Impact of fully guided implant planning software training on the knowledge acquisition and satisfaction of dental undergraduate students

ABSTRACT

Background

A majority of dental school students do not undergo hands-on clinical training in implantology in the undergraduate curriculum. Training is usually restricted to pre-implant evaluation and post-implant prostheses. Virtual implant planning software (VIPS) provides an alternative opportunity for undergraduate students to experience implant planning much before gaining hands-on experience. However, not many studies have the contribution of VIPS to the knowledge acquisition of students. We conducted a preliminary study to evaluate the knowledge acquisition of the students when exposed to a hands-on session of VIPS. We also evaluated students’ satisfaction levels, when exposed to hands-on training in fully guided implant planning software.

Methods

A two-part theory lecture on fully guided implant planning was delivered to 90, 5th (final)-year dental undergraduate students by the oral radiology faculty. The students were then randomly divided into three groups. Group A was exposed to didactic lectures only. Group B was shown a video for fully guided implant planning in addition to the didactic lecture. Group C was shown a video for fully guided implant planning in addition to a didactic lecture and then performed a hands-on session of virtual implant planning under faculty guidance. Students from all groups were given an MCQ-based test. After the completion of the test students from group A and B also received VIPS hands-on training. Students from all three groups answered and a feedback questionnaire regarding their satisfaction levels with VIPS.

Results

The overall test score of students in Group C was higher than their colleagues in both Groups A and B and the differences were statistically significant (p = 0.01). More than 85% of the students were satisfied with the teaching approach.

Conclusions

The utilization of VIPS in the training of dental undergraduate students improves their performance confirming better knowledge acquisition and content mastery.

KEYWORDS:

• implant planning software
• knowledge acquisition
• satisfaction
• dental students
• education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Availability of data and materials

The raw data is available at figshare; 10.6084/m9.figshare.22059254

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10872981.2023.2239453

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported that there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.