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Effect of Dental Course Cycle on Anatomical Knowledge and Dental Carving Ability of Dental Students |
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| Authors: | Ademar Fonseca Victoria B da S Guimarães Sinval A Rodrigues-Junior Alisson AR Fonseca Renato A de Azevedo Marcos B Corrêa Rafael G Lund |
| Institution: | 1. Postgraduate Program in Dentistry, Department of Restorative Dentistry, School of Dentistry, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil
Department of Morphology, Institute of Biology, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil Contribution: Conceptualization (lead), Data curation (lead), ?Investigation (lead), Methodology (equal), Writing - original draft (lead);2. Postgraduate Program in Dentistry, Department of Restorative Dentistry, School of Dentistry, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil;3. Health Sciences Post-Graduate Program, Regional Community University of Chapecó – Unochapecó, Chapecó, Brazil;4. Department of Morphology, Institute of Biology, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), ?Investigation (equal), Methodology (equal);5. Department of Morphology, Institute of Biology, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Supervision (equal), Validation (lead), Visualization (equal);6. Postgraduate Program in Dentistry, Department of Restorative Dentistry, School of Dentistry, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Data curation (equal), Formal analysis (lead), Funding acquisition (equal) |
| Abstract: | This study assessed the effect of the course cycle on theoretical knowledge of dental morphology and the dental carving ability of dental students. Thirty-two dental students from the third semester (initial cycle) and 30 students from the eighth and tenth semesters of the dental course (end cycle) had their theoretical knowledge on dental morphology assessed using a questionnaire with ten closed questions. Their dental carving ability was also assessed using wax carvings in macro models of plaster (for the third S3] and eight S8] semesters) and natural-sized artificial teeth (for the tenth S10] semester). The teeth chosen for the dental carving activity were #16 and #47. The scores were statistically analyzed using the t-test, Kruskal–Wallis test, and Mann–Whitney test (α = 0.05). Students from the initial cycle presented better theoretical knowledge than the other groups did (P < 0.007). No significant differences in carving score were found between the initial and end cycles (P > 0.05), although S10 students obtained a higher score for teeth #16 and #47 (P < 0.05). Natural-sized artificial teeth received a higher evaluation score in dental carvings than the macro models (P < 0.001). Within the limits of this study, it was possible to conclude that students from the initial cycle (S3) presented higher theoretical knowledge, whereas no difference in carving ability was observed between the initial and end cycles. The tenth semester (S10) students performed dental carvings with better quality. Furthermore, carvings in natural-sized artificial teeth presented better quality compared with the macro models. |
| Keywords: | dental anatomy education dental sculptures dental carving tooth morphology anatomical knowledge dental curriculum assessment methods |