The effectiveness of undergraduate teaching of the identification of radiographic film faults

Objectives: To see if there were any differences in the ability of final year dental students at two UK dental schools, who were within 4 months of graduation, to identify radiographic film faults. Methods: The two groups of undergraduates were shown 11 dental radiographs using a slide format. The 11 radiographs included 8 films with film faults, 2 films without technical or processing errors and a film with minimal faults. Each student was asked to assess each film for the presence/absence of film fault(s), to detail how to correct the fault (if appropriate) and to give a subjective quality rating of each film. Results: The range of marks obtained by both groups of students was low. All students found the identification of panoramic film faults more challenging than faults associated with intraoral films. 15% of students from University B scored more than half the possible marks compared with 2% from University A. Conclusions: Both groups of students had the necessary knowledge of how to correct faults once identified. However, the marked difference in competency in identifying faults between the two groups of students has implications for the future teaching and development of the radiology curriculum.