Comparative Evaluation of the New and Previous Orthodontic Curriculum from the Viewpoints of the Faculty Members in the Selected Universities of Iran

The curriculum assessment is one of the main processes which can identify the clinical needs of students. The purpose of this study is to compare the evaluation of the new and previous orthodontic curriculum from the viewpoints of the faculty members in the selected universities of Iran.
In this cross-sectional-description study ,The questionnaire consists of 28 questions distributed between 50 faculty members of orthodontic department of dentistry faculties of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Shahid Beheshti, Qazvin, Azad university of Tehran, Tabriz, Isfahan, Urumiyeh and Azad university of Khorasgan. The data were analysed by a SPSS software.
From faculty members point of view of in the order of priority , the most important strengths of new Curriculum were the followings:Adding the cases of "eruption problems of teeth", " paying attention to the information and principles of infection control,", the movement of “detection topic, principles of clinical examination, provision of instruments, impression, calculating the models of orthodontic and photographic analysis " respectively, The main weak points in order of priority were these: eliminating “the purpose and duration of treatment and orthodontic treatment planning in different periods of teeth eruption” and ” the assessment methods of skull growth and development ”, ” mouth and face clefts including classification, morphology and formation of orthodontic treatment” .
Faculty members of dental schools believed that the changes in curriculum is not perfect .Therefore, the results can be used to improve the weak points of orthodontics curriculum.