Seeing through the dentist's eyes: video-based clinical demonstrations in preclinical dental training

The clinical demonstration is an established way of bridging the disciplinary content in preclinical and clinical courses. In dentistry, however, clinical demonstrations have often been perceived as less rewarding due to the restricted visual access to the details of the treatment. This study investigated a course in endodontics at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, in which traditional clinical demonstrations were replaced by instructor-led seminars that enabled students to follow and discuss broadcasted root canal treatments. Two cameras provided overviews of the operating room, whereas a third camera attached to a surgical microscope offered a magnified view of procedures carried out in the inner parts of teeth. The hypothesis was that this arrangement would increase the students' sense of the clinical relevance of basic scientific knowledge. Two focus group interviews were designed to explore the students' perceptions of this change. The students expressed that the video-based seminars offered ample opportunities to integrate theoretical and clinical understanding. The major reasons were that the visualization displayed procedures on a sufficiently detailed level; instructors demonstrated clinical reasoning in situ and provided the context necessary for understanding procedures; and the interactive format encouraged discussions on the generalizability of knowledge beyond the specific case.