Comparison of Malaysia's Bachelor of Dental Technology curriculum with three other countries: Proposing a basic curriculum framework

INTRODUCTION: A dental technologist is one of the most essential allied dental health professionals and the dental technology curriculum should be comprehensively reviewed on a regular basis. This study aims to compare the only existing Bachelor of Dental Technology (BDT) curriculum in Malaysia with BDT programmes offered by other well-established universities, and map out the similarities and differences, as well as to explore future recommendations and propose a new curriculum framework.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A descriptive analysis was carried out using Laurie Brady's four-stage strategy. First, available curriculum materials were collected from four different institutions' electronic webpage: AIMST (Malaysia), GU (Australia), UO (New Zealand) and CMU (United Kingdom), and then compared based on three key domains: curriculum contents, teaching and learning strategies and assessments. Following that, the similarities and differences between various curricula were identified. Future recommendations and a curriculum framework were then proposed.

RESULTS: The core BDT curriculum content is concurred upon by all four universities, with an emphasis on basic sciences, laboratory materials, practical sessions and research projects. However, the credit weightage for each course or module varied across the four institutions, with some offering unique subjects and implementing different teaching methods and assessments. A simple BDT curriculum framework with a proposed syllabus was designed based on the three key domains and future recommendations for curriculum improvement were explored.

CONCLUSION: The present study identified several areas for Malaysian BDT curriculum development and improvement. The proposed framework can be a guide for Malaysian dental schools in designing a comprehensive dental technology programme.