Dental anatomy grading: comparison between conventional visual and a novel digital assessment technique

Area of Science:

• Dental Education
• Biomedical Engineering
• Assessment Technology

Background:

• Conventional dental student grading relies heavily on subjective visual evaluation by instructors.
• Preclinical dental courses require objective and reliable assessment methods for skill development.
• Current visual grading lacks consistent intrarater and interrater reliability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the reliability of conventional visual grading with a novel digital assessment technique.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of digital assessment in dental anatomy education.
• To identify potential improvements in grading accuracy and consistency for dental students' preclinical projects.

Main Methods:

• Sixty dental samples (faculty wax-ups, student wax-ups, dentoform teeth) were assessed.
• Visual grading was performed by two faculty members, repeated after one week.
• A digital assessment technique was employed, also performed twice with a one-week interval.
• Intraclass correlation (ICC) measured intra- and interrater reliability.

Main Results:

• No faculty achieved the minimum acceptable intrarater agreement (0.8) for visual grading.
• Visual grading demonstrated substantially lower interrater agreement than intrarater agreement.
• Digital assessment showed excellent intrarater agreement (ICC > 0.9).
• Correlation between visual and digital grading was consistently modest.

Conclusions:

• Visual grading in dental anatomy is limited by modest intrarater reliability and low interrater agreement.
• Digital grading presents a promising evaluation method with excellent intrarater reliability.
• Digital assessment technology holds potential for enhancing objectivity and consistency in dental anatomy grading.