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Self-assessment in dental education is considered a fundamental skill for proficient oral healthcare providers. While previous studies looked at self-assessment in education, few have done so at Japanese institutions. This study aimed to assess potential associations between gender and self-assessment skills in Japanese dental students. Dental students from Niigata University (n = 301) completed preclinical prosthodontic exercises and self-assessed their practical exam performance. Three calibrated faculty evaluated students' work using the same rubric. The difference between student self-assessment score and mean faculty grade was defined as the student-faculty (S-F) gap, indicating how accurately students evaluated their work. The gap scores were stratified by quartiles by faculty grade and by gender. Regression analysis was used to investigate potential associations. Students mean S-F gap was 2.9 ± 10.5 % with a significant negative association to faculty grades (coefficient, −0.32; P < 0.001). There was no significant difference between male and female students for faculty grades, self-assessment scores, and S-F gaps. When stratified by quartile, mean S-F gaps of bottom quartile students (5.7 ± 11.9 %) were significantly higher than the rest of the class (1.9 ± 9.8 %; P = 0.01), while the mean S-F gaps of students in the top quartile (−0.8 ± 10.2 %) were significantly lower than the rest of the class (4.2 ± 10.3 %; P < 0.001). Niigata University students generally overestimated their performance. Students with higher faculty grades self-assessed themselves more accurately than students with lower faculty grades. Gender did not influence S-F gaps, despite dentistry in Japan shifting toward a female-dominated field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: During the COVID‐19 pandemic, dental schools were required to reformat their curricula to accommodate regulations mandated to protect the health of students and faculty. For students enrolled in the Operative Dentistry preclinical courses at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM), this modified curriculum included frontloading the course with lectures delivered remotely, followed by in‐person laboratory exercises of learned concepts. The aim of this article was to determine the impact that the modifications had on student performance and student self‐evaluation capabilities. Materials and methods: Thirty‐eight students were introduced to this restructured course. Their performance in a final multiple‐choice (MC) examination, four preclinical laboratory competency assessments (class II amalgam preparation and restoration, class III composite preparation and restoration) and their self‐assessment of these preclinical competency assessments were then compared with the pre‐COVID pandemic (P‐CP) classes from years 2014 to 2019 (n = 216 students). Linear regressions were performed to determine differences in mean faculty scores, self‐assessment scores, student‐faculty score gaps (S‐F gaps) and absolute S‐F gaps seen between the class impacted by the pandemic and the P‐CP classes. Results: The results demonstrated that students during the COVID‐19 pandemic (D‐CP) had a higher average faculty score in all four preclinical laboratory competency assessments and in the final MC examination. In addition, the S‐F gap was smaller in this cohort as compared with the P‐CP classes. Conclusion: Despite the challenges of restructuring the preclinical curricula, D‐CP students performed better than their P‐CP predecessors in multiple facets of this Operative Dentistry course including self‐assessment accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose/objective: Self-assessment is a fundamental skill for dentists and other health care providers. It enables these professionals' ability to critically evaluate the quality of their clinical work and improve through self-directed learning. Researchers have investigated how gender affects self-assessment skills and have shown that male students tend to overestimate their performance while female students tend to underestimate theirs as compared to peer or faculty assessment. The goal of this study was to evaluate how the self-assessment skills of dental students differ by gender in operative preclinical dentistry.Methods: Third-year dental students (N = 208, Class of 2016-2021) self-assessed their work using the same rubrics as faculty on four operative dentistry competency examination procedures: Class II amalgam preparation and restoration and Class III resin-composite preparation and restoration. Two calibrated full-time faculty graded all procedures independently. The Student self-assessment-Faculty grade (S-F) gap scores were calculated and statistically analyzed.Results: Overall, both genders overestimated their self-assessment for all four procedures as compared to actual scores given by faculty. Males overestimated more significantly than females for Class II Amalgam preparation, but not for the other three procedures. However, when the S-F gap for all procedures was combined and analyzed together, male students significantly overestimated their self-assessments compared to female students. When female and male students grading scores were stratified into quartiles, there were significantly larger differences between males and females in the lower quartiles, which suggest that difference in self-assessment abilities was more prominent among the lower performing students.Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate that gender may affect the accuracy of self-assessment in operative preclinical dentistry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: A theory‐practice gap in pre‐doctoral dental education is a common source of stress for dental students. An interactive, small‐group, case‐based activity was designed to bridge the gap between pre‐clinical and clinical experiences. The aim of our study was to assess the effectiveness of the case‐based activity by evaluating students' comfort level in operative procedures. Materials and Methods: Over 5 years, a total of 172 second‐year students from the classes of 2017 through 2021 participated in the case‐based activity delivered after the completion of the core operative dentistry course. The exercise included a pre‐activity online quiz, an in‐class case‐based session and a laboratory exercise. Students' self‐reported comfort levels in performing operative procedures were collected by surveys at three different times. They included the post‐course survey distributed after the completion of the core operative dentistry course, the post‐activity survey distributed after the completion of the case‐based activity, and the follow‐up survey distributed after students completed their first operative procedures in clinic. Results: There was a 93% response rate. The average rating of all eight statements revealed statistically significant increase in students' comfort level after completing the case‐based activity and after performing their first operative procedures in the teaching practice. Conclusion: This observation suggests that the case‐based activity was effective in raising students' comfort levels. The activity may serve as an important tool in bridging the theory‐practice gap between pre‐clinical and clinical operative experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to determine how dental student self-assessment and faculty assessment of operative preparations compared for conventional visual assessment versus assessment of scanned digital 3D models. In 2016, all third-year students in the Class of 2018 (N=35) at Harvard School of Dental Medicine performed preclinical exams of Class II amalgam preparations (C2AP) and Class III composite preparations (C3CP) and completed self-assessment forms; in 2017, all third-year students in the Class of 2019 (N=34) performed the same exams. Afterwards, the prepared typodont teeth were digitally scanned. Students self-assessed their preparations digitally, and four faculty members graded the preparations conventionally and digitally. The results showed that, overall, the students assessed their preparations higher than the faculty assessments. The mean student-faculty gaps for C2AP and C3CP in the conventional assessments were 11% and 5%, respectively. The mean digital student-faculty gap for C2AP and C3CP were 8% and 2%, respectively. In the conventional assessments, preclinical performance was negatively correlated with the student-faculty gap (r=-0.47, p<0.001). The correlations were not statistically significant with the digital assessments (p=0.39, p=0.26). Students in the bottom quartile significantly improved their self-assessment accuracy using digital self-assessments over conventional assessments (C2AP 10% vs. 17% and C3CP 3% vs. 10%, respectively). These results suggest that digital assessments offered a significant learning opportunity for students to critically self-assess themselves in operative preclinical dentistry. The lower performing students benefitted the most, improving their assessment ability to the level of the rest of the class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-assessment is a critical skill for health care professionals. Because these professionals must be lifelong, self-directed learners and self-regulating practitioners, the ability to self-assess is essential for them. The aims of this study were to measure how dental students self-assessed and peer-assessed their performance in preclinical operative procedures and to evaluate any relationship between their assessment ability and preclinical skills or academic performance. The study was conducted from 2015 to 2016. Third-year students at Harvard School of Dental Medicine self-assessed their work on four preclinical practical exams: Class II amalgam preparation, Class II amalgam restoration, Class III composite preparation, and Class III composite restoration. Three faculty members graded the same preparations and restorations. The difference between the students' self-assessment and the mean faculty assessment was calculated as the student-faculty (S-F) gap. An absolute S-F gap was also calculated with absolute values of differences. A total of 71 students completed these practical exams: 36 in the Class of 2016 and 35 in the Class of 2017. All 71 self-assessments for each of the four practical exams were collected for a response rate of 100%. The results showed that the mean S-F gap ranged from 2% to 8%, and the absolute S-F gap ranged from 7% to 12%. Preclinical performance was correlated with self-assessment accuracy. Low-performing students significantly overestimated their self-assessments compared to the rest of the class. High-performing students had more accurate self-assessments and tended to underestimate themselves. Overall, these results showed that the students had room for improving the accuracy of their self-assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]