Objective: Dental wax carving exercise is a practical exercise to teach tooth morphology that develops psychomotor skills needed to practise clinical dentistry. This study aimed to determine the efficacy of dental wax carving as a teaching modality for tooth morphology and its assessment.
Methodology: Forty-two first-year dental students were randomly divided into two groups participated in this study from February 2019 till September 2019 at Bahria University Medical & Dental College. Learning resources related to dental wax carving were provided to the first group of 21 students while the second group of 21 students received practical demonstration. The students self-evaluated their dental carving based on a standardized checklist and two blinded examiners then evaluated the dental wax carvings. A student satisfaction survey was performed at the end of this study to gain feedback regarding the dental wax carving as a teaching methodology.
Results: The mean scores given by self-assessment of students were significantly higher than those given by the examiners to both the groups. The group that was given a live demonstration of dental carving scored higher than the self-directed learners. Overall student feedback regarding dental carving was uniformly positive.
Conclusion: Dental carving skills develop manual dexterity and psychomotor skills for practising clinical dentistry and should be an integral component of preclinical dental curriculum clinically relevant cognitive & psychomotor skills are incorporated. Based on this study, a live demonstration of dental wax carving skills should be the preferred teaching modality.
Key words: Dental carving, tooth carving, wax carving, psychomotor skills, dental anatomy, restorative dentistry
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