Undergraduate Basic Science Preparation for Dental School

Abstract

In the Institute of Medicine's report Dental Education at the Crossroads, it was suggested that dental schools across the country move toward integrated basic science education for dental and medical students in their curricula. To do so, dental school admission requirements and recommendations must be closely reviewed to ensure that students are adequately prepared for this coursework. The purpose of our study was twofold: 1) to identify student dentists' perceptions of their predental preparation as it relates to course content, and 2) to track student dentists' undergraduate basic science course preparation and relate that to DAT performance, basic science course performance in dental school, and Part I and Part II National Board performance. In the first part of the research, a total of ninety student dentists (forty-five from each class) from the entering classes of 1996 and 1997 were asked to respond to a survey. The survey instrument was distributed to each class of students after each completed the largest basic science class given in their second-year curriculum. The survey investigated the area of undergraduate major, a checklist of courses completed in their undergraduate preparation, the relevance of the undergraduate classes to the block basic science courses, and the strength of requiring or recommending the listed undergraduate courses as a part of admission to dental school. Results of the survey, using frequency analysis, indicate that students felt that the following classes should be required, not recommended, for admission to dental school: Microbiology 70 percent, Biochemistry 54.4 percent, Immunology 57.78 percent, Anatomy 50 percent, Physiology 58.89 percent, and Cell Biology 50 percent. The second part of the research involved anonymously tracking undergraduate basic science preparation of the same students with DAT scores, the grade received in a representative large basic science course, and Part I and Part II National Board performance. Using T-test analysis correlations, results indicate that having completed multiple undergraduate basic science courses (as reported by AADSAS BCP hours) did not significantly (p<.05) enhance student performance in any of these parameters. Based on these results, we conclude that student dentists with undergraduate preparation in science and nonscience majors can successfully negotiate the dental school curriculum, even though the students themselves would increase admission requirements to include more basic science courses than commonly required. Basically, the students' recommendations for required undergraduate basic science courses would replicate the standard basic science coursework found in most dental schools: anatomy, histology, biochemistry, microbiology, physiology, and immunology plus the universal foundation course of biology.

Can Noncognitive Components of Admissions Data Predict Dental Student Performance and Postdoctoral Program Placement?

“…Though students pursuing a science major will devote greater course time to didactic material foundational in the basic science component of predoctoral education, all applicants complete the selected prerequisites for admissions. Consistent with Humphrey et al's findings in 2002, 17 increased focus on undergraduate science courses did not influence performance at the predoctoral level in our study. These findings are mirrored in medical education, where medical school performance showed no difference between students majoring in mathematics and sciences versus those majoring in humanities or social sciences 18 .…”

“…Also possible is the role of the personal statement in selecting students with a high capacity for reflection and self‐assessment. The outcome measures differentiated students on the basis of a four‐tier grading scale, placing emphasis on competence in a subject rather than differences of a few points on a 100‐point scale; possible significance, however, may be evident on further breakdown of grades on a 100‐point scale, though this is unlikely in light of prior evidence consistent with the results of this study 17 . A larger sample size would be required to make such fine analysis on a point‐based grading scale.…”

Basic Cycle in Dentistry Students’ Training: The Gap in the Integration of Knowledge and Social Reality

“…Often these courses are taught with no connection to the professionalization cycle, and are decontextualized from the reality of dentistry and targeted content. This has also been observed in the United States (Humphrey, Mathews, Kaplan, & Beeman, 2002), where a significant proportion of the dental school curriculum has been traditionally devoted to basic science instruction, with a mean of 17.3% of study hours.…”

Predicting professional school performance with a unique lens: are there other cognitive predictors?

“…We believe our results here support this conclusion. Previous studies have looked at undergraduate prerequisites and changes to some admission's requirements have been made [30,31]. Such trends may be identifiable at individual institutions and support transitioning to using such tools rather than test scores.…”