Does a dental school’s curriculum provide dental students with adequate clinical skills in orthodontic diagnosis and consequently the ability to make appropriate referrals for treatment?
Objective: We reviewed the evidence and designed a study to investigate the efficacy of two occlusal indexes as tools to improve dental students’ ability to assess orthodontic treatment need: The index of orthodontic treatment need (IOTN) and the index of complexity, outcome and need (ICON).
Methods: One hundred dental students were randomly divided into one control and two experimental groups stratified for gender and dental school year (1st to 4th). On two occasions, the subjects evaluated 30 orthodontic study models with a gold standard previously established by an expert panel of 13 orthodontists for orthodontic treatment need. The experimental groups reevaluated the models after either IOTN or ICON instruction.
Results: Logistic regression analysis showed that before instruction on the occlusal indexes, students in the 2nd and 4th year of dental school had increased odds of agreeing with the gold standard compare to 1st year dental students. After instruction, both IOTN and ICON increased the students’ odds of agreeing with the gold standard. There was no difference between gender and years in dental school in the post-treatment groups.
Conclusion: The results of our studies indicate that pre-doctoral dental students need increased clinical training in a “hands-on” setting, such the one presented here, before they graduate in order to be able to recognize malocclusion and provide knowledgeable and timely referral.