Aim: To investigate the career intentions, work-life balance and retirement plans of dental undergraduates at the University of Bristol in 2015.Method: Cross-sectional survey of 210 clinical undergraduates using an anonymous self-report questionnaire. Results:The response rate was 79%. The majority (81.7%) were 'satisfied' or 'extremely satisfied' with their choice of career. The majority (78.7%) felt men and women are equally likely to succeed in dentistry, although 42.9% felt men had an advantage over women with regards to career success. The majority (81.6%) intend on working within general practice, 11.3% within hospital dental services and 2.1% within community dental services. The majority (70.5%) intend on specialising within dentistry. Only 1.8% of participants intend on providing only National Health Service (NHS) dental treatment whereas the 86.5% would provide both NHS and private dental treatment. Fifteen years after qualifying, 52.2% plan to work part-time, and 37.8% intend on retiring at the age of 60 or below. The majority (86.6%) felt that childcare should be shared equally between both parents. Female students intend on taking more time out of their career to concentrate on childcare and felt that having a child would affect their career more. Conclusion:The anticipated career plans, work-life balance and retirement plans of undergraduates change over time, and further research should be carried out to monitor future career intentions of dental students in order to help with future dental workforce planning.3

The aim of this study was to explore the attitudes towards postgraduate specialisation of final-year students at one UK dental school and to identify any possible influencing factors. A cross-sectional survey of all 73 final-year students using an anonymous self-report questionnaire was carried out. The response rate was 79%, of which nearly two-thirds were female. Age, ethnicity and parental occupation did not have an effect on the intention to specialise, although student gender did, with more females not wishing to specialise (p = 0.006). Having a ‘talent in the field’ had the largest positive influence on pursuing a specialist career (37.9% of responses), whilst the length of time needed to obtain a specialist qualification was seen as the largest negative influence (41.1% of responses). The two most popular subjects were Restorative Dentistry and Orthodontics with 24.1% and 20.7% of students listing them as their first choices, respectively. Further research could be carried out to determine if the intentions of UK undergraduates to specialise will meet the increasing specialist oral health needs of the population and which could ultimately influence future dental workforce planning.

Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) are widely used in dental undergraduate assessment, often determining progression or graduation. Student evaluation of this assessment process is important, and this includes identifying the views of the student. The aim of this paper is to present a review of the current literature regarding dental student perceptions of OSCEs. A search of the PubMed database covering the period 1975 to 2015 identified 121 possible papers from which only six were suitable for review. The remaining papers were excluded due to them not reporting on dental undergraduate views. Students perceived the OSCE to be a valid assessment in three studies, but not in one. The educational benefit of an OSCE is well supported by these studies. OSCEs can induce high levels of anxiety compared to other forms of assessments, but this did not affect student performance. The majority of students would chose to have a similar format of assessment again, showing support for OSCEs. Further research using larger cohorts of students could be undertaken in order to support these finding which would give added evidence for the continuing use of OSCEs as a valid method of both dental undergraduate education and assessment.

Introduction Despite the falling number of edentulous patients within the UK, there is still a large demand for the provision of removable prostheses. On qualification, dentists should have the knowledge and skills to provide these prostheses, but previous studies have shown that final‐year dental undergraduate confidence in treating denture patients is lacking. Aim To explore undergraduate dental student confidence whilst carrying out prosthodontic treatment, and to explore their perceptions of the quality of their prosthodontic education. Method An anonymous questionnaire was distributed to all (n=203) dental undergraduates in Years 3 to 5 at the University of Bristol. The questionnaire utilised a range of data collection methods including confidence interval ranked responses and qualitative measures. The data were analysed using SPSS. Results The response rate was 51%. Undergraduate perception of confidence increased throughout the years of study (P<.001). There was also an increase in the number of partial and complete denture cases treated as students progressed through the course (P<.001). Overall, students were satisfied with their prosthodontic teaching, although students thought that too much time was allocated to laboratory teaching, and that increasing their clinical experience would be most beneficial in increasing their confidence levels. Conclusion Student confidence in carrying out prosthetic treatment increased as students progressed through the course, and confidence levels would be increased further with increased clinical experience.

The aim of this study was determine the prevalence of tobacco, alcohol and illicit substance use among dental undergraduates at one UK university in 2015. A cross-sectional survey of all 344 dental undergraduates using an anonymous self-report questionnaire was carried out. The response rate was 77%, of which 29% were male and 71% female. Tobacco smoking was reported by 23.6% of males and 12.2% of females, with only 1.6% of females reporting to smoke ≥10 cigarettes per day. Alcohol consumption was reported by 85.5% of males and 84% of females, and reported levels of alcohol consumption increased since becoming undergraduates. Binge drinking was reported by 35.3% of males and 41% of female students. Only 2.6% of males and 0.5% of females reported to be current regular users of cannabis. The vast majority of respondents claimed to have never used any illicit substance. The only other reported regularly used substances by males was Ecstasy (1.3%) and by females were LSD (0.5%), Ecstasy (1.5%), Cocaine (0.5%), Inhalants (0.5%) and Ketamine (0.5%). These results are encouraging. Fewer students reported smoking than in the general population, levels of binge drinking were considerably lower than previously reported figures, as were the numbers of regular users of cannabis and other illicit substances.

Accidental ingestion or inhalation of foreign bodies has been widely documented, including incidents which occur whilst undertaking dental treatment. Most ingested objects pass through the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) spontaneously, but approximately 10%–20% need to be removed endoscopically and 1% require surgery. This case reports a complication arising from the accidental loss of an archwire fragment during maxillary archwire placement. It describes the immediate and subsequent management, including the use of radiographs to track the passage of the fragment through the gastro-intestinal tract. This case stresses the vigilance that dentists must take to prevent inhalation or ingestion of foreign bodies and the consequences of time-delays when management decisions are needed.

The General Dental Council expects graduating dentists to be competent at treating pulpal disease. Previous studies have found dental undergraduates to have low levels of confidence with respect to endodontic treatments. The aim of this study was to investigate the confidence of undergraduate dental students at the University of Bristol when performing root canal treatment, and to investigate their perception of the quality of their endodontic education. An anonymous questionnaire, based upon one used in a 2015 study at Cardiff University, was distributed to all (n = 204) undergraduate students in Years 3–5 at the University of Bristol. The results were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software (SPSS). There was a 59% (n = 120) response rate and a significant (p < 0.01) difference in confidence levels for root canal treatments (RCTs) completed between these students. All (100%) Year-5 students felt confident in completing anterior RCTs, and 91% felt confident in completing posterior RCTs. The majority (93%) of Year-4 students felt confident in completing anterior RCTs, and 77% felt confident in completing posterior RCTs. Over one-half (56%) of Year-3 students felt confident in anterior RCTs and 17% in posterior RCTs. With respect to the individual stages of RCT (access cavity, cleaning and shaping of root canal system, and obturation/filling), results showed that there was a significant difference (p < 0.01) in confidence levels between year groups. Many students thought the amount of time spent on endodontic teaching and the quality of teaching to be satisfactory. Improvements suggested for future endodontic teaching included higher numbers of staff supervision and additional endodontic practice on extracted teeth before seeing patients. There was a strong association between students’ clinical experience and their levels of confidence when completing RCT. Increasing the amount of clinical experience of RCTs could enhance students’ confidence further.

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