Short-Term Survival Analysis of Resin-Composite Restorations by Dental Students Using Real-World Data

Area of Science:

• Dental Restorations
• Clinical Skills Assessment
• Prognosis Studies

Background:

• Dental student clinical skills may be less developed than those of experienced dentists.
• Assessing the long-term success of dental restorations is crucial for patient care and education.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the prognosis of resin-based composite (RC) restorations performed by dental students versus experienced dentists.
• To evaluate the re-restoration rates as a measure of restoration survival.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of RC restoration data from a university hospital (April 2014 - March 2020).
• Follow-up initiated 6 months post-restoration for 2 years to track re-restorations.
• Parametric mixed-effects survival model used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) for re-restoration.

Main Results:

• Over 103,000 teeth analyzed; 7.7% required re-restoration within 2 years.
• The student department showed a lower re-restoration rate (3.2/100 person-year) compared to other departments.
• Resident dentists, pediatric dentistry, special needs, and dental caries departments had significantly higher HRs for re-restoration.

Conclusions:

• RC restorations performed by dental students demonstrated a higher 2-year survival rate.
• Findings suggest student performance in RC restorations is comparable or superior to other clinical settings.
• Further research with more detailed data is warranted to confirm these findings.