Dental students' clinical and academic experience during placement in a UK tertiary care children's hospital.

INTRODUCTION: There are well-recognized difficulties across UK dental schools in recruiting paediatric patients who are willing to attend, have manageable dental disease, and do not require the behaviour management skills of an experienced dentist. This presents a concern for the skill development of the future workforce. At the School of Dentistry in Liverpool, the challenge to enable students to develop these core skills is supported by attendance at a tertiary care children's hospital. The present study investigates whether attendance of final-year dental students at a children's hospital affects perceptions of their surgical experience, self-reported preparation for working independently as a dentist, and understanding of specialist care. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A self-administered online survey was distributed to final-year dental students (2020-2021). Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered using mixed item formats for descriptive analysis. Questions addressed themes including experience of primary tooth exodontia, understanding of general anaesthetic dental care and multidisciplinary patient management. RESULTS: The response rate was 90% (n = 66). Attendance was beneficial to student learning and experience; responders reported increased surgical experience, self-confidence and understanding of multidisciplinary care. Students developed insight into future career pathways. CONCLUSION: The present study supports the use of external clinic rotations, known as outreach placements, for dental student training. The findings support existing literature demonstrating the value of outreach placements in providing an experience not available in dental school environments. Dental students' perceptions of their surgical experience, knowledge of specialist care, and preparedness for independent practice may be enhanced by attendance to outreach placements.

Management of traumatic dental injuries: a survey of paediatric emergency department health professionals.

OBJECTIVE: To assess paediatric emergency department (PED) health professionals' confidence, experience and awareness in managing traumatic dental injuries (TDIs). DESIGN: A cross-sectional online survey. SETTING: PED at Alder Hey Children's Hospital and Birmingham Children's Hospital. RESULTS: 94 ED health professionals responded. One-third of responders (n=26) encounter children with dental trauma daily or weekly. TDI teaching during undergraduate training was received by 13% (n=12) of responders, and 32% (n=30) had never received training. Responders thought they would benefit from online resources and regular teaching on paediatric TDIs, in addition to an easy-to-use decision-making tool to signpost families.ED health professionals' confidence in giving advice to families following a TDI, and in recognising types of TDIs, was notably low; -79 and -76 Net Promotor Score, respectively.Responders' awareness of how to recognise and manage TDIs was varied. Majority were aware of the need to attempt to reimplant an avulsed permanent tooth, and the need to refer a child presenting with a complex permanent tooth injury to the oncall dentist. However, very few responders commented on the importance of follow-up. Responders also raised concerns about the lack of dental services to treat TDIs in children. CONCLUSIONS: There is a need to enhance dental trauma teaching for all ED health professionals who encounter TDIs to increase their confidence and enable them to triage and advise patients appropriately. Additionally, increased signposting for families to the appropriate service could in turn improve outcomes and experience for children who experience a TDI.

Online Unproctored Clinical Examinations: The Perceptions and Performance of Final Year Dental Students.

BACKGROUND: Take home, or open-book, examinations (OBE) are designed to be completed at a location of student choice, whilst providing comprehensive assessment of learning outcomes. Supporters of OBE refer to their authenticity, in that they reflect real-world practice where use of external resources is routine and encouraged. A contrasting view is that efficient practice requires a solid base of knowledge upon which to draw. The aim of this evaluation was to elicit learners' perceptions of the open-book, unproctored examination approach; we sought student views on authenticity, assessment preparation, use of resources, and anxiety. METHODS: Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered using an online, self-administered survey. We sought to determine the correlation between student views and examination performance via consideration of final examination marks. RESULTS: Heightened anxiety levels tended to increase assessment preparations and were found to be inversely related to learners' perceptions that the OBE was an authentic test. An inverse relationship was seen between learners' OBE examination performance and consulting resources during the examination. Examination marks were not significantly related to endorsement of continued online delivery of learning, time spent preparing for OBE in comparison to other types of assessment, greater anxiety than usual, perceptions of test authenticity, or experiencing a supportive test environment. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study may inform curriculum and assessment development, learning and teaching practices, and support student voice and experience.

Traumatic and non-traumatic dental presentations to the paediatric emergency departments of two UK children's hospitals: A multi-centre evaluation.

BACKGROUND: Dental attendances to paediatric emergency departments (PEDs) represent suboptimal use of resources of an unknown scale. AIM: To evaluate dental attendances at two PEDs in the UK and compare traumatic dental injury (TDI) and non-traumatic dental conditions (NTDCs). DESIGN: Retrospective data were collected for a 12-month period including demographics, attendance pattern, assessment, and management. Maxillofacial conditions were excluded, and attendances were grouped as TDI and NTDC. RESULTS: Of 667 attendances, 35.1% (n = 234) were TDI and 64.9% (n = 433) NTDC. Nineteen children reattended. Proportionately, more TDI attenders were male, White British, of lower mean age, and resided in less deprived areas than NTDCs. Over half (52.3%, n = 339) of attendees resided in the 10% most deprived UK areas. Saturday and Monday were modal attendance days; attendance peaked in summer. Over half (56.4%, n = 376) attended out of hours. A majority (74.8%, n = 499) self-referred and half accessed no other service prior to PED attendance. No PED dental input was received for 38.7% (n = 258), and dental treatment was received for 12.4% (n = 83). Antibiotics were provided for 42.1% (n = 281), and 15.4% (n = 103) were admitted. CONCLUSION: Dental abscesses and toothache accounted for half of attendances, many of these children may be managed in primary care. Improved signposting to alternative dental services for non-urgent conditions may better allocate resources to those with urgent need.

