Abstract
BackgroundThe tooth morphology course is an important basic dental course. However, it is difficult to fully reflect the three-dimensional (3D) morphological characteristics of tooth structure in two-dimensional pictures in traditional textbooks. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of 3D-printed plastic model teeth in the teaching of tooth morphology.MethodsTwenty-two undergraduate students who matriculated at the School of Stomatology, the Fourth Medical University, in 2014 and 23 who matriculated in 2016 participated in the study. Each student who matriculated in 2016 was given a full set of fourteen standard 3D-printed plastic model teeth for use during the learning process, and an anonymous questionnaire was used to evaluate the usefulness of the 3D-printed plastic model teeth from the perspective of the students.ResultsThere was no significant difference between the two groups in the scores of the theoretical examination or the total score. However, for the score of the sculpted gypsum teeth, the students who used the 3D-printed plastic model teeth in their studies scored significantly higher (P = 0.002). More than 90% of the students thought that the 3D-printed plastic model teeth were of great help or were very helpful for mastering the anatomy of teeth and for carving the gypsum teeth.ConclusionStandard 3D-printed plastic teeth can effectively assist students in learning tooth morphology by transforming two-dimensional pictures and descriptions in the textbook into a 3D conformation, effectively promoting students’ learning and mastery of tooth morphology and structure. Additionally, the results suggest that 3D-printed plastic model teeth are of great help to the students in mastering and improving their carving skills.
Highlights
The tooth morphology course is an important basic dental course
Survey results of students who matriculated in 2016 In this survey, only 13.04% of the students thought that the traditional two-dimensional pictures in the textbook clearly expressed dental morphological features
39.13% of the students could identify the correct locations and names of the anatomical structures in the twodimensional picture, and 65.22% of the students could not completely match the pictures with the corresponding text description in the textbook. These findings suggest that there are still many defects and deficiencies in traditional textbooks regarding 3D structures, such as the anatomy of tooth morphology
Summary
The tooth morphology course is an important basic dental course. It is difficult to fully reflect the three-dimensional (3D) morphological characteristics of tooth structure in two-dimensional pictures in traditional textbooks. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of 3D-printed plastic model teeth in the teaching of tooth morphology. The tooth morphology course is an important basic stomatology course that mainly covers the composition, classification and anatomical features of a single tooth [1]. Wang et al BMC Medical Education (2020) 20:469 materials to construct 3D objects through layer-by-layer printing. This study compared the application effect of 3D-printing technology in the teaching of tooth morphology by using 3D-printed plastic model teeth that matched the traditional tooth morphology textbooks and conducted a questionnaire survey of the students’ feelings about the use of the 3D-printed plastic model teeth
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