Educational effect of 3D applications as a teaching aid for anatomical practice for dental hygiene students

The purpose of this study is to find out effective methodology of anatomical curriculum by comparing the education effects and satisfaction using different teaching tools, plastic model and three-dimensional (3D) application. A survey was conducted on the satisfaction level, understanding, and the usefulness of the tools used in the lectures of the two dental hygiene students groups who used the 3D application and the plastic model respectively. The interest in anatomical structure of the 3D App group was 4.20, which was significantly higher than that of the plastic model group 3.60, and the usefulness of the content of anatomy education was 4.31 in the 3D App group, significantly higher than the plastic model group (P<0.05). It was found that the interest in anatomical structure of students increased by 0.347 when using 3D applications compared to the case without the use (P=0.012) and understanding in anatomical structure and class concentration increased by 0.191, respectively, but these results were marginally significant. We expect that this study serves as a reference for the development and supplementation of anatomy teaching and learning method.