Letters: Live patient exams

October 03, 2016 In response to the Aug. 22 ADA News article "Shifting Focus on Patients," having been a dental student and practiced for over 30 years on patients, I believe an exam on live patients is certainly a necessary prerequisite to licensure to treat patients. Those students who want to be tested without patients for an alternative should find a line of work that doesn't involve patients. They should be vetted and never be allowed into dental school as a student in the first place, only as a patient.