List of Poster Presentations - Journal of Dental Education

Poster Abstracts
good quality study materials. The web site is also used for clinical
examination in orthodontic courses. The effectiveness of the webbased
digital records in providing relevant information to students in
comparison to the traditional records was evaluated by a randomized
controlled trial involving 99 second-year dental students. One group
(50 students) studied two cases from the web site; the other group
(49 students) studied the same two cases from traditional orthodontic
records. Effectiveness was assessed by comparing test scores and the
time spent to complete the tests by way of t-statistics. Both for test
scores and times, there were no significant differences between means
for the two study groups. Attitudes of students towards the web site,
assessed from post-test questionnaires, were positive. In conclusion,
for orthodontic diagnosis, digital orthodontic records appear to be
comparable to conventional records. The method is an efficient way
to generate, store, and edit orthodontic records for teaching and clinical
examination. In the present study web-based orthodontic study cases
were preferred as an adjunctive tool to conventional teaching.
84. Going Mobile: Providing a Platform to Enhance
Student-Faculty Resources and Communications
Karimbux, Nadeem, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Howell,
Howard, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Donoff, Bruce, Harvard
School of Dental Medicine, Halamka, John, Harvard Medical School
The purpose of this project is to compare several outcomes prior
to and during the introduction and implementation of the MyCourses
platform.
Recent reports have reported a crisis in Dental Education
regarding the shrinking pool of faculty. In response to this crisis, dental
schools are developing or purchasing information technology tools
to deliver curriculum content and to monitor student progress. The
MyCourses Mobile Platform has been developed for medical, health
science and technology and dental courses at the Harvard Medical
School (HMS), and the Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM).
The platform gives students immediate access ( via computers or
hand held devices) to personalized course calendars, announcements,
and resources such as class notes and syllabi. Mobile devices also
enable better communication between students and faculty. This
presentation will display the process to digitize materials, provide
faculty development and examples of the MyCourses platform. As a
part of this project, course evaluations for the last six years (cohort
that has not used MyCourses; n=153) at HSDM were analyzed. Using
a scale of 1-5 (1=very poor to 5=excellent), the following results
were generated: Accessibility of faculty: 4.32; Library facilities/
Services; 3.66; Computer Resources: 3.34; Content of Courses: 3.78.
When comparing the Classes of 1996-1998 (n=80) with the Classes
of 1999-2001 (n=73), the accessibility of faculty dropped from 4.76
to 3.65 . Our hypothesis is that the MyCourses platform will improve
all of the above outcomes by allowing students immediate access to
course materials, library materials and faculty resources. For example,
using personal digital assistants (PDAs), students can log casebook
procedures and observations (either at the HSDM, or at externships
and rotations) which they can upload to a central computer for the
faculty to easily retrieve and review.
A centralized platform has been developed to serve as a
repository for curriculum content and resources, that can be accessed
by students and faculty wherever and whenever they want. The impact
of the MyCourses on these outcomes will continue to be analyzed as
students are exposed to and start to use this platform to access
resources and to communicate with faculty.
85. Dentists’ Opinions about Undergraduate Clinical
Supervision
Kay, Charles J., Shapiro Developmental Center
The purpose of this study was to determine, in the opinion of
general dentists and dental specialist, what aspects of clinical
supervision of undergraduate dental students can be performed by a
well experienced general dentist.
Seventy eight dentists were surveyed (42 general dentists, 38
dental specialist). They were asked if a well experienced general dentist
(with a specifically defined educational and experience background)
could adequately supervise certain dental procedures commonly
performed by undergraduate dental students. A list of 40 of the most
commonly performed procedures by undergraduate dental students
was generated which included aspects of oral surgery, periodontics,
prosthodontics, pedodontist, endondontics, restorative dentistry, and
adjunct procedures.
100% of those surveyed indicated that it was suitable for a well
experienced general dentist to supervise at least some of the procedure
listed. 73% of the dentists indicated that all of the listed procedure
could be adequately supervised. Of the remaining 27% of dentists,
on average they felt that 94% the procedure could be adequately
supervised by a well experienced general dentist. There was no
statistical difference between the responses of general dentists and
specialists when all specialist were grouped together . Subgroups of
specialist showed differences in their responses These results show
that the great majority of the surveyed dentists , both general dentists
and specialist, feel that it is appropriate for a well experienced general
dentist to supervise the majority of clinical procedures performed by
undergraduate dental students. As a large portion of most dental
faculty time is spent clinically supervising undergraduate dental
students and it is becoming increasingly difficult to recruit dental
specialist to dental education, these results may have implications
with regard to alternate avenues for locating faculty who can
adequately supervise undergraduate dental students.
These results show that the great majority of the surveyed
dentists , both general dentists and specialist, feel that it is appropriate
for a well experienced general dentist to supervise the majority of
clinical procedure performed by undergraduate dental students.
86. DentSim Virtual Reality in Preclinical Operative
Dentistry to Improve Psychomotor Skills - A Pilot Study
Urbankova, Alice, Columbia University School of Dental and Oral
Surgery, Lichtenthal, Richard M., Columbia University School of
Dental and Oral Surgery
Purpose: To determine the efficacy of the DentSim computer
assisted simulation system in improving the quality of the technical
ability of students at varying levels of skill in the performance of
operative procedures assessed by their performance in practical
examinations as part of the preclinical operative dentistry curriculum
at Columbia University.
Thirty students were chosen randomly from the second year
class in pre-clinical operative dentistry. Based on their average
performance in their previous practical examinations, they were
divided into three groups: unacceptable, acceptable and excellent.
Each group consisted of ten students. Five students in each group
were randomly assigned to the DentSim training group and five to
the control group. The instruction for the DentSim training group
consisted of a one hour introduction followed by ten hours of faculty
assisted training, performing Class I and Class II cavity preparations.
The training group also had access to the DentSim during their free
time and on weekends.
The hypothesis being evaluated was that the students using the
DentSim technology would improve their performance in the practical
preclinical examinations to a greater, discernable degree than those
in the control group who did not have access to this technology.
284 Journal of Dental Education ■ Volume 66, No. 2