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Oral Biofilm Sampling for Microbiome Analysis in Healthy Children
Published on: December 31, 2017
Infant oral health education in U.S. dental school curricula
A G McWhorter1, N S Seale, S A King
1Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Baylor College of Dentistry, Texas A&M University System Health Science Center, USA. amcwhorter@tambcd.edu
Purpose:
This study was performed to determine didactic and clinical curricular content about infant oral health in predoctoral pediatric dentistry programs.
Methods:
54 dental school departments of pediatric dentistry were surveyed about: 1) curricular content devoted to teaching infant oral health (IOH) and age of first dental visit; 2) methods used to teach IOH and hours dedicated to each method; and 3) whether students receive hands-on experiences with infants.
Results:
Eighty-six percent of programs teach students to see infants at 12 months of age or younger. Curricular time ranged from 15 minutes to 13 hours (mean = 2 hrs, 20 min, median = 1 hr, 45 min). All programs used lectures; other formats included handouts, demonstration and small group seminar. Fifty percent provide clinical experiences, albeit they are not uniform for all students. One-fourth provides uniform, clinical hands-on experiences with infant oral examinations.
Conclusions:
The findings indicate varying degrees of acceptance about teaching infant oral health in our dental schools.
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