Introduction: Effective communication between educators and students is essential in the learning process. Knowledge of student attitudes toward effective teaching methodologies can be used for future development of dental faculty. The purpose of this study was to investigate dental student attitudes toward effective factors affecting quality of well-delivered didactic dental courses in classrooms. Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed between 130 dental students at clinical stage (4-6 years) in academic year 2012-2013 in Babol University of Medical Sciences. The questionnaires were consisted of 36 items and further categorized into four dimensions: (1) Educators, (2) Academic Administration, (3) Course content and (4) Classrooms physical environment. After confirmation of content validity and reliability, they were filled by students. Students 'agreement with each item in the questionnaire was measured using 5-point Likert scale. Descriptive statistics of the data and statistical analysis, t-test and Pearson correlation coefficient, were used. P<0.05 was considered significant. Results: Ninety-eight students responded with response rate of 75 percent. Oral presentation skills and integrated logical order of content in relation to educators, early detailed course plan and visual aids such as instructional videos in relation to course content, were the most important factors recognized by student to influence quality of didactic dental course presentations in the classrooms. Future dental faculty development requires investments, trainings, and support. Conclusion: Dental educators should analyze predominant learning styles of students and change dental curriculum in a way to provide an optimal learning experience.

Objectives: Student assessment is one of the vital elements in educational process. It is essential to conserve the formative nature of the assessment so that assessment is more structured and meaningful. Hence, it is necessary to review the existing formative assessment practises. The study was undertaken with purpose to estimate and compare the student and faculty perception about formative assessment examination in the institution. Materials and Methods: Seventy students and four faculties were enrolled for study on the basis of voluntary participation. The study participants were subjected to open and close-ended questionnaire, focus group discussions and individual interviews to obtain the perception. The responses were analysed by descriptive and thematic analysis. Results: Overall, the participants found the formative assessment practises to be satisfactory with few exceptions as there should be uniform judging criteria, and the feedback mechanism be more structured. Faculty mentioned that higher cognitive domain should also be tested in formative assessment. Conclusion: The study has brought forward the need for the sensitization of students so that applicability of formative assessment is enhanced. The periodic feedback should be obtained from faculty and students; the input will aid to plan strategies to maximize the student learning.

Background: Dental students in their clinical years are part of the dental workforce. The ability of the graduate to identify patient's aesthetic requirements and determine the degree to which those requirements or desires can be met is one of the new dentist's competencies. The perception of dental students toward some esthetic factors of smile was investigated and compared to that of pharmacy students in the same university. Materials and Methods: The authors developed a booklet of smile comprised of an ideal smile and seven altered smiles involving change in shade, shape, width and length of teeth in addition to midline shift and change in the gingival display. Students rated ideal smile and altered smiles using a 100-point visual analog scale (VAS). Results: The study involved 198 students; 108 dental students and 89 pharmacy students and 131 females and 66 males. Mean values for the VAS for the ideal smile were 72, 66 for dental and pharmacy students, respectively. While the mean values for the altered smiles varied between 23 and 65. Ideal smile was rated significantly higher by dental students (P = 0.015) Dental students rated midline shift change in gingival display, alteration in size and shape significantly lower than pharmacy students. While no significant difference was detected between the pharmacy students' ratings of the ideal smile and alterations in shape, size, clinical crown and gingival display. Conclusion: Dental students are more receptive to smile alterations. Dental students appreciated the ideal smile more than pharmacy students. Darker tooth shades, spacing and midline shift were least accepted by both dental and pharmacy students. Dental students were more sensitive to changes in gingival display, crown length, lateral incisors width and shape while pharmacy students were more tolerant to these changes.

Introduction: The choice of career is one of the most important decisions in one's life. However, the choice of dentistry becomes forceful at times by peer pressure, cultural thrust or inability to procure medicine. The dental students may be discontented with the profession or income in the present scenario due to the growing competition. The aim of the present survey is to assess the various careers perspectives opted by Indian dentists post under-graduation. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional, descriptive survey. A customized questionnaire was administered to the study group of 500 dentists regarding the reasons for choice of dental course, career options, obstacles faced post-completion of under-graduation, satisfaction with current profession, income and clinical practice. Results: Data were analyzed using counts and percentages. The study constituted of 49% male and 51% female participants. The most popular reasons for choosing dentistry were inability to get medical seat as well as out of own interest and family pressure. The participants planned to do post-graduation (41%) or work at private clinic (22%) after graduation. Most of the dentists 430 (90%) reported being satisfied with their profession while only 136 (28%) were satisfied with their income. 26% of the participants wanted to quit dentistry. Conclusions: The need for the hour is to uplift the quality of dental profession in India by increasing the number of post graduate seats in proportion to the undergraduate seats, to increase the income, job opportunities and status of the dental professionals in par with medical professionals.

Objective: To evaluate the unmet restorative treatment need among orphanage children of Uttara Kannada District. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was done to evaluate the unmet restorative treatment need among orphanage children of Uttara Kannada district. DFMT, PUFA and Specific caries index were used to evaluate the dental caries. Mouth mirror, explorers, CPI probes were used to examine dental caries under artificial light. Results: A total of 256 children were surveyed for unmet dental treatment need out of which 138 were girls. 80% of the children were caries free in permanent dentition while only 48% were caries free with respect to deciduous dentition using DMFT/dft indices. Pulpal involvement was seen among 31% of the children using PUFA index. Absolute treatment need with DT and dt indices were 91 and 545 in number while with specific caries index it was seen to be 705. Conclusion: The unmet restorative treatment need among the orphanage children was high and use of conventional indices alone might result in underestimation of treatment needs. Type of restorative treatment needs like pulpal/restorative, occlusal/non-occlusal, esthetic/non esthetic restorations were underestimated with conventional indices.

Background: Empathy is fundamental to the health care provider-patient relationship. The present study was conducted with the aim to assess the level of Empathy among Indian Dental Students and the objectives of the study are to assess any difference in the level of empathy across gender and year of study. Materials and Methods: Cross sectional descriptive study, employing convenience sampling method was conducted to assess the level of empathy using a validated, self-administered questionnaire Jefferson Scale of Empathy, Health Care Provider Student version (JSE-HPS) in this study. Independent samples t-test and one way ANOVA was used for comparison of empathy scores across gender and year of study. Results: A total of 406 dental students and Interns participated in the present study; the mean empathy score among the dental students was 82.76 ± 8.59. Mean empathy score of male students (83.99 ± 8.711) is greater than female students (82.37 ± 8.54) and there is a significant difference in empathy score among years of study (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Mean empathy score among Indian Dental Students is lesser than those reported in other studies. Empathy should be given importance in dental curriculum to improve dentist-patient relationship, thereby improving the treatment outcomes.