Development and implementation of the Clinical Tooth Shade Differentiation Course--an evaluation over 3 years

Tooth shade differentiation concerns the identification and classification of tooth shades. The objective of this project was to implement the Clinical Tooth Shade Differentiation Course in the preclinical stage of studies and to evaluate the students' perspective over a period of 3 years.

The course is planned for a duration of 10 weeks with two 45-minute sessions per semester week. The entire attendance time was 10:15 h. 2 lectures of 90 minutes each, 2 seminars of 60 min each and 2 teaching units with the phantom head and role playing took place. In addition to the various parameters of tooth shade, changes in tooth shade and the basics of dental esthetics, clinical procedures for manual and digital tooth shade determination were explained and practiced. 96% (69 of 72) of the students participated in the first evaluation in 2012/2013 (T1), and 68% of these were women. In the following year, 2013/2014 (T2), 92% (45 of 48 students) took part; 62% of these were women and 38% men. The 2014/2015 evaluation (T3) comprised 94% (45 of 48 students). Of these, 67% were women.

In the evaluation, the students gave the course a positive grade. The questions in "General/Organization" were given a mean (M) of 1.5 (SD=0.7) in T1 and T2, and 1.2 (SD=0.3) in T3. The "Overall Assessment" yielded M(T1)=1.6 (SD=0.6), M(T2)=1.5 (SD=0.5) and M(T3)=1.1 (SD=0.3). In T1 and T2, the item "The instructor actively involved the students in the course" was given a mean of 2.1 (SD=0.9), and in T3 a mean of 1.2 (SD=0.5).

The course presented here conceptually shows how practical dental skills can be taught in a theoretical and clinical context. Educational objectives from the role of a dental expert were taken from the national competence-based catalog of educational objectives for dentistry and can also be supplemented. The objectives can be transferred to other dental faculties.