Purpose/aim: Ageism negatively affects health care. This paper presents an extended validation of a novel scale assessing ageism among dental students. Method and materials:A previously pilot-tested 27-question scale applied to a larger sample (n = 315) from two U.S. dental schools with Principal Component Analysis used to assess internal structure of the measure. Questions whose deletion increased the overall loading on >1 factor or those unexpectedly grouped in another factor were thoroughly examined.

Research on dental students' perceptions of clinical learning environments is needed to identify strengths, weaknesses, and need for interventions to sustain high-quality dental education, but a primary challenge has been the absence of an instrument designed to assess these perceptions. The Dental Clinical Learning Environment Instrument (DECLEI) is a new instrument developed specifically for dental clinical learning environments according to psychometric standards and validated in Europe. The aim of this study was to perform a preliminary validation of DECLEI in a U.S. dental school, thus providing data for subsequent validation in a larger, multi-institution sample. After five experienced faculty members assessed DECLEI's item relevance and content validity, the instrument was distributed in 2016 to 144 third- and fourth-year dental students at the University of Iowa College of Dentistry & Dental Clinics. All 144 questionnaires were completed (100% response rate). The results were tabulated and submitted to principal component analysis with an orthogonal rotation to assess internal structure of the measure. Internal consistency reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha coefficient and corrected item-total correlations. The results showed that, of the initial 24 items, principal component analysis allowed 18 items grouped in five domains: student-faculty interaction, equipment and patient issues, didactic-clinical components interaction, negative perceptions, and self-assessment. The Cronbach's alpha coefficients for these five domains ranged from 0.52 to 0.80. These results suggest that DECLEI has the potential for use as a reliable instrument to assess students' perceptions of clinical learning environments at U.S. dental schools, thus supporting the need for a definitive validation analysis in a larger sample.

This study investigated the variation in the oral examination findings and the subjective oral complaints between older people with and without mental disorders. An interview and an oral investigation were performed in a group of older patients with mental disorders with a mean age of 71.9 years and in a group of older people without mental disease with a mean age of 70.2 years. The analysis did not reveal any statistically significant differences in the dental status of the participants and in the prevalence of oral ulcers and stomatitis. However xerostomia, burning mouth, dysgeusia, and oral malodor complaints were more frequent in patients with mental disorders, whereas general chewing complaints were less frequent. The multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that psychiatric illness was significantly associated with more complaints of dysgeusia and fewer chewing complaints. The increased prevalence of specific oral complaints in the older patients with mental disorders revealed the significant psychopathological compound of these symptoms.