Influence of Teaching Strategies and its Order of Exposure on Pre-Clinical Teeth Arrangement - A Pilot Study

Teeth arrangement is a vital skill for the undergraduate dental student. The attainment of skills depends largely on the methodology of teaching. In a dental curriculum, the students are exposed to a wide variety of inputs and teaching methodologies from different sources. The educational unit in dental school must identify the sequence of teaching methods that enhance the learning and practising ability of students.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of three different teaching methodologies for teeth arrangement and compare the differences between the orders of exposure to each teaching methodology on the development of teeth arrangement skills.

The first year B.D.S students were study participants and were divided into three groups A, B, C. They were exposed to three teaching patterns namely live demonstration with video assisted teaching, group discussion with hand-outs and lectures with power point presentation. After each teaching methodology, their skill was assessed. The groups were exposed to three methodologies in different order for three arrangements. The scores obtained were analysed using Kruskal Wallis rank sum test and Dunn test for statistical significance.

Significantly higher scores in the teeth arrangement procedure were obtained by the Group A students who were exposed initially to live demonstration with video-assisted teaching. Difference in the scores was noted among and within the groups. The difference between Group A and Group C was statistically significant after both first and third teeth arrangement (p=0.0031, p=0.0057).

The study suggests each pre-clinical practice should begin with a live demonstration to enhance immediate learning absorption followed by lectures with power point presentation and group discussion for retention of knowledge and memory retrieval.