Designing a Continuing Professional Development Curriculum for Dental Therapists in North East Nigeria

The professional development of dental therapists in North East Nigeria has been severely disrupted by insurgency, and designing a systematic continuing professional development curriculum addresses critical competency gaps in the primary dental care workforce. This study designed a continuing professional development curriculum for dental therapists practising in Borno, Yobe, and Gombe States, North East Nigeria. A professional curriculum design methodology was applied, incorporating a competency gap assessment survey of 60 dental therapists, structured consultations with 10 dental faculty members from University of Maiduguri and 8 State Ministry of Health dental programme officers, and benchmarking against the Dental Council of Nigeria CPD framework and regional dental therapy competency standards. Assessment confirmed that clinical skills gaps were most severe in paediatric preventive dentistry, basic emergency management, and infection control. Confidence in managing dental emergencies was adequate in only 38.3 percent. The curriculum developed comprises six modules delivered over 18 months: advanced caries management, periodontal therapy update, paediatric dental care, infection control and waste management, basic life support and dental emergency, and professional ethics and patient communication. Each module includes practical skills laboratory components, case-based learning, and post-module competency assessment. Expert review by nine dental education and therapy specialists confirmed the curriculum's relevance. Recommendations include MDCN approval of the curriculum for CPD credit recognition, NOHSS delivery through zonal dental training workshops, and WHO Essential Medicines and Health Products Division support for training materials.

Keywords: continuing professional development, dental therapists, North East Nigeria, competency framework, dental education