Are they ready? Awareness and preparedness of the emerging workforce for Dental Check by One.

Background Dental Check by One (DCby1) is a British Society of Paediatric Dentistry campaign, which aims to increase dental attendance of young children. As the future workforce, dental students have a key role in ensuring its long-term success.Aims To establish final-year dental students' awareness of DCby1. To evaluate their preparedness for providing dental care for young children and to identify perceived barriers to doing so at the time of graduation as they prepare to enter the workforce.Materials and methods An anonymous, online survey was administered to graduating final-year dental students in 2018, 2019 and 2020. Quantitative data were gathered using mixed item formats and Likert scales. Qualitative data were also gathered using free-text questions, allowing evaluation of the opinions of responders.Results The response rate was 83% (n = 63) in 2018, 91% (n = 62) in 2019 and 73% (n = 57) in 2020. Eight percent (n = 5) of responders were aware of DCby1 in 2018, improving to 67% (n = 38) in 2020. Each year, 98% to 100% of responders felt prepared to provide preventive care for young children. Fewer than 60% felt prepared to provide breastfeeding and weaning advice to parents. Responders felt unprepared to examine the dentition of a preschool child. Undergraduate curricula and social media were identified as preferable sources of public health campaign information for students.Conclusion Awareness and preparedness for DCby1 appears to be improving. Ninety-five percent of all responders across three years of study felt prepared to examine a child aged under one year and this is encouraging for the long-term success of DCby1. Targeted curriculum reform including both didactic teaching and online learning platforms appears to have been pivotal to improving undergraduate awareness and preparedness. Social media may offer opportunities for engaging with undergraduate learners.

Speaking up for balance: analysis of the gender of invited speakers at UK dental conferences.

Introduction Across healthcare, there is an urgent call to action to address systematic gender bias impeding equity for women. Gender imbalance exists for speakers at medical conferences. This research presents the first descriptive analysis of gender balance of speakers at dental conferences.Objectives Describe the gender balance of invited speakers at UK conferences of the dental specialties and general dentistry in a two-year period. Consider the findings in relation to gender balance of dental and specialist registrants.Method Gender, presentation length and professional role were extracted from conference programmes. Acceptable gender balance was pre-specified as 40-60%. Gender data were extracted from the GDC registration report.Results Of 352 invited speakers, 39.8% (n = 140) were identified as female and 60.2% (n = 212) as male. Gender was acceptably balanced in 21.4% (n = 3) of conferences. Gender balance of specialist speakers varied, as does gender distribution within the specialties themselves. Only 38.5% (n = 5) of specialties had a specialist speaker gender balance representative of their speciality.Conclusion There is a call for further research to drive equity in the characteristics of invited speakers and to determine whether there is correlation with representation in the composition of conference organising committees, leadership, professional roles and the workforce. Conference organisers are encouraged to strive proactively and prospectively towards representative programmes.

Quality of available internet information regarding IV sedation for dental treatment.

Aim Evaluate the content and quality of internet information for patients regarding intravenous sedation in dentistry.Methodology Google was queried with predefined search terms that might be chosen by patients wishing to seek information: 'dental IV sedation OR dental intravenous sedation OR dental sedation'. The first hundred search results were identified. Invalid hyperlinks and duplicates were excluded. Providers, format and location of information were extracted. For webpages detailing treatment options, the DISCERN instrument and JAMA benchmark were used to determine the quality of the information provided.Results Of the first hundred search results, 89 webpages met the initial inclusion criteria. A majority (79%) originated from dental providers. Information was commonly presented as patient information leaflets. Of the 78 webpages detailing treatment options, 3% of webpages received a maximum DISCERN score of 5 and 64% a score of 1. No webpages fulfilled all JAMA criteria and 89% met only one criterion. Secondary care providers scored higher in both scales; however, this represents only 5% of the information available.Conclusion The internet is a commonly accessed information resource for patients. The quality of internet information available regarding intravenous sedation in dentistry is suboptimal. There is a need for more high-quality information resources.

A brief account of the life of René Le Fort.

In 1901, René Le Fort conducted some of the most infamous experiments known to maxillofacial surgery. He was an interesting and highly accomplished man with experience in many fields of surgery. We continue to use much of his research today despite many advances in medicine, yet we know little about the man himself.The aim of this short paper is to introduce you to René Le Fort and to describe the highlights of his experiments, which gave rise to a system of classifying facial fractures.

Computerised dental implant rehabilitation planning and execution following mandibular resection: a case report.

This paper discusses the merits of Computer Tomography (CT) based dental implant planning in the rehabilitation of patients following oral cancer This case report describes the process of prosthetic work-up, computerised implant planning, surgical treatment and successful prosthetic oral rehabilitation of a patient following segmental mandibulectomy and post-operative radiotherapy for intra-osseous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).