Examining the effects of early patient care and biomedical science integration on predoctoral dental student competence and confidence

Our study investigates early experiential learning as a method of curricular integration by allowing students to begin their clinical experience in the first year of the programme, as well as distributing biomedical classes throughout the predoctoral dental school curriculum. This study utilises a quasi-experimental design with two different groups, Standard Curriculum Group and Integrated Curriculum Group, n = 87. Data were collected from 2017 to 2021. We found that, on average, it took 608 h less for the participants in an integrated curriculum group to reach clinical competence in comparison to peers who did not experience the same methods of integration in their programme. These data were collected through daily faculty evaluations of students' progression as well as participants' own self-assessment. Our results indicate that participants in the Integrated Curriculum Group also experienced a positive effect on their confidence in their ability to apply the biomedical sciences to patient care. Our findings demonstrate that predoctoral dental programmes may be able to bring about positive outcomes for students' clinical confidence and competence by providing patient care opportunities early in the programme and sequencing the biomedical sciences throughout the curriculum. As such, it appears that early experiential learning may be a viable option for curricular integration that can have a positive effect on both students' confidence in their clinical abilities and their progression to clinical competence.