Patient Mix of Referring Patients to The Periodontics Department of Isfahan Dental School in Comparison with the Student's Requirement

 According to the importance of the patient-mix in creating adequate clinical skills and experience for students, the aim of this study was to assess the periodontal needs of patients referred to the periodontics department of Isfahan dental school and compare them with the formulated curriculum for the students to determine if the number of required and performed treatments meets the curriculum.

Methods and Materials: 

In this cross-sectional study all the available files in the archive of the periodontics department during 2016-2017 were included. The information about the needs of the patients referred to the department (patient-mix) Was compared with the number of dental students multiplied by the educational requirements in each semester of practical course 2-4.

 In periodontics course 2 most of the provided care was adequate comparing with the proposed requirement. In clinical course 3, 4 some provided cares including scaling and root planning, oral health education, charting and intra oral examination were adequate. In course 3, surgery assistance by the students was lower than the requirement. Reviewing the files of course 4 also demonstrated that surgical procedures performed by the students including crown-lengthening, flap surgery, curettage, gingivectomy and also surgery assistance were much lower than the proposed curriculum.

 It appears that there might be a gap in students' training in the fields of periodontal surgeries. This lack might be due to the insufficient number of referring patients and the combination of the patient-mix. Therefore, considering outreach programs can efficiently increase the number and variety of patients and the patient-mix.