Acceptability of fully guided virtual implant planning software among dental undergraduate students

Fully guided implant surgery as a technique is gaining popularity. It has been observed that use of surgical guides improves precision and predictability for dental implant placement. However, like any other newer technology, the acceptance of fully guided dental implant technology among users is based upon its perceived usability. This study aimed at evaluating the perception about using Virtual Implant Planning Software (VIPS) among undergraduate dental students at the university of Sharjah.

Ninety-Six dental surgery students from the University of Sharjah were included in the study. One week after the Virtual Implant Planning Software (Planmeca Romexis version 6.2 procedure, students were asked to complete a Combined technology acceptance model and the theory of planned behaviour (C-TAM TPB) questionnaire. Sixty-six students responded to the questionnaire.

Cronbach's alpha surpassed 0.7 for perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived behavioral control, and subjective norm. Attitude and behavioural intention reported Cronbach's alpha values less than 0.7. Spearman's correlation coefficient was significant for all the constructs. Perceived ease of use explained 49%, 33%, and 42% of the variance of perceived usefulness (R² = 0.49), attitude (R² = 0.33), and perceived behavioral control (R² = 0.42) respectively. Perceived usefulness explained 25%, 18%, and 23% of the variance of attitude (R² = 0.25), behavioral intention (R² = 0.18), and perceived behavioral control (R² = 0.23) respectively. Attitude accounted for 25%, 33%, and 29% of the variance of behavioral intention (R² = 0.25), perceived behavioral control (R = 0.33), and subjective norm (R = 0.29) respectively.

The fully guided VIPS was acceptable by dental students specifically because of its usability. This makes VIPS a very effective tool for teaching implantology for dental students. VIPS also allows students to perform multiple repetitions of the implant planning procedure which enhances understanding and content retention.