A role for computers in the management of dental education

The dental educator confronts increasing demands for technically demanding training against a background of factors working to reduce the clinical experience of students: less dental disease, new educational emphases and greater cost-consciousness. A computer system is described which has run successfully for 7 years in the Department of Conservative Dentistry at Manchester University. This system enables better use to be made of declining teaching resources; it allows the department to make more accurate and timely assessments of student progress; it can also provide information on current workload and clinical commitments. Some possible lines of future development are discussed, including use of the system to collect Korner data-sets and to support a more integrated approach to treatment.