Design and practice of Oral Biomaterials course for education of stomatology in Chinese universities

There is currently no consensus among universities regarding the content and format of Oral Biomaterials courses for graduate dental students. This course was designed to maximize instructional efficiency within a limited timeframe and to promote the sharing of educational resources. The aim is to cultivate interdisciplinary thinking, enhance clinical diagnostic reasoning, and increase research awareness, all while providing a solid foundation in materials science.

To develop a robust curriculum, we surveyed 89 dental educators from 18 universities across 14 provinces in China. Their feedback informed the selection of effective teaching strategies, the design of course content and structure, and the development of comprehensive assessment methods. As an elective, the course was attended by 14 graduate students whose performance was evaluated through both course grades and survey questionnaires. These results were then compared with the academic outcomes of 10 students who experienced traditional teaching methods.

Survey data revealed that approximately 57.3% of the teachers supported establishing a dedicated Oral Biomaterials course, and 61.8% endorsed scheduling the course during the graduate period. For the course design, 61.8% recommended an equal balance between theoretical and practical instruction, while 76.4% believed that 25-35 class hours provided the most effective teaching duration. These differences were statistically significant (P < 0.001). After one semester, the experimental group achieved an average comprehensive score of 88.77, significantly higher than the 79.33 average observed in the group taught by traditional methods (P < 0.05).

By gathering and analyzing the insights of dental educators from major Chinese universities, this study developed an online curriculum system that overcomes the spatial and temporal limitations of traditional instruction. The system addresses the current shortage of accessible online resources for Oral Biomaterials courses and promotes inter-institutional resource sharing. The one-semester implementation and subsequent evaluation confirmed that this innovative teaching approach significantly improved learning outcomes and received positive feedback from students.