Progress testing provides a longitudinal assessment of the development and sustainability of students' knowledge at regular intervals over the duration of an educational program. Comparisons of performance on successive tests are used to monitor growth in knowledge. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of progress testing in an undergraduate program for dental therapy and hygiene (DTH) students in the United Kingdom as the main tool for academic assessment. Data were collected for progress tests of all 38 DTH students from 2015 to 2017. Each test consisted of 100 single best answer multiple-choice items with accompanying vignette. The students chose their answer from five options. A score of 1 was awarded for a correct answer, -0.25 for an incorrect answer, and 0 for don't know (DK). Three cohorts of DTH students were included in the study, and seven progress tests were conducted over a period of three years. Analysis of performance showed growth in knowledge across successive years, with the largest increase in knowledge in the transition from Year 1 to Year 2 and concomitant reduction in incorrect and DK responses. This was a pioneering study to report the establishment and use of progress testing among undergraduate DTH students. Notwithstanding the challenges involved, the study found merit in further exploring the use of progress testing for students in the DTH program.

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If citing, it is advised that you check and use the publisher's definitive version for pagination, volume/issue, and date of publication details. And where the final published version is provided on the Research Portal, if citing you are again advised to check the publisher's website for any subsequent corrections.

Introduction:The role of small-group facilitators is of pivotal importance for the success of curricula based on active learning. Disorganised tutorial processes and superficial study of the problem have been identified as main hindering factors for students' learning. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of consistency of facilitation on students' performance in knowledge-based basic science assessments in a hybrid, enquiry-based (EBL) undergraduate dental curriculum. Materials and methods:This was a retrospective study of 519 first-and second-year undergraduate dental students, enrolled at Peninsula Dental School between 2013 and 2018. Twice in each academic year, students sat a 60-item single-best-answer, multiple-choice examination. Percentage and Z-scores were compared between students whose EBL groups had the same facilitator throughout the academic year, and those whose EBL group was facilitated by different members of staff. All EBL facilitators were dentally qualified but with different levels of expertise in basic dental sciences, prior EBL facilitation, involvement in the curriculum design and university affiliation.Results: No statistically significant difference was observed in the percentage or Z-scores of students whose EBL sessions were supported by consistent or variable facilitators in any of the 18 MCQ tests. Z-scores of first-year students were more variable than for second-year students. In addition, pairwise comparisons revealed no statistically significant differences in students' Z-scores between any of the permanent facilitators' groups. Conclusions:The results of our study may influence the design and delivery of enquiry-based curricula as well as human resources management by shifting the focus from maintaining facilitator consistency to ensuring comparable training and approaches across facilitators. K E Y W O R D Sbasic dental science, enquiry-based learning, facilitators

ObjectivesThe use of periodontal biomarkers for identification and monitoring of unique patient populations could foster better stratification of at-risk groups, increase access to treatment for those most in need, facilitate preventive measures and improve personalised care plans. The aim of this study was to examine the diagnostic and prognostic utility of oral lipopolysaccharides as bacterially-derived periodontal biomarkers.MethodsPeriodontal parameters were recorded, and saliva and subgingival plaque samples were collected at the beginning of the study from periodontally healthy volunteers and periodontitis patients, and three months after completion of conventional periodontal treatment in the periodontitis group. Endotoxin activity in the samples was measured using the recombinant factor C assay. Associations between clinical periodontal parameters and subgingival and salivary endotoxin activities were analysed using a multivariate regression model, while the ROC curve was applied to estimate the sensitivity, specificity and c-statistics for salivary and subgingival endotoxin activities as diagnostic biomarkers for periodontitis.ResultsSignificant correlations were found between subgingival endotoxin activities, probing pocket depth and periodontal diagnosis, which were independent from patients' age, gender and smoking status. In addition, subgingival endotoxin levels had high specificity and sensitivity in detecting periodontal health and disease (0.91 and 0.85 respectively). Salivary endotoxin activity was positively associated with periodontal diagnosis, mean probing pocket depth, percentages of sites over 4 mm and full mouth bleeding score. However, it was inferior in discriminating patients with stable periodontium from those with periodontitis (sensitivity = 0.69, specificity = 0.61) compared to subgingival endotoxin activity.ConclusionsSubgingival endotoxin activity has good diagnostic and prognostic values as a site-specific periodontal biomarker and is not influenced by the patient's age, gender or smoking status. In contrast, salivary endotoxin activity, as a patient-level biomarker, is dependent on patient's age, has poorer diagnostic and prognostic capability, but shows good correlations with disease susceptibility and both its extent and severity.