During a nearly four hour hearing during its Sept. 6 meeting, the Dentistry Examining Board heard testimony from a variety of interested parties and stakeholders offering opinions on the format of the exam required for licensure in Wisconsin.
Under the leadership of current chair, Dr. Mark Braden (Lake Geneva), the DEB is considering changing the current requirement that candidates successfully pass a clinical exam on a patient. The American Dental Association, Wisconsin Dental Association and American Student Dental Association all have positions advocating for the elimination of human subjects from the examination process.
WDA Vice President Dr. Pat Tepe (Verona) presented WDA’s testimony addressing ethical and logistic issues with the current clinical exam process and expressed WDA’s support to work with the DEB in developing a new format. Also testifying in favor of eliminating human subjects from the live clinical testing scenario were Dr. Bill Lobb (Milwaukee), Dean of the Marquette University School of Dentistry, Dr. Tony Ziebert, senior vice president of Education and Professional Affairs at the ADA and three Marquette dental students speaking on behalf of ASDA.
Dr. Keith Clemence (Hales Corners) provided testimony on behalf of the American Board of Dental Examiners that stressed the importance of maintaining a human subject requirement as part of the clinical exam.
The DEB will now digest the information they received and continue researching the various exam models being used in other states. The discussion will continue at the next meeting scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 1.
In an accredited institution, the body of a students work should serve to highlight competency. The environment surrounding the live patient examination is stressful and not always indicative of the talents of an individual. I believe examinations should not be taken on live patients. There should be standardized parameters for completing course requirements on live patients and these should be used for determination of proficiency.
Sincerely,
Richard B. Winter DDS, MAGD, DABOI/ID, FAAID, FAAID,DICOI,DABLS
Master Academy of General Dentistry
Diplomate American Board of Oral Implantologists/Implant Dentists
Fellow American Academy of Implant Dentists
Diplomate International Congress of Oral Implantologists
Diplomate American Board of Laser Surgeons
Why Don’t you just hand them out to everyone who wants one…..sounds like something Obama would do. Please do not water down the license
procedures. Aren’t they going to practice on live patients once they get their license? Our standards need to remain high!