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

Student self-assessment in operative dentistry plays a crucial role in the development of clinical skills and professional competence. This study aimed to investigate the agreement between students' self-assessment and faculty assessment in clinical operative dentistry and correlate this with the student's academic achievement and year of study.

Data were collected from 126 female undergraduate 4th and 5th year dental students who conducted self-assessment of class II cavity preparations following minimal invasive principles and composite resin restorations on patients followed by evaluation by two calibrated and independent evaluators using a standardized rubric. Numerical data were presented as mean and standard deviation values. Agreement was analyzed using intra-class correlation coefficient and correlations were analyzed using Spearman's rank order correlation coefficient.

For 4th-year students, there was no significant difference between students' self-assessment and faculty scores regarding retention form and shade matching (p > 0.05), while for other parameters students' self-assessment scores were significantly higher than faculty scores (p < 0.05). For 5th-year students, self-assessment scores were significantly higher within all parameters (p < 0.05). There was no significant correlation between academic achievement (written exam scores) and the self-assessment scores in the clinical exam (p > 0.05) of both academic years.

Students from both 4th and 5th years of study tend to overestimate the assessment of their cavity preparations and restorations; however, there is no correlation between this and their level of academic achievement.