Graduating grades and National Dental Examination results of foreign-trained and domestic dental students

In this study, a comparison was made between the 1999-2009 graduates of the two-year structured program for foreign trained dentists at the Schulich School of Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, Canada, and the school's four-year program for domestic students. Both the students' final-year course grades and their results on the National Dental Examining Board (NDEB) written examination and objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) were compared. Differences of ≥ 10 percent in mean final-year grades and ≥ 5 percent for each component of the NDEB examination were considered academically meaningful for the purpose of this analysis. Although there were no academically meaningful and statistically significant differences in the mean overall final-year course grades between the two-year and four-year classes, there were differences in individual courses in prosthodontics, oral medicine, and practice administration. There were no differences (≥ 10 percent) in mean course grades since 2007. An academically meaningful difference in performance was observed on the NDEB written examination in three of the eleven years. There were no meaningful differences (≥ 5 percent) between the two groups in any year for the NDEB OSCE. The relevance and implications of these findings to both the two-year structured program and the newly introduced alternative pathway to certification are discussed.