Student Self-Assessments in Clinical Operative Dentistry: Bridging Perception and Performance.

Area of Science:

• Dental Education
• Operative Dentistry
• Clinical Skills Assessment

Background:

• Student self-assessment is vital for developing clinical competence in operative dentistry.
• Understanding the alignment between student self-perception and faculty evaluation is crucial for effective training.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the agreement between student self-assessment and faculty evaluation of clinical operative dentistry skills.
• To correlate self-assessment accuracy with academic achievement and year of study.

Main Methods:

• 126 female dental students (4th and 5th year) performed self-assessment of Class II cavity preparations and composite restorations.
• Faculty evaluators used a standardized rubric for objective assessment.
• Intra-class correlation and Spearman's rank order correlation were used for analysis.

Main Results:

• 4th-year students showed no significant difference in self-assessment vs. faculty scores for retention and shade matching.
• 4th-year students' self-assessment scores were significantly higher for other parameters.
• 5th-year students' self-assessment scores were significantly higher across all parameters.
• No significant correlation was found between academic achievement (written exams) and clinical self-assessment scores.

Conclusions:

• Dental students in both 4th and 5th years tend to overestimate their performance in cavity preparations and restorations.
• This overestimation in self-assessment does not correlate with their academic achievement.
• The findings highlight a potential gap in self-awareness of clinical skills among dental students.