Practice makes perfect? Association between students' performance measures in an advanced dental simulation course

Area of Science:

• Dental Education
• Medical Simulation
• Psychomotor Skill Development

Background:

• Assessing preclinical dental skills is crucial for developing proficient dentists.
• Advanced dental simulation offers objective performance metrics.
• Understanding the link between practice and exam performance can optimize training.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the correlation between student practice performance metrics and subsequent exam scores in preclinical dental procedures.
• To determine the predictive value of practice behaviors within an advanced dental simulation environment.
• To analyze the relationship between time spent on specific simulation tasks and final assessment outcomes.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from first-year dental students using Advanced Simulation software (DentSim™).
• Analyzed practice metrics (sessions, scores, time) and exam scores for Class I and Class II preparations.
• Employed paired t-tests and multiple linear regression to assess score comparisons and performance relationships.

Main Results:

• Practice scores and exam scores were significantly associated, with exam scores being higher.
• For Class I preparations, higher practice scores and more self-evaluation time positively correlated with exam scores, while preparation time showed a negative correlation.
• For Class II preparations, exam scores correlated with practice scores and the number of practice attempts, but not with exam preparation or self-evaluation time.

Conclusions:

• Deliberate, repetitive practice within advanced dental simulation predicts performance.
• Simulation-based self-assessment is valuable for early psychomotor skill acquisition.
• Further research is needed to confirm skill transfer to clinical patient care settings.