Dental school quality assessment: Effect of student calibration on the outcomes of fixed prosthodontic cases

Background: Quality assurance (QA) of predoctoral dental student laboratory work is an essential part of the learning process that involves evaluating the student's ability, providing constructive feedback, helping develop the students' ability to self-assess, and promoting collegiality and communication among students, faculty, and laboratories. Faculty calibration, while often difficult to coordinate, is also necessary to providing consistent student feedback. Aim: The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether periodic calibration exercises with the fourth-year dental students and faculty impacted the number of student cases rejected during Quality Assurance evaluation of fixed prosthodontic cases submitted to The Dental College of Georgia laboratory tracking. Conclusion: Findings from this study provided evidence that ongoing calibration did result in a reduced number of incoming QA rejections in all periods reviewed except for one in which there was significant turnover among department faculty affecting QA calibration for that time period.