Abstract

AIM: To compare the effectiveness of two teaching methods i.e. Directly Observed Procedural Skills (DOPS) and traditional teaching of procedural skills in Orthodontics to the BDS dental students.
Material & Methods: Present study was conducted on 30 BDS final year students of Dental Section-Faisalabad Medical University. Dental students were divided into two groups i.e. 15 students in the DOPS group and 15 students in the traditional teaching group. The Multiple choice questions (MCQs) tests were taken before and after the procedural skills teaching from both the groups. The cumulative scores were calculated before and after the teaching of procedural skills in both the groups. Student paired t test was used for comparison of data.
Results: Results showed that for all the taught orthodontic procedural skills, post-test scores were found to be significantly higher in DOPS group in comparison with the post-test scores in traditional teaching group. (p >0.05)
Conclusion: The teaching of orthodontic procedural skills to BDS students is more effective using DOPS than the traditional teaching of procedural skills.

Key words: Orthodontic; Medical teaching; DOPS.