Exploring Fifty Years of Scholarship Across the Curriculum (SAC) and Table Clinics at the Dalhousie Faculty of Dentistry

Abstract

For some, doing research can be ominous and uncertain. From time to time, one may hear in the halls of the dental building, in tones of frustration, “Why do we need to do research to become a good clinician!?” I had the opportunity to attend the “Table Clinics” (TC) event on the day I interviewed for dental school at Dalhousie. At that time, I began to wonder if research in one area or another influenced the direction, or at least confidence level, of clinicians towards the specific area of research that they studied for their TC project. For example, if someone did research on implants, did they have more confidence regarding the use of implants in their practice further down the road? The intent of this research was to find out whether the “learning about how to do re- search” through TC projects and learning about Evidence-Based Dentistry (EBD) has influenced the practice of future clinicians. This was done by sending a focused survey to all Dalhousie Faculty of Dentistry (FOD) Alumni, both Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) and Dental Hygiene (DH), to explore their experiences relating their understanding of EBD and their TC topic to later practice. The results of the survey indicated that for both DDS and DH the learning and/or skills they gained by doing a TC project was beneficial. The in-depth knowledge gained about their TC topic benefited them both as a student and as a clinician. Learning about the research process specifically did not provide as much benefit to them as a clinician, though still providing benefit. Participants overwhelmingly responded that understanding the principles of EBD has provided a benefit in responding to clinical questions (90%), and agreed that the learning of scholarship skills, such as searching and analyzing papers, should be included as part of a dental education.