Expert consensus on relevant topics for undergraduate paediatric dental curriculum using the fuzzy Delphi method: a new direction for Malaysian dental education

Lin et al. BMC Oral Health (2023) 23:452 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12903-023-03130-8 BMC Oral Health Open Access RESEARCH Expert consensus on relevant topics for undergraduate paediatric dental curriculum using the fuzzy Delphi method: a new direction for Malaysian dental education Galvin Sim Siang Lin1*, Yu Jie Chin2, Rob Son Chong2, Fadzlinda Baharin3, Sharifah Wade’ah Wafa Syed Saadun Tarek Wafa4 and Nabihah Dziaruddin2 Abstract Background Paediatric dentistry is a branch of dental specialty that focuses on dental care for children from infancy through adolescence. However, there is no standardised national undergraduate paediatric dental curriculum in Malaysia. The present study aimed to identify relevant topics for undergraduate paediatric dental curricula and to determine the appropriate cognitive and psychomotor levels for each topic based on the consensus among paediatric dental experts. Methods Potential relevant undergraduate paediatric dentistry topics were initially drafted and revised according to the revised national competency statement. The final draft included 65 topics clustered under 18 domains. A fuzzy Delphi method was used and experts who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were invited to anonymously ranked the importance of relevant topics using a five-point Likert scale and proposed suitable cognitive and psychomotor levels for each topic. Fuzzy evaluation was then performed, and experts were considered to have reached a consensus if the following three conditions were achieved: (a). the difference between the average and expert rating data was ≤ 0.2; (b). the average expert consensus was ˃70%; and (c). the average fuzzy number was ≥ 0.5. Subsequently, the mean ratings were used to determine the cognitive and psychomotor levels. Results 20 experts participated in the survey. 64 out of 65 paediatric dentistry topics were deemed acceptable. The average fuzzy number ranged from 0.36 to 0.85, while the average Likert score ranged from 3.05 to 5.00. The topic “Dental amalgam” was rejected based on expert consensus since the average fuzzy number was 0.36. The most significant topic was “Pit and fissure sealant”, followed by “Preventive advice”, “Early childhood caries”, “Dental caries in children & adolescent”, “Management of dental caries in paediatric patients”, and “Consent” which were equally ranked as the second most important topics. According to Bloom’s and Simpson’s taxonomies, most of the *Correspondence: Galvin Sim Siang Lin Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s) 2023. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. Lin et al. BMC Oral Health (2023) 23:452 Page 2 of 11 paediatric dentistry topics were rated adequate for undergraduate students at the cognitive level of “Apply” (C3) and a psychomotor level of “Guided response” (P3). Conclusion The current study successfully identified relevant undergraduate paediatric dentistry topics using the fuzzy Delphi method, which can facilitate future educators to improve existing Malaysian undergraduate paediatric dental curricula. Keywords Paediatric dentistry, Delphi technique, Dental caries, Dental education, Undergraduate Background Malaysia has 13 dental schools spread across the country, each of which offers a five-year undergraduate dental programme [1]. With Bloom’s cognitive and Simpson’s psychomotor taxonomies serving as the basis for establishing dental curricula, undergraduate dental programmes in Malaysia are organised into preclinical and clinical phases [2]. During the preclinical phase, students are introduced to basic medical and dental principles, as well as operative practical and laboratory skills, while the clinical phase of the programme allows students to provide patient care in the dental clinic under close supervision [3]. The Malaysian Dental Council (MDC) is entrusted with regulating and governing the quality assurance of undergraduate dental programmes [4], as well as recognising dental qualifications for registration of practitioners under the Malaysian Dental Act 2018 [5]. This is done to keep Malaysia’s dental education and training at a high level. Additionally, the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) contributes to the accreditation of each dental school and the provision of quality assurance concerning the school’s compliance with the minimal standards of fundamental dental education and training [5]. Paediatric dentistry is a branch of dental speciality that deals with dental care for children from infancy through adolescence [6]. Undergraduate paediatric dental education in Malaysia provides all facets of dental treatment for children which includes preventive and restorative procedures. Unfortunately, there is no uniformity and standardisation for a national paediatric dental curriculum in Malaysia, and all dental schools operate independently as compartmentalised institutions. Malaysian undergraduate dental programmes are separated into preclinical and clinical phases [3]. Dental students spend two years in the preclinical phase learning the fundamentals of medicine and dental sciences before moving on to the clinical phase, in which they need to spend the next three years providing patient care in clinics under supervision [7]. Paediatric dentistry is introduced at some dental schools during the preclinical phase of undergraduate curricula, whereas in others it is introduced later during the clinical phase. Furthermore, there is no consensus among dental schools as to the topics that should be covered in the undergraduate curriculum for paediatric dentistry. Due to the lack of such standards, undergraduate paediatric dental education in Malaysia is likely to vary considerably, creating a dental workforce with a diverse range of knowledge and skills [8]. It is pivotal that dental schools should prepare their future graduates to be competent in managing common oral health diseases for infants, children, adolesc (...truncated)