Dental Specialties Project Guide: Dental Specialties Project

Your project will consist of the following:

1. Note taking sheet
2. Outline
3. Research paper

Click the Rubric tab to see how you will be graded.

MyBib.com is a free citation generator for MLA, APA, and Chicago style. Create a new Project & Add a Citation.  Choose website, book, journal, video, etc.  For database articles, click More then Write/Paste.  To copy or print your final list, click on Download Bibliography.  Click here for handout. Watch the video!

Timeline of Expectations:

TBD

• Cosmetic Dentistry
• Pedodontics
• Oral Surgery
• Public Health Dentistry
• Periodontics
• Endodontics
• Prosthodontics
• Orthodontics

In writing your paper, you will follow this general outline:

• Title page
• Body with these APA style headers (see outline and sample paper): 3-5 pages
  • Explanation of Specialty - Provide a definition. Explain what do they do.  Who is their population? What is special about their specialty? Do they have an Association? End with a list of common procedures to transition to the next section.
  • Procedures and Instruments Specific to the Specialty - List at least two common procedures with instruments needed to complete the procedure.
  • Education, Job Outlook and Salary - List and describe all years of schooling needed. Find the average indebtedness for your specialty.  Go to the Bureau of Labor Statistics for job outlook and salary. Use this Google Doc: Education, Average Debt and Salary Chart to keep track of your information (click File and Make a Copy).
  • Conclusion - A summary of what you have learned.
• References page

This is a sample outline for "T-Rex Dentistry."
Here's the outline Google Doc! Click on File and Make a Copy

This is a sample paper for "T-Rex Dentistry" in the APA 7 Style

Plagiarism in any part of this project will result in a zero and the Dean’s Office will be notified immediately.  It must be a minimum of 3-5 pages typed, double spaced.

Before you begin, click on the Note-Taking Sheet.  Then click File and Make a Copy. 
A minimum of 5 sources is needed and will include at least one scholarly source from a book, database, etc. Use APA 7 format.

Background Information:

• This Gale ebook: is helpful for definitions and general information. Type montytech1 from home.
• This website from the ADA is helpful for definitions.
• This encyclopedia entry from the Encyclopedia Britannica may be helpful to start.

Scholarly Online Books Scanned from the Library's Collection

Use these after you do background information!  Find the instruments and materials.

Other Online Textbooks:

Try these 14 free scholarly textbooks available about dentistry with recent copyright years.  You may also find books on your specialty by going to books.google.com.  Many publishers put "Previews" of their textbooks online. If you use information from a book online, make sure that you use the proper form in MyBib.com to cite it.  It should look something like this: Lastname, F. (Year Published) Book. Publisher.

Background Websites:  Examples of some websites about dental specialties.  Many of these will lead you to more specific, quality websites:

Search your specialty with the little word edu after it.  You will get better results.  Any website from a university will be a good one!

• American Association of Public Health Dentistry
• American Association of Endodontists
• American Association of Orthodontists
• American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry
• American Academy of Periodontology
• American College of Prosthodontists
• American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (AACD)
• American Dental Association (can be used almost like a database, there's so much information!)

Other sites to start with include these patient information sites: CDC's website on Oral Health and the Columbia Dental Library.   You'll find a lot of research online, but be sure to double check the following: 

Evaluating Web Sources:

• Author credentials: Are the authors' affiliation and credentials available? Open another tab and search for the author and/or the website.  Do you find anything? Can you find out anything about the website itself?  What is the purpose of the website and who/what is behind it?
• Publication date: Is the publication date current so that you know the information is accurate or relevant to the time period?
• Article length: If it is just a couple of pages, it is unlikely to provide in-depth coverage of the subject matter.
• Review: Can you find out if the article reviewed by experts?
• Audience: Who is the intended audience? Is is the general public (background) or researchers (scholarly)?
• Objectivity: Is the article's subject treated objectively? Do you detect any bias? Is the article based on fact or on opinion?
• Accuracy: Is there a bibliography? Can you research their sources?
• Relevancy: Is there an abstract or introduction that provides a synopsis of the article? If so, read it!  Find out if it's relative to your research. Also, use Control-F to quickly browse the article for your keywords.

PubMed Central (PMC) is a free full-text archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature at the U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine (NIH/NLM).  Search your topic with specific keywords around dentistry and dental assisting.  

Evidence-Based Dentistry is a current, updated, journal with free summaries of new research from the creators of Nature magazine.

Cochrane's mission is to promote evidence-informed health decision-making by producing high-quality, relevant, accessible systematic reviews and other synthesized research evidence.

National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research: Oral Health

Fact sheets and other consumer health resources on oral health topics from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), National Institutes of Health (NIH).