Competency Statement

Graduates must be competent in detection, diagnosis, risk assessment, prevention and management of dental caries.

Educational Outcomes

• Identify the factors responsible for the current disease status of the patient.
• Assess how these factors may increase the risk of future dental caries, and identify which of these factors can be modified to increase the likelihood of success for maintaining the dentition and preventing future dental caries.
• Identify the presence of incipient carious lesions, cavitated lesions and teeth restored or lost as a consequence of a caries disease process.
• Diagnose the general activity of the caries disease (for example be able to discern active, inactive, arresting caries using clinical examination and laboratory procedures).
• Develop a plan to manage the current disease status of the patient, including elimination or modification of risk factors.
• Develop a plan to prevent future disease progression and to maintain a non-carious state.

Information concerning dental caries and its management is presented by faculty from this and other departments during all fours years of the students' dental school experience through courses, problem based learning cases (PBL-years 1 and 2) and group-learning activity cases (GLA, 3^rd year). To aid in assessing the students competence, students must attend and successfully complete written examinations in the course that has the strongest preventive and community dentistry component provided by this department: Oral Facial Biology II (Spring-Year 1).

The students will be exposed to the clinical aspects of the competency from the moment they begin their clinical experiences in the 3rd year, since all the patients in the Comprehensive Care Clinics will have a Caries Risk Assessment analysis and subsequent Caries Management treatment plan completed.

Measure of successful completion of competency includes:

• Passing written examinations in OFB II
• Successful completion of clinical assessment of one competency case
• Passing grade in PBL course
• Passing grade in GLA module