Department of Restorative Dentistry, Rutgers School of Dental Medicine, Newark, New Jersey, USA.
Division of Prosthodontics, School of Dental Medicine, University of Connecticut, Farmington, Connecticut, USA.
J Dent Educ. 2023 Dec;87(12):1746-1753. doi: 10.1002/jdd.13372. Epub 2023 Sep 15.
Gaining knowledge on the extent of digital technology implementation in dental education and the barriers to it will help inform future directions to promote the use of such technology and will enhance dental education. This study aimed to investigate the utilization of digitally fabricated removable prostheses and the potential obstacles to implementing such technology in US dental schools.
A survey was developed and distributed to the restorative dentistry department chairs and postdoctoral prosthodontic program directors. The survey delivery protocol included follow-up emails 1 week, 3 weeks, and 4 weeks after the initial email. The collected data were analyzed descriptively.
The response rate was 85% and 45% for predoctoral and postdoctoral prosthodontic programs, respectively. The results showed that 88.06% of the predoctoral programs and 95.65% of the postdoctoral prosthodontic programs implement digital complete dentures in the curriculum; however, the digital removable partial dentures implementation rate was recorded at 70.77% in predoctoral programs and 61.9% in postdoctoral prosthodontic programs.
Dental schools are challenged by cost, design software limitations, IT and laboratory support, and faculty training. Multifaceted support is instrumental in further implementing digital removable prosthodontics into dental education.
了解牙科教育中数字技术的实施程度及其障碍，将有助于为未来推广此类技术指明方向，并能促进牙科教育的发展。本研究旨在调查美国牙科学校中数字化可摘义齿的使用情况以及采用该技术的潜在障碍。
我们设计了一份调查问卷，并分发给修复牙科系主任和博士后修复程序主任。调查的发送协议包括在初始电子邮件后的第 1 周、第 3 周和第 4 周进行后续电子邮件跟进。收集的数据进行了描述性分析。
分别有 85%和 45%的牙科学院和修复科的博士后项目对此做出了回应。结果表明，88.06%的牙科学院和 95.65%的博士后修复课程将数字化全口义齿纳入课程，但在牙科学院中，数字化可摘局部义齿的实施率为 70.77%，而在博士后修复课程中，这一比例为 61.9%。
牙科学校在成本、设计软件限制、IT 和实验室支持以及教师培训方面面临挑战。多方面的支持对于进一步将数字化可摘义齿纳入牙科教育至关重要。
