A Cross-Sectional Survey to Assess the Need for Introduction of Early Clinical Exposure in Pre-Clinical Complete...

Pre-clinical Prosthodontics (PCP) training in India is restricted primarily to didactic lectures and development of laboratory skills pertaining to removable complete denture prosthodontics, with no exposure to patients. Introduction of Early Clinical Exposure (ECE) as a supplement to the traditional PCP curriculum, aimed at improving the competency of dental undergraduates, needs to be explored. The aim of the present study was to assess dental students' perceived needs regarding introduction of ECE in the subject of PCP and to identify the barriers perceived by them in learning the subject. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 26 third-year Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) students using a 25-item semi-structured questionnaire based on 5-point Likert scale. Response rate was 100% and the majority of the respondents reported difficulty in performing border molding step. More than 70% of the students felt a strong need for inclusion of ECE in the subject of PCP in second year.