Sir, the recent article on open-book exams reminded me of when I was a dental student at New York University College of Dentistry (1967 to 1971).1 It was not an option then but with hindsight after almost 50 years of clinical dentistry I wish it could have been as it would have greatly lowered stress levels and improved my learning experience. The authors reported that students disagreed with open-book exams for several reasons such as 'did not feel there were any rewards' and 'concern on their preparedness in subsequent years' but I have found after all my years as a clinical dentist that these are not valid.

My experience has been that regular use of information is a better teacher than memory, which can be flawed. The exponential growth of data and research assures that whatever was learned in dental school will be obsolete within a short time after graduation, which is the reason for mandated life-long learning. In addition, online computer resources for facts, technical data, and clinical technique demos are available to all dentists with the click of a button. Therefore, the focus of dental school education should be on teaching students to think and analyse, not memorise, and create a comfortable atmosphere to use information from any reputable source with repetition the essential ingredient.

If most practising dentists are like me, they will have had a hard time passing the original exams in dental school, using extensive and stressful memorisation. Today, I take continuing education courses regularly and consider myself able to do dentistry and enjoy dentistry better than in my previous 50 years. My ability to do great dentistry and achieve excellent results for my patients is my reward. I only wish I could do dentistry for another 50 years.