Developing a Prosthodontic Curriculum for Graduating European Dentists

AIM: This paper presents peer-reviewed undergraduate curriculum guidelines for indirect restorations and prosthodontics. BACKGROUND: Prosthodontics teaching represents a significant part of Dental Undergraduate education. Despite the publication of European undergraduate curriculum guidelines in other fields, none exist for Prosthodontics. In 2023 the British Society of Prosthodontics (BSSPD) formed a working group to develop undergraduate curriculum guidelines specifically for indirect restorations and prosthodontics. METHODOLOGY: Learning outcomes (LOs) and competences were developed following the Association of Dental Education in Europe (ADEE) Graduating European Dentist guidance. Four capability domains were formed: (1) Knowledge of the scientific and evidence-base; (2) General prosthodontics; (3) Indirect restorations; and (4) Removable prosthodontics. To achieve agreement for the structure and content, a modified-Delphi approach was employed. This aimed to identify the clarity (clear/not clear), importance (essential/important/aspirational) and difficulty to teach (easier/more difficult to teach) for each LO. RESULTS: Agreement for LO clarity, importance and difficulty was achieved: 100% were 'clear'; 95% were 'essential', 5% were 'important' and none were 'aspirational'; 73% were 'easier to teach' and 27% were 'more difficult to teach'. The finalised guidelines contain 16 competencies and 90 LOs. LOs are classed as fundamental (assessable through discussion or written assessment), supporting clinical (directly observable within a clinical or skills environment, or through case-based discussion or written assessment), or clinical (directly observable within a clinical or skills environment) to assist implementation. CONCLUSION: Final consensus was reached for all LOs following the combined survey and in-person consultation process. A novel categorisation of LO supports educators to build these into existing curricula.