Author: Sun-Yung Bak, D.D.S. – Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Michigan School of Dentistry Author: Marita R. Inglehart, Ph.D. – Professor, University of Michigan School of Dentistry Submitter: Marita R. Inglehart, Ph.D. – Professor, University of Michigan School of Dentistry
Objectives: Half a century ago, dental educators in the US considered complete dentures a less important content area in dental education. However, the rapidly rising percentage of older adults increases the demands for complete dentures. Aim 1 was to assess dental students' interest in a complete denture course and the specialty of prosthodontics. Aim 2 explored how many minutes students spent in this course on learning background material, lab and clinical content. Aim 3 analyzed which course component students perceived as most difficult and which they considered as most helpful for acquiring complete denture expertise. Relationships between interest, time spent, perceptions of difficulty and helpfulness of the material were also explored.
Methods: Survey data were collected from 81 of the 109 students in a Complete Dentures course.
Results: The majority (53.7%) were much/very much interested in taking this course. However, only 8.6% considered prosthodontics as a future specialty. The students spent on average 79.61 minutes on studying background material, 69.92 minutes for a lab based lecture and 77.00 minutes for a clinic based lecture (p < 0.001). On a scale from 1 = not at all difficult to 3 = very difficult, they considered the clinical portion to be most difficult and the background portion of the course least difficult, with the lab education being in the middle (Means = 1.90 vs. 1.85 vs. 1.80;p < 0.001 ). On a scale from 1=a great deal helpful to 5=not at all helpful, they considered the background lectures as least helpful, the clinics as more helpful and the lab as most helpful (Means = 2.33 vs. 2.67 vs. 2.96;p < 0.001). Relationships between the variables of interest were exceptionally informative.
Conclusions: Gaining a better understanding of students' responses to a complete denture course is crucial for developing the most effective way of teaching this material.
