I suppose it depends on the school. During our 1st year we had "Case Based Conferences" that were linked to the didactic subject we were covering at the time. There were generally 20 clinical correlation questions that we had to answer in paragraph format with references cited. We had to present our findings in front of a group of students on the due date.
Also, occasionally we have abstract assignments where we have to go into the literature and research topics in dentistry (i.e. evidence based dentistry).
Neither of the above were "lab reports", but they are certainly are more like lap reports than an exam.
Hup