Browsing by Subject "Dental Therapy"

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    A Comparison of Clinical Competency Between Dental Therapy and Dental Students in a Dental School
    (2019-11) Mancini, John
    ABSTRACT Objective: To determine if there is a difference between dental therapy students’ clinical competence as compared to dental students at the University of Minnesota. Method: An ex post facto research design was used to compare the clinical performance of dental therapy students and dental students using selected clinical procedures as a measure of clinical competence. Dental students and dental therapy students from the graduating classes of 2016 and 2017 at the University of Minnesota comprised the study sample. Fisher’s exact test was used to compare pass rates, and Wilcox rank-sum test was used to compare cohort groups. Results: Dental therapy students’ clinical performance on competency examinations, as well as scores on daily clinical procedures showed no statistically significant difference when compared to dental student performance. A small statistical difference was seen between the 2016 dental therapy and dental student performance score where the dental therapist student performed better than the dental students p=0.0351 (p<0.05). Conclusion: There was no overall statistical difference in clinical performance between the two student cohorts. The dental therapist student performed equal as well as the dental students.
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    Patient Satisfaction with Care Provided by Dental Therapists in Minnesota
    (2017-09) Palmstein, Bethany
    Objectives: Patient satisfaction is a commonly used indicator for measuring quality of care within medical and dental facilities. The purpose of this study was to quantify the level of patient satisfaction with care received from dental therapists (DT) in Minnesota. Methods: Three Minnesota dental clinics employing dental therapists, a private dental practice in Southern rural Minnesota, a Twin Cities urban group practice, and a federally-qualified health center (FQHC) located in St. Paul were recruited to participate in the study. A convenience sample of 116 patients, 18 years or older, who received dental treatment from a DT consented to complete a thirty-two-question paper survey immediately following care. Results: The level of patient satisfaction was found to be high in the areas of interpersonal skills, convenience, trust, and care quality. The majority of survey participants agreed they are likely to recommend the dental therapist to others. Conclusions: The results of this study found patients in Minnesota were very satisfied with the care received by a dental therapist.