Comparison of Dental Students’ Self‐Directed, Faculty, and Software‐Based Assessments of Dental Anatomy Wax‐Ups: A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Little is known about self-directed and self-relective assessment in preclinical dental curricula. The aim of this study was to evaluate a visual dental anatomy teaching tool to train dental students to self-assess their dental anatomy wax carving practical examinations. The students self-assessed two waxing practical examinations (tooth #8 and tooth #19) using high-quality digital images in an assessment tool incorporated into a digital testing program. Student self-assessments were compared to the faculty evaluations and the results of a software-based evaluation tool (E4D Compare). Out of a total 130 irst-year dental students at one U.S. dental school, wax-ups from 57 participants were available for this study. The assessment data were submitted to statistical analyses (p<0.05). For tooth #8, the student self-assessments were signiicantly different from the faculty and software assessments at a 400 micrometer level of tolerance (p=0.036), whereas the faculty assessment was not signiicantly different from the software assessment at a 300 micrometer level of tolerance (p=0.69). The evaluation of tooth #19 resulted in no signiicant differences between faculty members (p=0.94) or students (p=0.21) and the software at a level of tolerance of 400 micrometers. This study indicates that students can learn to self-assess their work using self-relection in conjunction with faculty guidance and that it may be possible to use software-based evaluation tools to assist in faculty calibration and as objective grading tools.

Dental Students’ Perceptions of Digital Assessment Software for Preclinical Tooth Preparation Exercises

“…Utilizing consistent techniques, Callan et al's study found that a user of CAD/CAM software could achieve a high degree of precision when evaluating preparations 1 . Other studies have found CAD/CAM software to be comparable to 14 or even more precise than 15 , 16 than faculty hand‐grading. In Hamil et al's study, dental students and faculty members showed overall positive attitudes toward the use of CAD/CAM software as a tool for objective evaluation and scoring 17 .…”

Rethinking Assessment Concepts in Dental Education

“…This systematic process resulted in 24 articles being selected for inclusion in the review, seven had a low risk of bias [ 10 , 14 , 15 , 21 , 22 , 24 , 27 ], six had a high risk of bias [ 12 , 16 , 20 , 29 , 30 , 32 ], and eleven had an unclear risk of bias [ 13 , 17 – 19 , 23 , 25 , 26 , 28 , 31 , 33 , 34 ].…”

“…Computerized dental simulator (CDS) and virtual self-assessment (VSA) can offer a potential alternative feedback and assessment tools, which can enhance student's learning and self-assessment experiences [ 10 , 24 ]. CDS methods can provide a valuable perspective that is not offered by conventional assessments.…”

“…The use of VSA software to assess student's skills was found to provide feedback that was both reliable and repeatable [ 15 , 22 , 25 ]. E4D Compare [ 10 , 15 , 18 , 22 , 24 , 31 ], prepCheck [ 21 , 22 ], Computer Aided Design, Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAD CAM) [ 27 , 29 ], Cavity Preparation Skill Evaluation System (CPSES) [ 23 ], CEREC Omnicam [ 13 ], and DentSim [ 33 ] were among the commonly reported VSA systems in the literature. Evaluations provided by these systems were significantly more consistently accurate for some aspects of the dental tasks (e.g., surface reduction, wall height, and undercuts) than conventional-grading by teaching staff [ 25 ].…”

“…Evaluations provided by these systems were significantly more consistently accurate for some aspects of the dental tasks (e.g., surface reduction, wall height, and undercuts) than conventional-grading by teaching staff [ 25 ]. However, further research is warranted to adjust the software's parameters related to acceptable variations from the ideal situation (tolerance level) [ 24 ]. It was also recommended to further assess the reliability of these systems as a self-assessment method and as a tutor calibration tool in dental education [ 25 ].…”