Topics for MFDS Part 2

 These are the topics that we've covered before the exam :

(you can always add more into your revision checklist 😆 but it was enough for me, and I've studied them in groups as below because I found some of the topics are similar or interrelated in some ways)

Discoloration
Amelogenesis imperfecta / Dentinogenesis imperfecta
Fluorosis
Tetracycline stains
Enamel hypoplasia
Ortho demineralization

Non carious tooth surface loss
Irreversible pulpitis
Nursing bottle caries
Teeth sensitivity
Teeth gap
Hypodontia
Microdontia
Impacted canine
Single tooth anterior crossbite
Submerged deciduous with no successor

Dental trauma

Ulcers
White patch
SCC
Candidiasis
Lichenoid reaction
Lichen planus
OSMF
RAS
Herpes labialis
Angular cheilitis

Facial pain
Trigeminal neuralgia
Glossopharyngeal neuralgia
Post herpetic neuralgia
Myofacial pain
Atypical facial pain
TMJ disorder
Burning mouth syndrome
Meal time syndrome
Dry mouth / Sjogren Syndrome
Sinusitis

Oroantral communication
Dry socket
Balancing and compensating extraction
Wisdom tooth removal
Supernumerary tooth
Odontome
Lateral periodontal cyst
Dentigerous cyst
Ameloblastoma
Pericoronitis / impacted 3rd molar
Implant
Extraction of premolars for ortho treatment
Anxious patient (sedation options)

Denture
Denture hyperplasia
Denture hygiene
Loose denture
Atrophic mandible
Flabby ridge
Combination Syndrome
Denture wearer diabetic
Denture fabrication steps

Gingival and periodontal diseases (be good and fast at reading BPE and OPG)
NUG
Alcohol cessation
Smoking cessation

Complaint station
Crown
X-ray radiation facts
Failing post and core
Apicectomy
Broken instruments
Vertical root fracture
Fail RCT
Failing / loose bridge
Repeat X-ray
Check up before radiotherapy
Wrong tooth prepared
Wrong tooth removal
Lip cut
Consent for biopsy
Amalgam toxicity
Allergy

Cross infection HIV
Needle stick injury
Special need child neglected
Lost biopsy sample / report
Broken instrument

Antibiotic guidelines
Osteoradionecrosis
Warfarin
Bisphosphonates
Excessive bleeding
Lung conditions
Epileptic patient

Stations of MFDS Part 2

History Taking

"A patient attends to your clinic for the first time. Please take a detailed history and manage the patient concerns accordingly."

• very little information (yes! as little as almost nothing to take note from the question paper given, 80-90% of the info were given by the patient) if...
• you ask the proper questions
• take detailed history
• diagnose and manage the whole case (make sure you know the differential diagnosis well)

Explanation and Interpretation of Investigations

• radiographs, clinical photographs, reports (too much information! you will need to skim through sometimes 3 pages for 1 question within the 1 minute and half, and pick the right info in mind)
• explain the findings
• take medical, dental, social history (just a brief one sometimes, if you go through the sample questions, you get marked for history taking regardless)
• diagnosis, prognosis, treatment plan (do not go with the less common diagnosis and treatment options; pros, cons, risks needed to be explained, )

Managing Patient Concerns

• Show empathy
• Communication skills
• And you will still need to cover some of the parts as above.

Good Tips

👉

 The invigilator told us that overall it is not about coming to the 100% correct for diagnosis and treatment plan like how you were expected to be during your undergrad time.

👉 

Make sure it should be a 2-way conversation, you are not supposed to do most of the talking, you should listen to the patient, pause from time to time, let patient to express their concerns and sometimes emotions.

👉 You can practice by phrasing or rephrasing the sentence when you communicate with your patients, for example :

"Good morning, Mr/Mdm/Ms ___. I'm Dr ___ and I'll be the dentist seeing you today. How can I help you?"

👉 Go with open ended questions, sometimes the patient will explain as if they have memorized the scripts, for example :

"Can you describe the pain to me?" instead of "Was it a throbbing pain? How long was the pain?" 

👉 Show patient just enough empathy (does not have to be all the time, once or twice is enough) for example :

"I'm so sorry to hear about the pain you are suffering from, please do not worry, I'll do my best to sort it out for you."

Basically, if you are already at the stage of taking MFDS Part 2, I believe that the basic dental knowledge should not be an issue to you right 😂. For me, I've put more effort into learning how to talk professionally yet simple for patient to understand. Feel free to watch some YouTube videos as well, there are couple of good ones, just search for it, practice more, you will get the hang of it! Trust me! 💪 

Preparation of MFDS Part 2 (Con't)

Personal Experience (Part 2)

Previously I was considering whether to take MFD Part 2 online instead of  MFDS Part 2, because there was no new dates for physical examination in Malaysia yet. After some discussion and research being done, we decided to wait and stick to MFDS Part 2, mainly because it emphasized more on patient communication, which is what I've always wanted to improve myself in a private practice.

It requires us to take a proper history from patients, arrange our thoughts, explain the conditions to patient, plan a treatment plan systematically, etc. in a way that the patient can understand. To learn how to show empathy as well as a good body language.

Stations

These are the themes, it was stated at beginning of each question :

2 History taking
4 Explanation
1 Interpretation of investigations
3 Managing patient concerns

Why is it important to have a study group?

I would prefer at least a group of 3-4 people, because if 1 or 2 study mates got unavailable, the discussion can still be carried on.

