Undergraduate and Postgraduate Special Needs Dentistry Curricula for Oral Health Therapists: A Delphi Study
Date
Authors
Koh, Dorothy K. L.
Aley, Melanie J.
Leadbeatter, Delyse M.
Sohn, Woosung
Lim, Mathew A. W. T.
Longbottom, Troy
Lansdown, Karen
Rawal, Kadambari
Carrington, Samuel D.
Francis, Jessica
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
Degree name
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Wiley
Abstract
Aim: To develop a consensus-based curriculum outline for special needs dentistry (SND) tailored to oral health therapists (OHTs),ensuring relevance and applicability across undergraduate and postgraduate education in Australia. Methods: A four-round online modified Delphi study was conducted. The first three rounds involved both Australian and international experts, while the final consensus round was limited to Australian experts. Experts were selected using purposive sampling based on their experience in SND education, clinical practice, or curriculum development. Participants completed semi-structured surveys derived from publicly accessible learning outcomes (LOs) in student handbooks of undergraduate oral health programs and postgraduate SND specialist programs. Additional insights were drawn from the International Association for Disability & Oral Health (iADH) and the Australian Dental Council (ADC) competency guidelines. Across the rounds, experts rated the importance of proposed LOs, identified their appropriate educational level (undergraduate/postgraduate), and provided qualitative feedback. Consensus was defined a priori as ≥ 70% agreement. Modifications were made between rounds based on expert feedback. Results: In Round 1, 24 experts completed, with 66 of 67 LOs reaching consensus. In Round 2, 20 experts assessed 98 LOs(including new and revised items, categorized into undergraduate and postgraduate), with 96 (97.9%) reaching consensus. Round3 involved 16 experts reviewing unresolved and newly added items; two items did not reach consensus. The final round resulted in consensus on all outstanding LOs and confirmed the overall framework’s relevance to the OHT scope and context. Key refinements across rounds included improved clarity in applying Bloom’s Taxonomy, clearer undergraduate/postgraduate differentiation, and increased specificity to SND. The final document, “Undergraduate and Postgraduate Special Needs Dentistry Curricula for Oral Health Therapists” can be downloaded from the Appendices in the Supporting Information.Description
Keywords
39 Education, 3203 Dentistry, 320312 Special needs dentistry, 1105 Dentistry, 1302 Curriculum and Pedagogy, Dentistry, curriculum, dental care, dental education, learning outcomes, oral health therapy, people with disability, special needs dentistry
Source
Journal of Dental Education, ISSN: 0022-0337 (Print); 1930-7837 (Online), Wiley. doi: 10.1002/jdd.70248
Publisher's version
Rights statement
© 2026 The Author(s). Journal of Dental Education published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Dental Education Association. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.