Complete Denture Preclinical Training Program and Digital Tools: A Pilot Study.

PURPOSE: To determine whether digital training improves conceptual skills acquisition for custom tray fabrication and tooth arrangement in the preclinical curriculum for complete denture fabrication. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A crossover design study compared third-year student grades after conventional (manual) and digital training. Half the students were trained with conventional techniques prior to digital, while the other half were trained with digital techniques prior to conventional. The first part of the study (DP1) focused on custom tray fabrication and involved 154 students. The second part (DP2) focused on tooth arrangement with 204 students. The effect of preliminary digital training on conceptual skills was assessed by comparing the results of the students using a Student's t-test. Results were also analyzed by ranking on the students' Perceptual Ability Test (PAT) score. Finally, students' satisfaction with the training was investigated. RESULTS: Students who completed the initial digital session achieved better custom tray fabrication and tooth arrangement in the subsequent manual sessions. For manual laboratory work, the most dexterous students (PAT1 group) demonstrated the best performance. However, PAT2 students had the best performance during the digital sessions during DP1, and PAT1 and PAT2 students had the best performance during the digital sessions during DP2. Additionally, 40% of DP1 and 12% of DP2 students expressed satisfaction with digital sessions. CONCLUSION: With complementary manual and digital teaching, digital tools may be useful for enhanced student learning. Digital training has contributed to improve results in manual sessions but did not affect student satisfaction and remained a limited tool to detect learning difficulties.

Use of digital tools for preclinical training in complete denture: A pilot study.

INTRODUCTION: Advances in CAD-CAM complete dentures open up opportunities in preclinical laboratory education. A cross-over study was conducted to assess the benefit of digital training in custom tray fabrication. Hypotheses were that digital training improved conceptual skill acquisition and that assessment of digital work helps in the discrimination of students' difficulty. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Third-year students were allocated either into group A and took the manual practical classes before the digital ones, or into group B (N = 154). Prior to the sessions, a motor skill test was conducted. The influence on the learning process was evaluated by comparing the groups' results to the manual lab work with a Student's t-test. The effectiveness of the assessment in discriminating manual aptitude and conceptual skill was studied through Spearman's rank coefficient between digital and manual scores in conceptual skill and with a subgroup analysis according to the results of the motor skill test. The level of significance was set up at .05. Students' satisfaction was also assessed with a questionnaire. RESULTS: Students in group B achieved better scores. Spearman's rank coefficient test showed a weak correlation, R = .16. For manual lab work, the most manually skilled students did significantly better. In contrast, for the digital session, the medium manually skilled students did better. More than half of the students (55%) found the manual and digital sessions complementary, without identifying any difference depending on the learning sequence. CONCLUSION: Digital training improved the students' results in the conventional practical exercise. Assessments of the digital and conventional custom trays were complementary in order to distinguish conceptual and motor skills.

Oral prosthetic rehabilitation in patients with Epidermolysis Bullosa Hereditaria: a systematic review.

Epidermolysis bullosa hereditaria (EBH) is a group of rare diseases characterized by a cutaneous-mucosal fragility with the formation of bullae, including the oral mucosa. Therapeutic choices, especially prosthetic rehabilitation, must anticipate the worsening of the limitation of oral opening while respecting the functional and aesthetic expectations of the patients. This review on the oral prosthetic rehabilitation of patients with epidermolysis bullosa hereditaria (EBH) to study the level of evidence and quality of the presented available articles and establish clinical recommendations for the prosthetic management of these patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An electronic search was done in July 2022 in five databases following PICOTS elements. The quality of the reports was established using the modified Pierson, Bradford Hills, and Ottawa Newcastle scale. RESULTS: Data extracted from 19 case reports for protocolized analysis corresponded to 64 patients and 80 dental prostheses with almost 9 out of 10 patients being completely edentulous. The distribution of EBH types was 84% dystrophic, 10.5% junctional, and 5.5% simplex. The difficulties encountered by the authors synthetized in this review characteristically reflected those most likely encountered in dental practice. Most rehabilitations were implant-supported prostheses (85%) followed by removable dentures (10%) and finally dental-supported rehabilitations (5%). Fixed full-arch implant-supported prostheses represented 76.4% of implant-supported prostheses and this last prosthetic solution described showed the highest scientific quality. CONCLUSIONS: In an individualized approach to treatment, we recommend that in cases of total edentulism, fixed full arch implant-supported prostheses are the most appropriate, as they allow the best computer-aided planning, design, manufacture, and fitting of the prosthesis in such a complex clinical context.

Full-mouth rehabilitation choices depending on amelogenesis imperfecta's type: A familial case report.

Amelogenesis imperfecta, a rare disease, represents inherited, congenital defects that primarily affect enamel with esthetic and functional impairment affecting everyday life. We present oral rehabilitation of a mother and her son, respectively, suffering from an hypoplastic and an hypocalcified form of AI.

Implant-supported bar overdentures in patients treated surgically for head and neck cancer: Two case reports.

Prosthetic rehabilitation of patients who have undergone head and neck cancer (HNC) surgery could be very challenging. The aim of this article is to present two HNC clinical cases rehabilitated with implant-supported removable complete dental prosthesis with different types of CB.