Relationship between perception of difficulty and clinical experience of approximal composite restorations in final-year undergraduate students at Tokyo Medical and Dental University.

Relationship between perception of difficulty and clinical experience of approximal composite restorations in final-year undergraduate students at Tokyo Medical and Dental University.

J Med Dent Sci. 2011;58(1):1-5

Authors: Kitasako Y, Sadr A, Nikaido T, Tagami J

Abstract
The aims of this study were to clarify which steps in approximal restorative procedure were difficult for the final-year undergraduate students at Tokyo Medical and Dental University, and to examine the relationship between perception of difficulty and clinical experience. At mid-term of the clinical education experience, a self-questionnaire was performed by final-year undergraduate students to clarify the difficulty of restorative procedures at the time. There were statistically significant differences in the number of clinical cases experienced at the time between students who designated the matrix application, shade selection and finishing as the easy steps and those who considered them as the difficult ones (Fisher exact test with Bonferroni correction, p < 0.05). There was a significant difference in the total number of procedures designated as difficult between students who had treated above 15 cases and those who had fewer than 15 cases (Wilcoxon rank-sum test, p< 0.05). In the final-year clinical education for operative dentistry, students might need to treat over 15 cases to gain confidence in performing approximal composite restorations independently.

[cite source='pubmed']23896780[/cite] – as supplied by publisher]