3D Printed Teeth for the Preclinical Education of Dental Students

Abstract

A need for more realistic tooth models for education has often been expressed by dental students. The aim of this study was to design and create 3D printed teeth with anatomical details for use in preclinical dental education. A tooth with realistic carious lesions and pulp cavity was designed, and this tooth was used in 2018 with 47 dental students for preclinical education in caries excavation, direct capping of the pulp, core build‐up, and crown preparation. The students had the ability to identify the carious lesions by a simulated radiograph and by tactile sense of the consistency. The benefits of the 3D printed tooth were evaluated by a questionnaire. The printed tooth was evaluated by grades (1=excellent, 2=good, 3=satisfactory, 4=adequate, 5=poor). The students gave the tooth an overall mean grade of 1.9, with a grade of 2.0 for the haptic impression, 1.5 for the exercise, 1.9 for the examination, and 1.5 for high practical relevance in contrast to a standard model tooth. The new features of the printed tooth were given a mean grade of 2.0 for the radiograph, 2.3 for consistency of the caries, 2.0 for the tooth filling, and 1.7 for the pulp capping as realistic. The students had the possibility to generate a complete concept for prosthodontic tooth treatment on an artificial 3D printed tooth.

3D Printed Teeth with Enamel and Dentin Layer for Educating Dental Students in Crown Preparation

“…The evaluation was generated with EvaSys (Electric Paper Evaluationssysteme GmbH, Lüne‐burg, Germany) by the Institute of Medical Teaching and Medical Education Research of the university. The questionnaire had been tested in a course in endodontic treatment and two printed tooth models 11 . We adapted the questionnaire for this 3D‐printed tooth.…”

“…The questionnaire had been tested in a course in endodontic treatment and two printed tooth models. 11 We adapted the questionnaire for this 3D-printed tooth. At the end of the training, every student and expert received a single key for the digital questionnaire.…”

Effectiveness of virtual patients in teaching clinical decision‐making skills to dental students

“…VP‐based learning is one of the simulation techniques that can help students simulate a patient's clinical environment and enhance their decision‐making and diagnostic skills besides ensuring the independence of time and place 3 . This technique lays the groundwork for realizing many educational goals, such as independent learning, 4 self‐directed learning, 5 ubiquitous learning, 6 active training, 3 evaluation, 7 and rapid feedback 8 on the learned topics. VP‐based learning confronts learners with their actual job situation and provides opportunities for analysis, decision‐making, and implementation of decisions 9 .…”

“…VP‐based learning confronts learners with their actual job situation and provides opportunities for analysis, decision‐making, and implementation of decisions 9 . In this technique, students utilize a variety of methods to accelerate deep learning, 7 encourage action, 8 interaction, and self‐evaluation 9 . In this environment, it is possible to make errors and examine their consequences in a safe environment, which will ultimately reduce the risk of medical errors in real situations 10 …”

Can Three‐Dimensional Visualization Technologies be More Effective than Cadavers for Dental Anatomy Education?

“…Other authors have also documented significant superiority of 3D printing to cadavers, in terms of acquisition of anatomical knowledge (Lim et al, 2016;Chen et al, 2017). As far as dental education is concerned, 3D printed teeth have been evaluated as realistic training tools, capable to enhance preclinical learning experience of dental students (Höhne and Schmitter, 2019). However, the authors did not estimate the impact of these models on dental anatomy education.…”