We (4 of us) got some list of past year questions or topics from internet and our seniors, then decided to meet online every 1 or 2 weeks to cover all of them.

Each of us will prepare the question for a given topic, and we will answer each other's question like a mock exam. Hence, we could cover 3-4 topics in a discussion.

We timed all our practices, instead of 2 minutes we make it 1 minute and half, to train our speed of reading, as I said, you need to spare some time for yourselves to walk from one station to another. Moreover, we practiced to keep our talking within 8 minutes as well, so you will learn how to ask specific and relatable questions while taking history, and to avoid jargon!

We usually give feedback to each other, sometimes we even got feedback from our seniors who occasionally joined our session, so we learnt how to rephrase our sentences from time to time.

What are the recommended reference books / materials?

(I did not read back the pink book, some of the info was too theoretical to be put in use here)

• Compiled past year Q&A
• NHS leaflets (very helpful) - it explains most of the common conditions and treatments in layman terms, just that you need to search for them like one by one 😅
• Some MFDS Part 1 guidelines - the related one only

I did not go through the typical books as well because it is too lengthy for me the lazy bum (but you can) :

• Clinical Problems in Dentistry by John Laszlo
• PasTest OSCEs for Dentistry

Rule of Thumb

1. How to greet patient? (new or recurrent patient)
2. What history do I need to take some more?
- If medical, dental, social history given, reconfirm, ask for update
3. What should I explain to the patient?
4. What is the likely or differential diagnosis?
5. Anymore investigations needed to be done?
6. What are the treatment options or management?
- Advantages, disadvantages, risks
- Referral to GMP / specialist if required
7. Offer for further additional assistance
- alcohol counselling
- quite smoking service
8. Understand? Any more questions? Need to repeat? Anything add-on?
9. Reassurance and empathy
10. Offer to give leaflets

I will share some of my summarized notes as usual. You can always read more for facts that you can explain during the examination. But bear in mind this is not a VIVA session with your lecturers, they are just patients, just tell that what they need to know!

Preparation for MFDS Part 2

Personal Experience (Part 1)

(as an overseas candidate in Malaysia, this time physical examination!)

It was roughly a year ago since I’ve completed and passed my MFDS Part 1. Until recently i.e November 2022 that we’ve finally got the release of the long awaiting new dates for physical examination of MFDS Part 2 to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia!

I came to realize that there were not much information talking about MFDS Part 2, hence I have decided to share some of my experience while my memories are still fresh at the moment. Hopefully this is helpful for you!

Step by Step to Examination

👉 Check for the available dates of examination on website (try to stick to the same college, because they would have the results of your Part 1 exam)

👉 Once your online application is done with the payment, similarly, you will receive documents in email : 

1. Checklist of required documentation (passport photographs, applicant declaration, MFDS Part 2 video consent form, training post form, basic dental degree, MFDS Part 1 pass letter - not required if you passed at your respective college)
2. Training post form
3. MFDS Part 2 consent form
4. Photograph form
5. Applicant declaration

👉 Complete the forms, scan them and email back to the examination department : mfds.exam.@rcsed.ac.uk

(Do not do this last minute too, it still took almost a month for me to get a reply)

👉 You will get a reply like this in a month ↓

Current Status : Documentation Received - Online Application

👉 Then another few more days you will get a reply ↓

Current status : Application Accepted

👉 Then you can prepare for your examination again… haha

👉 Two months before examination date, you may receive some emails as blow :

1. MFDS Part 2 - Kuala Lumpur (Examination dates) - Update
- Clarify that the exam will consist of 10 stations and will take 2 hours to complete a circuit
- Drinks and snacks will be provided for you
- Only bottled water will be permitted in the exam room (trust me, you will not have time to drink)
- Pen and paper will be provided for you to take notes during the reading part of the exam
- Confirmation of the exam venue (mine was conducted in IMU)
2. Examination Notice
- Candidate number
- Registration date and time
- Examination time
- Some rules to be followed throughout the exam

👉 Sit for your examination and good luck! 🍀

👉 Results will be released after 1 or 2 months http://www.rcsed.ac.uk/exams/exam-results

👉 Voila! ✌️

Feedback

There will be 3 examination dates falling on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 2 sessions (either morning or evening) on each day as well. So I assumed there were 6 groups of candidates? The candidate number, date and time were given randomly, as some of my friends who registered later than me actually got an earlier date. There is no saying of which day is better, but you may rule out some questions if your exam falls on the 2nd or 3rd day 🤫 The questions were the same for morning and evening sessions on the same day.

It was conducted with all the stations gathered in a room 😅 presenting as 2 circles. Some chairs were numbered and located at the inner circle, serving as stops for you to read the questions / scenario. Each numbered station was separated by partition, yes just partition haha, located at the outer circle, where you will answer the given questions / scenario. 1-2 rest stations depend on the number of candidates for each group. 

We were advised to not run during the examination but you could not help it, because it was quite stressful to think that every seconds count.

You will start with sitting in the inner circle, 2 minutes were given (as the bell rings) to read the scenario (unless you are at the rest station). You can scribble some points with the pen, paper and clipboard given. Then you will proceed to the respective numbered station at the outer circle to perform in 8 minutes.

There was no clock / timer shown anywhere to know how long the time has lapsed. So you can bring along your watch, but I did not really have the time to look at it except at the rest station.

Some of the questions could be as lengthy as at least 3 pages (paragraphs + radiographs + photographs) for you to read, I am not JOKING. Please practice you reading speed. Haha.