Abstract
The General Dental Council expects United Kingdom graduating dentists to be competent at providing crown and bridge treatments and graduating students should feel confident to undertake these treatments. The aim of this study was to explore the confidence of undergraduate dental students when providing crown and fixed dental prosthesis treatments. An anonymous questionnaire was distributed to all (n = 198) undergraduate students in Years 3 to 5 at Bristol Dental School. The questionnaire comprised confidence interval ranked responses, and respondents’ data was analysed using SPSS. The response rate was 76%. Undergraduate perception of confidence increased throughout the three years of study (p < 0.01). There was a strong association between the amount of exposure students had to certain treatment stages and their perceived confidence levels. Confidence levels may be increased further with increased clinical experience.
Highlights
Levels of overall reported confidence increased (p < 0.001) as students progressed through the course, with mean confidence levels for students being 3.7 (Year-3), 5.8 (Year-4) and 7.2 (Year-5)
This overall increase in confidence levels as students progressed was seen in almost all specific indirect restoration procedures (Table 1)
This study found that overall levels of reported student confidence increased with course progression, which supports the findings of previous United Kingdom (UK) studies [16,19,20]
Summary
Indirect restorations are those fabricated outside of the mouth by a dental technician in a laboratory using dental impressions of the prepared tooth, and include crowns, bridges, inlays and veneers. They may be fabricated using computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM) technology. Indirect restorations are commonly placed on heavily restored teeth, worn teeth and posterior teeth following endodontic treatment [1]. There may be a shift in the way individuals with missing teeth are perceived, with an increased importance placed on a more aesthetic dental appearance. The stigma attached to missing teeth motivates patients to seek restorations that imitate natural tooth structure [4]
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