A Comparison of Clinical Competency Between Dental Therapy and Dental Students in a Dental School

Abstract

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.