Dental Students’ Preferences and Performance in Crown Design: Conventional Wax‐Added Versus CAD

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate dental students' perceptions of traditional waxing vs. computer-aided crown design and to determine the effectiveness of either technique through comparative grading of the inal products. On one of two identical tooth preparations, second-year students at one dental school fabricated a wax pattern for a full contour crown; on the second tooth preparation, the same students designed and fabricated an all-ceramic crown using computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) technology. Projects were graded for occlusion and anatomic form by three faculty members. On completion of the projects, 100 percent of the students (n=50) completed an eight-question, ive-point Likert scale survey, designed to assess their perceptions of and learning associated with the two design techniques. The average grades for the crown design projects were 78.3 (CAD) and 79.1 (wax design). The mean numbers of occlusal contacts were 3.8 (CAD) and 2.9 (wax design), which was signiicantly higher for CAD (p=0.02). The survey results indicated that students enjoyed designing a full contour crown using CAD as compared to using conventional wax techniques and spent less time designing the crown using CAD. From a learning perspective, students felt that they learned more about position and the size/strength of occlusal contacts using CAD. However, students recognized that CAD technology has limits in terms of representing anatomic contours and excursive occlusion compared to conventional wax techniques. The results suggest that crown design using CAD could be considered as an adjunct to conventional wax-added techniques in preclinical ixed prosthodontic curricula.

Attitudes of the Students from the School of Dental Medicine in Zagreb towards CAD/CAM

“…For comparison, Tran et al ( 23 ) reported that dentists from the United Kingdom had undertaken only training of CAD/CAM technology by companies providing CAD/CAM systems, private courses or were taught by other CAD/CAM users, while participants did not mention CAD/CAM education at the School. Due to the fact that dental students have a higher preference for visual learning than general student population ( 24 ), Illinois and Indiana University Schools of Dental Medicine incorporated CAD/CAM in their curriculum, in order to enable students to virtually design crowns using CAD techniques ( 13 , 14 ). The authors ( 13 , 14 , 25 ) reported that incorporating of CAD/CAM technology in preclinical and clinical curriculum positively affects students’ attitudes regarding CAD/CAM technology.…”

“…Due to the fact that dental students have a higher preference for visual learning than general student population ( 24 ), Illinois and Indiana University Schools of Dental Medicine incorporated CAD/CAM in their curriculum, in order to enable students to virtually design crowns using CAD techniques ( 13 , 14 ). The authors ( 13 , 14 , 25 ) reported that incorporating of CAD/CAM technology in preclinical and clinical curriculum positively affects students’ attitudes regarding CAD/CAM technology. In this study, most of PS and CS students consider CAD/CAM technology useful, and many of them highlighted the shorter fabrication time as the main reason.…”

Development and Assessment of a Three‐Dimensional Tooth Morphology Quiz for Dental Students

“…Khot et al () conjectured that 3D learning is facilitated via a series of 2D images but increases the cognitive load and effort, especially for the participants with poorer spatial ability (Khot et al, ). The spatial ability of dental students is a predictor of success especially in the preclinical courses (Hegarty et al, ) with student viewing dynamic 3D animations to improve their mental models (Douglas et al, ). Furthermore, spatial ability has been linked to improved understanding in anatomy (Qi et al, ) and oral radiology (Nilsson et al, ) in cohorts of dental students.…”

Adaptability Evaluation of Metal-Ceramic Crowns Obtained by Additive and Subtractive Technologies

“…Cement dissolution can cause loss of retention with loosening of the restoration, ceramic chipping, and marginal discolorations. All these elements are translated into functional or aesthetic failure of dental crowns [8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. Previous studies propose various limits as acceptable for marginal discrepancies, Mclean recommended 120 µm while von Fraunhoder recommended 100 µm.…”