Assessment of a preclinical training system with indirect vision for dental education

The aim of the present study is the evaluation of a pre-clinical training system using indirect vision for dental education purposes. The study population was undergraduate dental students between the ages of 18-20, at the beginning of their first dental course. From a total of 105 students, those presenting some condition that would have had influence on their manual skills and those who for some circumstance left the study after beginning it were excluded, resulting in 69 students (51 female and 18 male) taking part in the study. The study design involved two sessions separated by a 7-day interval in which the students used a reflection box to develop psychomotor skills in mirror use. In every session they performed an initial evaluation test, some training exercises and a final evaluation test. The evaluation tests and the training exercises consisted in following a curved, straight or convoluted shape in the reflection box. Four groups of students were used who trained in different ways using curved or straight lines. Evaluation of the tests was based on the number of errors made and the time to completion. All students showed an improvement in their performance of following curved and straight lines with indirect vision after this form of training. The results after the first training session were statistically significant, while the further improvement was not significant after the 2nd training session. Those students who trained first with curved lines and later with straight lines produced more errors than the other groups. Female students performed better than male students in this assessment.