This year, the Western Regional Board Exam (WREB) – the exam dentists need to take to practice in California and other states – released a new written exam.

The creators of the WREB are calling this new exam the “Comprehensive Treatment Planning Exam” or CTP. Students graduating after 2014, are required to take this exam in its new format, and as a student who will graduate in 2015, I took this exam about 1 month ago.

The exam is 3 hours long, and consists of 3 separate cases (one of which is always a pediatric case). Each case begins with a chief complaint and brief social history. A complete medical history is provided for your reference along with clinical photos, a periodontal chart, an odontogram, and a full mouth series.

Unfortunately, the x-ray quality is poor (I heard the same was true of previous exams and the NERB). While you are able to “enlarge” an x-ray, the magnification is minimal and the clarity of the x-ray will most likely be dependent on the monitor’s resolution.

After you have reviewed a case, you are tasked with formulating a treatment plan in a blank text box.

Treatment follows this order (Making sure to address the CC early):

Modification (Medical consult/Prophylaxis/Allergies)
Acute
Disease Control
Definitive
Maintenance

Each case is followed by 5-8 free response questions. You may be required to elaborate or justify your treatment of choice for a particular tooth or  write a prescription for an antibiotic or an analgesic or you may need to write a lab order.

The WREB is offering a tutorial here.

You can read the 2015 CTP exam guide here.