Expert performance in exodontia – redesigning an exodontia block course using deliberate practice as a teaching strategy

Abstract

The education and training in exodontia, an important part of dental education, teaches how to extract a tooth indicated for removal for a number of reasons, primarily to treat pain and sepsis. Dental extraction requires basic core competencies that reduce surgical intervention, patient morbidity, healing time, and return to function, thus benefitting the economy. Deliberate practice helps to build skills and expertise. Deliberate practice has, however, not been used in oral surgery training. The aim of this study was to redesign an Exodontia Block Course by including deliberate practice as a teaching and learning strategy. A qualitative research study using a two-phased approach was conducted. Phase One consisted of two stages and endeavoured to explore the applications of deliberate practice in health professions education using a systematic review and to evaluate the traditional course that is used to teach the skill of tooth extraction (exodontia). There were 30 participants in Phase One. Phase Two, the redesign phase, built on the findings of Phase One and comprised 33 participants. Phase Two involved a consensus workshop consisting of three rounds. Round 1 was a pilot study, Round 2 comprised a panel of experts who were academics in the field of dental and general education, and Round 3 included a panel of stakeholders consisting of students and clinical teachers. The findings of the study highlighted areas for improvement in the traditional exodontia course in respect of the curriculum elements of the course objectives, content, teaching and learning strategies, assessment, and clinical teaching and training.