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Volume 5, Issue 1 (Suppl) J Oral Hyg Health
ISSN: 2332-0702 JOHH, an open access journal Restorative Dentistry & Prosthodontics 2017
May 01-02, 2017
Page 25
conferenceseries.com
May 01-02, 2017 Toronto, Canada
2nd International Conference on
Restorative Dentistry and Prosthodontics
Manual dexterity test for admissions: Have we asked the right question?
Psycho-motor skills form the basis of much of Dentistry. Competence in being able to prepare and restore teeth is a prime
requirement of graduation from dental school. Very little is done to assess the psycho-motor ability of applying dental
school candidates in most school admission protocols. Historically, a manual dexterity test (soap carving) has been used
in admissions to evaluate pre-dental students, but has proved inconclusive. It was concluded through a literature, that their
manual dexterity test did not add any information to current admission criteria. Their test was not a dentally authentic skill,
and they compared test performance to grades. Our approach is to use an authentic skill, and to compare performance on the
test to the time required by students to achieve a passing grade. A novel wax carving protocol is being examined as a possible
manual dexterity test. Following ethics approval, first year dental students from the University of Alberta, participated in the
wax carving protocol. This test was administered on their first day in the simulation laboratory (January), and again just before
summer break (end of June). The students were asked to record the number of hours they spent in developing these skills
both in class and extracurricular. The test artifacts were photographed using a standardized protocol and the photographs
were graded by 3 independent instructors. Students with lower test scores spent significantly more time practicing in order to
achieve a passing grade. This test may prove useful in admission criteria for dental school.
Biography
Alan J Kilistoff is currently working as a Clinical Professor at the University of Alberta, Edmonton Alberta, Canada. He graduated from the University of British Columbia,
Canada, with a DMD, and practiced in a private clinic for 28 years. He started teaching at the University of British Columbia in 2000. He moved to the University of Sas-
katchewan in 2005. In 2012, he moved to the University of Alberta. He received a Master of Education Technology degree from the University of British Columbia. His cur-
rent interests include ergonomics and dental loupes magnification, dental materials, dental education (particularly psycho-motor skill development) and operative dentistry.
Alan J Kilistoff
University of Alberta, Canada
Alan J Kilistoff, J Oral Hyg Health 2017, 5:1 (Suppl)
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