Specialist program training for dentists: an analysis of the teachers’ opinions

BACKGROUND: In the context of public health, high-quality training of dental professionals is essential for improvement of the provision of dental care in the cities and rural areas of Russia. Therefore, adequate training should become a cornerstone of the conceptual solution to inadequate organization and poor quality of primary health care.

AIM: The aim of this study was to assess the opinion of teachers at medical universities regarding the level of preparation among dental students in specialty programs in order to identify and address problematic areas requiring improvement.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: A survey was conducted among 115 teachers who were responsible for training dental students in specialty programs in 17 medical universities in Russia.

RESULTS: The majority of teachers rated the theoretical training of dental students in specialty programs as either good or excellent, although this was not replicated when considering practical training. Instead, the overwhelming majority of teachers rated the practical training as good (36.52%), satisfactory (44.35%), or unsatisfactory (19.13%). The most difficult dental topics to teach were gnathology (67.83%), maxillofacial prosthetics (53.04%), oncostomatology (45.22%), gerontostomatology (36.52%), salivalogy (20.87%), dental arthrology (13.04%), and neurostomatology (13.04%). The overwhelming majority of teachers (71.3%) reported spending a lot of time on methodological work.

CONCLUSION: The current questionnaire-based study analyzed trends in teacher’s opinions regarding the quality of theoretical and practical training provided to dental students in specialty programs as well as the manual skills of students in various fields of dentistry. The most difficult topics to teach were identified, and information on what teachers considered necessary for the improvement of dental training was collected.