Dental students’ clinical confidence in denture treatment after clinical experiences

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate dental students’ self-perception of clinical care ability after a denture treatment experience. Materials and methods: Of the 58 fourth-year students at the dental school in 2019, 50 students completed the questionnaire concerning their denture treatment session, including treatment planning and pre-prosthetic treatment (4 questions), clinical and laboratory procedures (20 questions), and students’ opinions on clinical denture education (4 questions). Each question was answered on a five-point scale, of which points four and five, “agree” and “strongly agree” respectively, were classified as positive responses while points one and two, “disagree”and “strongly disagree” respectively, were classified as negative. Results: All the items on clinical and laboratory procedures received a positive response rate of over 60%, and the overall self-perception of the students appeared to be positive. However, the questions on the ability to perform denture treatment independently after graduation received only 48% of positive answer. Those on patient management, explanations of denture precautions, customized tray production, boxing, and work model production were answered with the highest positive response rate whereas those on treatment planning, final impression acquisition, and surveying, were the lowest in each session. Conclusion: The dental students with experience in denture treatment generally have a positive opinion of their clinical care ability, but further education may be necessary to improve their ability to treat their patients independently.ope