[Dental students' opinions on education in fabricating single-tooth fixed prostheses and multi-teeth fixed...

Education in fabricating single-tooth fixed prostheses and multi-teeth fixed prostheses is an important component of the dental curriculum. To explore the opinion of dental students on this component of the curriculum, a web-based survey was carried out among the students of the 3 dental schools in the Netherlands. The 389 completed questionnaires revealed that the education in fabricating single-tooth fixed prostheses and multi-teeth fixed prostheses started in different years of study at the 3 dental schools. Another striking difference is that the methods of preparation and the choice of materials for single-tooth fixed prostheses and multi-teeth fixed prostheses in the pre-clinical practicum in the programmes was not the same. The students of the 3 dental schools seemed to have a reasonably positive opinion of their preclinical training preparation for treating patients. The opinions of the Nijmegen Dental School students were significantly more positive than the opinions of the students at the 2 other dental schools.