Cariology education in Canadian dental schools: where are we? Where do we need to go?
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Journal of dental education ; vol. 82, no. 1, pp. 39-46.Abstract(s)
The aim of this study was to document cariology education across Canadian dental schools. Ten faculty members
who supervise cariology education at each of the ten Canadian dental schools were invited to participate in the study in 2016.
An adapted version of the European Organization for Caries Research-Association for Dental Education in Europe cariology
curriculum group questionnaire was used. Representatives of all ten dental schools completed the questionnaire, for a 100%
response rate. In four schools, cariology and restorative dentistry were taught by the same department. Five schools had didactic/
laboratory courses focusing primarily on cariology as well as a specific written curriculum. Six schools provided cariologyrelated
hands-on workshops/laboratories before students started working with patients. In teaching cariology, seven institutions
included dental hard tissues defects. The following caries detection methods were addressed didactically in cariology education:
visual (10/10 total schools), tactile (9/10), International Caries Detection and Assessment System criteria (6/10), caries activity
assessment (9/10), radiographic (10/10), and other detection tools (8/10). Seven schools charted activity of carious lesions in
clinic. Only one school used the concept of caries risk assessment regularly in clinic. Clinical cariology teaching was carried out
mostly by private dentists hired as clinical instructors (7/10) and faculty members involved in didactic cariology education (9/10).
Calibration of faculty members for caries detection criteria was reported by only one school. The main concern reported by
all institutions was the difficulty of implementing didactic instruction on cariology into clinical training. This study found that
contemporary cariology concepts are in the process of being implemented in didactic education across Canadian dental schools,
but all schools lacked appropriate integration of cariology education into clinical training. These findings suggest a need for
harmonization of evidence-based cariology education in Canada.
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