Abstract
BackgroundThe aim of this study was to evaluate e-learning strategy in teaching Atraumatic Restorative Treatment (ART) to undergraduate and graduate students. The sample comprised 76 participants—38 dental students and 38 pediatric dentistry students—in a specialization course. To evaluate knowledge improvement, participants were subjected to a test performed before and after the course.ResultsA single researcher corrected the tests and intraexaminer reproducibility was calculated (CCI = 0.991; 95% IC = 0.975–0.996). All students improved their performances after the e-learning course (Paired t-tests p < 0.001). The means of undergraduate students were 4.7 (initial) and 6.4 (final) and those of graduate students were 6.8 (initial) and 8.2 (final). The comparison of the final evaluation means showed a statistically significant difference (t-tests p < 0.0001).ConclusionsThe e-learning strategy has the potential of improving students’ knowledge in ART. Mature students perform better in this teaching modality when it is applied exclusively via distance learning.
Highlights
The aim of this study was to evaluate e-learning strategy in teaching Atraumatic Restorative Treatment (ART) to undergraduate and graduate students
Undergraduate dental education has been widely discussed in many countries with the aim of modernizing the curriculum in cariology
In a previous study [23], we evaluated the benefits of an e-learning training course on ART that was applied to practicing dentists and found encouraging results
Summary
The aim of this study was to evaluate e-learning strategy in teaching Atraumatic Restorative Treatment (ART) to undergraduate and graduate students. Undergraduate dental education should enable students to become professionals with critical potential who are able to perform early diagnosis and have a wider understanding of the caries process according to the best scientific evidence available [3,4]. New options for preventive measures, as well as operative and non-operative treatments, have been described and should be taught as they present scientific evidence of effectiveness [5,6,7,8]. Among these options, we can emphasize Atraumatic Restorative Treatment (ART), which was advocated in the early ‘80s and was officially adopted by the World Health Organization in the ‘90s [9]. ART is a definitive restorative treatment that is low cost and is based on minimal intervention involving prevention, early interception and tooth structure preservation [10]
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