ADEX Approves Use of Typodont in Dental Hyggiene and Dental Periodontal Scaling Clinical Licensure Examinations
2020 ADEX Press Release
For Release:May 18, 2020
Email Inquiries: office@adexexams.org
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA — The American Board of Dental Examiners, ADEX, has approved the use and offering of a selected typodont as an option in the dental hygiene licensure examination and the dental periodontal scaling challenge. The typodont selected will be used in calculus detection, calculus removal, and periodontal probing exercises for the ADEX Dental Hygiene Patient Treatment Clinical Examination after completing a feasibility study under the supervision of ACS Ventures, LLC. This will offer dental hygiene licensure boards/agencies the choice to accept this non-patient professional proficiency demonstration or continue to accept the patient-required participation for dental hygiene.
Further, the feasibility study included analysis of periodontal scaling proficiency utilizing the selected typodont and was accepted by the ADEX Board of Directors to be offered as an option for the periodontal scaling exercise part of the ADEX Dental Licensure Clinical Examination. This too would give licensure boards that intend to accept a non-patient clinical assessment of candidates for licensure, an option for such acceptance of demonstrated proficiency.
“While facing circumstances as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, ADEX has endeavored to critically and psychometrically provide licensing jurisdictions options given the current conditions in delivery of dental education, dental treatment, and independent dental skills evaluation. With the previous edition of the CompeDont™ to the ADEX dental testing repertoire, licensure boards and agencies have additional non-patient assessment modalities upon which to aid in licensure evaluation during these unprecedented times. These hands-on skill assessments are joined by our computerized Objective Clinical Simulated Examination (OCSE) in both dentistry and dental hygiene, the longest-running, continually maintained OSCE in the dental profession in North America,” said ADEX President William G. Pappas, D.D.S. “ADEX has taken additional steps in dental hygiene by approving and offering both patient and non-patient demonstration options, if desired by licensing boards, to meet the current unique obstacles presented by the COVID-19 crisis,” added Beth Jacko-Clemence, R.D.H, and Chair of the ADEX Dental Hygiene Examination Committee. This committee utilized practicing licensed hygienists, hygiene educators, and hygiene students to conduct the feasibility study prior to the acceptance and adoption of the use of this particular typodont for examination purposes.
The offering of the typodont-based dental hygiene examination and typodont-based dental periodontal scaling exercise will commence this summer in the examination series currently scheduled to resume by both The Commission on Dental Competency Assessments (CDCA) and the Council of Interstate Testing Agencies (CITA).
As always, it will be at the discretion of state licensing boards/agencies whether to accept these additional offerings in testing modality.
For any questions about the ADEX examination please contact ADEX at office@adexexams.org. For questions about the administration of ADEX examinations, please contact The Commission on Dental Competency Assessments at www.cdcaexams.org or the Council of Interstate Testing Agencies at www.citaexam.com.