Traditionally, dental education is divided into two phases: pre-clinical and clinical education. The pre-clinical phase of dental education includes the assimilation of theoretical topical knowledge in addition to the completion of simulated exercises. Upon completion of and demonstration of competency in their pre-clinical courses, students begin to treat live dental patients in the clinical phase of their dental education. Although they have been deemed competent by their pre-clinical faculty, dental students often have difficulty transferring the knowledge they gained in the pre-clinical phase to the clinical phase of their dental education. This project examined whether the relationship between experiential learning and/or written reflection subsequent to clinical observation experiences affect dental students' ease in transferring the knowledge gained in the pre-clinical phase of their education to application during patient care. In order to investigate the relationship between frequent exposure to the clinic and written reflection to ease of transfer of knowledge to application, 128 participants in their second year of dental school were assigned to one of four groups. Participants in two limited observation groups observed third and fourth year students with their patient care six times over the course of the academic year, as dictated by their syllabus. The participants in the two frequent observation groups were instructed to observe third and fourth year dental students weekly during the course of the academic year. The participants in two groups were instructed to write reflective entries after each observation session. The participants in the other two groups did not write any reflective entries. Reflective journal entries were examined to identify recurrent themes. Quantitative measures of patient care were analyzed statistically utilizing SPSS. Analysis of quantitative data revealed that participants who were traditional dental students without prior experience in patient care and who engaged in more frequent observation achieved higher scores on a mock version of Part II of the National Board Dental Examination than participants who observed patient care less frequently. In addition, productivity measures at three and six months into the patient care phase of dental education were higher for those traditional participants who observed more frequently. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]