Experience of the Students after Transition from Preclinical Fixed Prosthodontic Training to Clinical Phase Survey

Abstract

Introduction: Accurate preclinical prosthodontics training is a part of curriculum monitored so that the preclinical students perform the operation with much attention and care enabling the educators to improve the preclinical training. The aim of the study is to assess the students’ preclinical knowledge and skills of fixed prosthodontic training after transition to clinical training. Materials and Methods: A questionnaire survey is conducted among the students involved in clinical practice of the fixed partial dentures. Results: All 100% of the students were aware of the importance of the abutment evaluation before tooth preparation. Hundred percent of the students performed radiograph evaluation of the tooth and 47% of them expressed difficulty in correlating pulp size and position of the tooth radiographically. The majority of the students (84, 84%) thought that there is much difference in the tactile sense between natural teeth and typodont teeth. Pulp health preservation is vital for all restorative procedures; hence, this response from the students should be considered more carefully. More than half of the respondents, 74 students (74%), thought that clinical variation of tooth position is a difficult challenge during the transition stage. Tooth position variations such as supra-eruption, tilting, and drifting are common in the clinical situation which cannot be simulated in the preclinical training. However, most of the students feel that it was a formidable challenge in the initial stage of clinical training. Conclusion: Preclinical training is the most challenging for the educationist. Managing the transition for students from preclinical learning to providing patient care in the clinic is an important issue for oral health-care educators