PMID- 20070792
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20100325
LR  - 20220317
IS  - 1600-0579 (Electronic)
IS  - 1396-5883 (Linking)
VI  - 14
IP  - 1
DP  - 2010 Feb
TI  - Predicting dental school performance based on prior dental experience and 
      exposure.
PG  - 1-6
LID - 10.1111/j.1600-0579.2009.00611.x [doi]
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the variables of 
      students with prior dental assisting experience and students with a parent who is 
      a dentist can be used as predictors of students' pre-clinical and clinical course 
      performance in dental school. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study population 
      consisted of a cohort of 159 students in the Harvard School of Dental Medicine 
      (HSDM) DMD graduation classes of 2001-2005. Data were collected via self-report 
      using students' applications for admission to the HSDM DMD programme on which 
      students provided information regarding whether they had prior dental assisting 
      experience, including the type and duration of the experience and whether one or 
      both of their parents were dentists. Data on the students' undergraduate science 
      grade point average, Dental Admission Test academic average, Perceptual Ability 
      Test (PAT) score, NBDE Part I and HSDM course grades (three pre-clinical and five 
      clinical assessment categories) were collected from the Office of the Registrar. 
      The pre-clinical categories included the first Oral Comprehensive Exam and the 
      first two classes of the pre-clinical portion of the dental school, Treatment of 
      Active Disease (TxAD) and Restorative Treatment (RTx). The clinical categories 
      included the second Oral Comprehensive Exam and the cumulative grades received 
      for the clinical procedures performed during the third and fourth years in the 
      fields of Endodontics, Operative Dentistry, Periodontics and Prosthodontics. 
      Descriptive and bivariate statistical analyses were performed and included in a 
      multiple logistic regression model. RESULTS: The results revealed that for the 
      variable of prior dental-assisting experience, no statistically significant 
      differences were noted in the pre-clinical and clinical assessment categories. 
      However, students who had any amount of assisting experience were 2.2 times more 
      likely to earn a grade of honours in TxAD compared with students who did not have 
      assisting experience (P = 0.05). Students with a parent who was a dentist 
      performed better only in Operative Dentistry clinical assessment compared with 
      students without a dentist parent (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Information on prior 
      dental-assisting experience and having a parent who is a dentist have minimal 
      merits for use as predictive agents based on these findings. Dental school 
      admissions committees should continue to review a full spectrum of variables and 
      ensure an applicant's true interest and motivation to pursue a career in 
      dentistry.
FAU - Park, S E
AU  - Park SE
AD  - Department of Restorative Dentistry and Biomaterial Sciences, Office of Dental 
      Education, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, MA 02115, USA. 
      sang_park@hsdm.harvard.edu
FAU - Da Silva, J D
AU  - Da Silva JD
FAU - Barnes, J L
AU  - Barnes JL
FAU - Susarla, S M
AU  - Susarla SM
FAU - Howell, T H
AU  - Howell TH
LA  - eng
PT  - Comparative Study
PT  - Journal Article
PL  - England
TA  - Eur J Dent Educ
JT  - European journal of dental education : official journal of the Association for 
      Dental Education in Europe
JID - 9712132
MH  - Aptitude Tests
MH  - Cohort Studies
MH  - Dental Assistants/education
MH  - Dentistry, Operative/education
MH  - Dentists
MH  - *Education, Dental
MH  - Education, Predental
MH  - *Educational Measurement
MH  - Endodontics/education
MH  - Forecasting
MH  - Humans
MH  - Parent-Child Relations
MH  - Periodontics/education
MH  - Prosthodontics/education
MH  - Retrospective Studies
MH  - School Admission Criteria
MH  - Science/education
MH  - *Students, Dental
EDAT- 2010/01/15 06:00
MHDA- 2010/03/26 06:00
CRDT- 2010/01/15 06:00
PHST- 2010/01/15 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2010/01/15 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2010/03/26 06:00 [medline]
AID - EJE611 [pii]
AID - 10.1111/j.1600-0579.2009.00611.x [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Eur J Dent Educ. 2010 Feb;14(1):1-6. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0579.2009.00611.x.