During the senior year of the program, students will prepare and present a case study report (Capstone project) on a patient for which the student completing the report has provided treatment to. The selected patient should be one who presents with an oral condition/manifestation that is correlated to a systemic cause (disease, medication, side effect of treatment, etc.) or contributing factor. It is usually a case that deviates from normal and requires special care or modification in delivering dental hygiene interventions. The student should be able to correlate the patient’s medical history/contributing factor with intraoral findings. The student must have completed all treatments on the selected patient prior to the case study presentation in order to report on the treatment outcome. Some examples of patient conditions to select are dental anomalies, advanced periodontal disease, special needs, or a compromised health history.
In Fall, students will conduct the research portion of the Capstone project. The research will be used to write an initial draft of a review of the literature about the patient’s conditions. The Review of Literature serves as the scientific evidence on which the process of care is based. For example: Sandy’s capstone patient has diabetes, Stage 3, Grade B periodontal disease, and a calculus classification of III. Sandy’s Review of Lit should contain background information about diabetes, perio disease, and calculus individually and then research how/if they are interrelated, treatment options for the conditions, etc. You introduce your patient in the intro, but the point of the ROL is to discuss general information about how systemic conditions relate to oral health. ONLY REFER TO PATIENT AS PATIENT X. YOU CAN SAY HE OR SHE AND AGE.
Students must thoroughly research conditions, medications, and other findings related to the capstone patient’s oral status. All recommendations should be evidence-based with supporting literature. The student will refer to the review of literature throughout the treatment section of the paper and presentation to provide research-based evidence for treatment, recommendations/interventions. At least six (6) current scholarly sources are required. (No older than 7 years) The review of literature should be comprehensive and therefore be a minimum of six (6) pages from introduction to the conclusion. Font size should be 12-point Times New Roman. A template for the ROL will be provided.
Patient X:
- 74-year-old female
- Diagnosed with two forms of cancer (cervical in 1993 and breast in 2006)
- History of tobacco use
- Active periodontal disease (stage III, grade B)
- Calculus class III
- Medications: Blood Pressure (Amlodipine), Cholesterol (Pravastatin),
- Clonazepam (antidepressant)