Current trends in complete denture teaching in British dental schools

Against the background of the publication of the General Dental Council's interim report on undergraduate dental education the aim was to investigate current trends in teaching of complete denture construction to undergraduates in the twelve long established dental schools and to gather the opinions of lead teachers of complete denture courses regarding students' competence on graduation.

A questionnaire containing twenty-five factual questions and eight opinion questions was sent by email to the lead teacher in each of the twelve long established dental schools.

Replies were received from all twelve schools. All schools teach complete denture construction although the number of cases students are required to treat varies from 5-6 to 1-2. Laboratory courses also varied in content and in most schools all technical work for patients was completed by technicians. Opinions varied regarding the level of competence achieved by students and their preparedness for Vocational Training. Three respondents thought students were adequately prepared, four thought they were, but with reservations and five thought their students were under prepared. The majority thought that the external examiner system, Teaching Quality Assessments and GDC visitations did not ensure GDC requirements for competence in complete denture construction were being met.