State Key Laboratory of Military Stomatology, National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, Shaanxi International Joint Research Center for Oral Diseases, Department of Oral Anatomy and Physiology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of the Fourth Military Medical University, 145 Changlexi Road, Xi'an, 710032, Shaanxi, China.
Department of Medical Education, The Third Affiliated Hospital of the Fourth Military Medical University, 145 Changlexi Road, Xi'an, 710032, Shaanxi, China.
BMC Med Educ. 2020 Nov 25;20(1):469. doi: 10.1186/s12909-020-02390-0.
The tooth morphology course is an important basic dental course. However, it is difficult to fully reflect the three-dimensional (3D) morphological characteristics of tooth structure in two-dimensional pictures in traditional textbooks. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of 3D-printed plastic model teeth in the teaching of tooth morphology.
Twenty-two undergraduate students who matriculated at the School of Stomatology, the Fourth Medical University, in 2014 and 23 who matriculated in 2016 participated in the study. Each student who matriculated in 2016 was given a full set of fourteen standard 3D-printed plastic model teeth for use during the learning process, and an anonymous questionnaire was used to evaluate the usefulness of the 3D-printed plastic model teeth from the perspective of the students.
There was no significant difference between the two groups in the scores of the theoretical examination or the total score. However, for the score of the sculpted gypsum teeth, the students who used the 3D-printed plastic model teeth in their studies scored significantly higher (P = 0.002). More than 90% of the students thought that the 3D-printed plastic model teeth were of great help or were very helpful for mastering the anatomy of teeth and for carving the gypsum teeth.
Standard 3D-printed plastic teeth can effectively assist students in learning tooth morphology by transforming two-dimensional pictures and descriptions in the textbook into a 3D conformation, effectively promoting students' learning and mastery of tooth morphology and structure. Additionally, the results suggest that 3D-printed plastic model teeth are of great help to the students in mastering and improving their carving skills.
牙体形态学课程是一门重要的口腔基础课程。然而，传统教科书上的二维图片很难完全反映牙齿结构的三维形态特征。本研究旨在评估 3D 打印塑料牙模型在牙体形态学教学中的效果。
2014 年和 2016 年入学的第四军医大学口腔医学院 22 名本科生和 23 名本科生参加了本研究。2016 年入学的每位学生都获得了一套完整的 14 个标准 3D 打印塑料牙模型，用于学习过程，并从学生的角度使用匿名问卷评估 3D 打印塑料牙模型的有用性。
两组学生在理论考试或总分上没有显著差异。然而，对于雕刻石膏牙的得分，使用 3D 打印塑料牙模型进行学习的学生得分显著更高（P=0.002）。超过 90%的学生认为 3D 打印塑料牙模型对掌握牙齿解剖学和雕刻石膏牙非常有帮助或有很大帮助。
标准的 3D 打印塑料牙可以通过将教科书中的二维图片和描述转化为 3D 形态，有效地帮助学生学习牙体形态学，有效促进学生对牙体形态和结构的学习和掌握。此外，研究结果表明，3D 打印塑料牙模型对学生掌握和提高雕刻技能有很大帮助。
