(PO-046) Rising to the Occasion—Implementing Take-home Handpieces for Preclinical Laboratories

Author: Ravi Sarin, D.D.S. Candidate – DDS Candidate, Indiana University School of Dentistry
Author: Michele L. Kirkup, D.D.S. – Clinical Assistant Professor, Indiana UniversitySchool of Dentistry
Submitter: Michele L. Kirkup, D.D.S. – Clinical Assistant Professor, Indiana UniversitySchool of Dentistry

Objectives: To overcome obstacles and challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, dental schools had to rethink the way students were taught within the preclinical laboratory courses. At Indiana University School of Dentistry, students were issued electric handpieces to use remotely due to social distancing measures and reduction in after hour lab availability.  The intent of this study was to examine students’ perspective of practicing remotely and if this adaptation enhanced their hand skill development compared to traditional simulated laboratory methods.

Methods: This study (IRB #11199 exemption) was carried out in the preclinical Fixed Prosthodontics Course.  A survey was given to the second-year students to gain their perspective on using the electric handpieces at-home (response rate 93.3%). Comparisons of three practical examination scores between the students from 2019 (n=104) and 2020 (n=105) were performed using Wilcoxon Rank Sum tests. A 5% significance level was used for all tests.

Results: Most survey participants from 2020 reported they felt having an at-home handpiece allowed them to have more time to practice were 71% strongly agree/agree, 15% neither agree nor disagree, and 16% disagree/strongly disagree. However, many participants reported difficulty with the arrangement of the at-home handpiece were 76% strongly agree/agree, 10% neither agree nor disagree, and 14% disagree/strongly disagree. Students in 2020 had significantly higher practical examination 2 scores than students in 2019 (p=0.049). None of the other differences reached statistical significance (p=0.812 for practical 1, p=0.073 for practical 3a, p=0.053 for practical 3b).

Conclusion: Based on these findings, the students perceived the addition of at-home handpieces as a sufficient alternative to reduced lab availability. However, this method observed some limitations compared to the air-driven handpieces including reduced prepping efficiency, dust accumulation, and poor ergonomics. Future research will be needed to further address the limitations that arose in this study.