Journal of dental education
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The objectives of this study were to explore dental and dental hygiene students', graduate students', and dental professionals' preferences for certain types of gloves and the reasons for these preferences (Aim 1), as well as determining their knowledge, attitudes, and behavior concerning the use of dental gloves as a means of barrier protection (Aim 2). Data were collected from 198 dental and forty-six dental hygiene students, thirty-five graduate students, and seventy-nine dental professionals (twenty-eight dentists and fifty-one dental hygienists in private practice). ⋯ Large percentages of respondents wrongly believed that gloves provide full protection (students: 50.8 percent; graduate students: 25.7 percent; professionals: 30.4 percent), thought that gloves provide protection as long as there is no visible tear (students: 39.7 percent; graduate students: 28.6 percent; professionals: 18.2 percent), and reported that they would not change gloves during an uninterrupted three-hour long procedure (students: 32.2 percent; graduate students: 23.5 percent; professionals: 22.7 percent). These findings should alert dental educators about the importance of educating their students as well as practicing professionals clearly and comprehensively about infection control and the science and rationale supporting recommended guidelines.
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Community-based service-learning is increasingly common in dental education. By definition, service-learning combines educational goals with service to the community, and the community and school are equal partners. The three main goals of service-learning are improving learning, promoting civic engagement, and strengthening communities. ⋯ Community-based service-learning programs can also address societal needs by improving the public's access to oral health care through partnerships among dental schools, oral health providers, and communities. This article describes service-learning programs at several dental schools to illustrate application of this educational strategy in predoctoral dental education. This article also describes challenges that confront schools desiring to implement and sustain service-learning programs, including academic quality, faculty development and training, interprofessionalism, making time in the curriculum, budget, faculty shortages and time, student credit, quality control, and remote sites away from the dental school.
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A study was conducted involving a group of 290 medical and dental students to directly compare perceived stress levels encountered during their education. A modified questionnaire based on Garbee et al.'s Dental Environmental Stress survey was provided to the students by either email or paper. The purpose of the investigation was to determine if the sources of stress reported by medical and dental students, both male and female, were due to common factors. ⋯ The only category in which medical students demonstrated greater stress levels than dental students was in professional identity. Measures of comparative levels of stress between male and female students for either profession did not demonstrate any significant differences. Stress levels related to clinical work varied significantly between the type of professional student and his or her year in school.
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Tenure and promotion are integral parts of the academic environment; however, in this era of growing shortages of faculty, as the baby boomers retire and the majority of dentists choose private practice, recruitment and retention may be affected by the way institutions handle promotion and tenure. A national survey of U. S. dental schools conducted in 2007 assessed the existence of multiple employment tracks for faculty and examined the requirements for promotion and tenure. ⋯ This finding indicates an apparent increase over time in flexibility regarding tracks and tenure. The majority of schools did not report requirements for the number of publications necessary for promotion. Those that did report requirements showed an increase in expected scholarly activity relative to past studies, indicating that it may be more difficult than ever to achieve promotion.