Critical thinking skills are essential for the successful dentist, yet few explicit skillsets in critical thinking have been developed and published in peer-reviewed literature. The aims of this article are to 1) offer an assessable critical thinking teaching model with the expert's thought process as the outcome, learning guide, and assessment instrument and 2) offer three critical thinking skillsets following this model: for geriatric risk assessment, technology decision making, and situation analysis/reflections. For the objective component, the student demonstrates delivery of each step in the thought process. For the subjective component, the student is judged to have grasped the principles as applied to the patient or case. This article describes the framework and the results of pilot tests in which students in one year at this school used the model in the three areas, earning scores of 90% or above on the assessments. The model was thus judged to be successful for students to demonstrate critical thinking skillsets in the course settings. Students consistently delivered each step of the thought process and were nearly as consistent in grasping the principles behind each step. As more critical thinking skillsets are implemented, a reinforcing network develops.

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This study investigated current trends of Iowa dental practitioners with regard to acquisition and utilization of scientiic information resources to support decision making in the clinical practice of dentistry. A survey questionnaire regarding the utilization of various sources of information to support clinical decisions was mailed in September 2009 to all dentists licensed and practicing in the state of Iowa. Dentists appointed full-time within the University of Iowa College of Dentistry were excluded from this study. Continuing education courses were the most frequently utilized and preferred information source by respondents, followed by print journals and consultation with other health care professionals. Practice patterns according to decade of dental school graduation as well as scope of practice were noted. The results of this study demonstrate that dental practitioners utilize a variety of evidence-based and non-evidence-based information resources to support decisions in clinical practice. The habits of newer graduates vary somewhat from those of earlier graduates; the habits of specialists vary from those of general practitioners.

Academic dental institutions today seek to provide curricular content and learning opportunities for students to develop an essential skill set for evidence-based practice. To support that effort, studies that explore current practice patterns are valuable in identifying factors that inluence the evidence-based habits and behaviors of dental school graduates. The purpose of this study was to explore the knowledge, perceptions, and behavior of private practice dentists in the state of Iowa with respect to evidencebased dentistry and to determine the inluence of the dentist's education and the scope of his or her practice on those opinions and habits. A questionnaire addressing practitioners' familiarity with, understanding of, and adoption of an evidence-based philosophy of practice was mailed in September 2009 to all dentists licensed and practicing in Iowa. Questionnaires were returned by 518 practitioners, for an overall response rate of 38.4 percent. The majority of respondents reported awareness, understanding, and adoption of an evidence-based approach to their practice of dentistry. Recent graduates were more likely to report insuficient time as the primary obstacle to practicing evidence-based dentistry. Dental specialists indicated a higher level of comfort in assessing scientiic information, as well as implementing current reliable, valid published research in practice, than did general practitioners.

Introducing critical thinking and evidence-based dentistry (EBD) content into an established dental curriculum can be a dificult and challenging process. Over the past three years, the University of Iowa College of Dentistry has developed and implemented a progressive four-year integrated critical thinking and EBD curriculum. The objective of this article is to describe the development and implementation process to make it available as a model for other dental schools contemplating introduction of critical thinking and EBD into their curricula. The newly designed curriculum built upon an existing problem-based learning foundation, which introduces critical thinking and the scientiic literature in the D1 year, in order to expose students to the rationale and resources for practicing EBD in the D2 and D3 years and provide opportunities to practice critical thinking and apply the EBD ive-step process in the D2, D3, and D4 years. All curricular content is online, and D3 and D4 EBD activities are integrated within existing clinical responsibilities. The curricular content, student resources, and student activities are described.

The aim of this study was to help inform faculty and curriculum leaders in academic dental institutions about the knowledge, skills, perceptions, and behavior of an institutionally diverse population of dental students with respect to evidencebased practice (EBP). A survey utilizing the validated Knowledge, Attitudes, Access, and Confidence Evaluation instrument developed by Hendricson et al. was conducted in 2012 with fourth-year dental students at seven geographically dispersed U.S. dental schools. The survey addressed elements of EBP knowledge, attitudes toward EBP, behavior in accessing evidence, and perceptions of competence in statistical analysis. A total of 138 students from the seven schools participated. A slight majority of these students correctly responded to the knowledge of critical appraisal questions. While the students demonstrated positive attitudes about EBP, they did not report high levels of confidence in their critical appraisal skills. The findings also showed that the students accessed various sources of evidence with differing frequencies. The most frequently accessed resources were colleagues, the Internet (excluding Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews), and textbooks. The results of this study help to identify areas for improvement in EBP education in order to advance dental students' preparation to become evidence-based practitioners.

Successful integration of critical thinking and evidence-based dentistry (EBD) concepts throughout didactic and clinical dental curricula require faculty support. Critical thinking and EBD deinitions and practice continue to evolve, and not all dental faculty members were exposed to such concepts during their education. The objective of this study was to understand faculty members' perspectives on both critical thinking and EBD. An online survey was designed to assess full-and part-time faculty members' understanding, practice and teaching of critical thinking and EBD, interest in and perceived signiicance of EBD, and perceived barriers to teaching critical thinking and EBD at one U.S. dental school. Forty-three faculty members completed the survey for a 41 percent response rate. Most respondents (46 percent) deined critical thinking as the use of evidence or the scientiic method in decision making and EBD as clinical practice based on "science only" (39 percent) or "quality science only" (34 percent). Based on their individual deinitions, over 75 percent of the respondents reported incorporating critical thinking into didactic and clinical teaching; 79 percent and 47 percent, respectively, reported incorporating EBD into their didactic and clinical teaching. While these faculty members conirmed the importance of teaching students EBD, they identiied barriers to teaching as time, knowledge, and resources. These results, which relect one school's efforts to understand faculty perceptions and practices of EBD, suggest that faculty training and resource support are necessary for successful curricular integration of critical thinking and EBD.

Purpose/ObjectivesRetention and recruitment of part time clinical adjunct faculty members in dental education is becoming increasingly difficult as dental schools come to rely on this workforce for their increased involvement in clinical education. Contributing factors include full time faculty shortage, aging workforce, practice and student debt, practice and family commitments, and financial compensation. This study attempts to ascertain barriers to teaching so appropriate strategies can be formulated to address this issue.MethodsIn the spring of 2016 an email survey was sent to current and former adjunct faculty members to ascertain demographics and retention and recruitment strategies. Descriptive analyses were completed for all variables in the sample.ResultsTwenty nine of forty six subjects responded to the survey with a response rate of 63%. Subjects over the age of sixty comprised 55% with only 17% being under the age of forty five. Overall family and practice commitments along with compensation were the primary barriers to teaching part time. For new dentists, student loan debt was the primary barrier to teaching. Travel to teach was also a barrier as 70% of respondents drove 200 miles or less to the dental school.ConclusionThe study demonstrated that the aging part time work force is a great concern and new part time clinical adjunct faculty members must be recruited. Barriers to recruitment and retention of faculty must be considered and addressed to sustain this teaching model.