548 - Age distribution across multiple clinics within the TAMU residency program.

Abstract:

Purpose: To analyze if there is a difference in the distribution of ages in the patients who receive restorative treatment between the Texas A&M graduate pediatric dental clinic and the community clinics where Texas A&M pediatric dental residents provide treatment to patients.

Methods: This retrospective review was conducted using the de-identified data from the pediatric dental residents’ clinical logs. Data was sorted by procedure, clinic providing care, and patient age.

Results: A Kruskal-Wallis test showed that there is a significant difference in age of patients treated between the various community dental clinics and school clinic (p=0.00032) Follow-up Mann-Whitney U test with Bonferroni corrections showed that the only significant difference in age was between patients treated at the Dallas Healing Hands community clinic and the TAMU school clinic (p < 0.00001) When a Mann-Whitney U test was applied to test for a significant difference between the ages of all patients treated at community dental clinics vs. the TAMU school clinic, a significant difference was found (p < 0.00001)

Conclusions: 1. Community dental clinics inDallasallow for TAMU to provide treatment to a significantly different age of patients
2. More research is needed to determine if treating patients in the community dental clinics allows TAMU pediatric residents to feel more prepared for future practice

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