Quality of Prosthodontic education and confidence in dental students towards prosthodontic treatment – A cross control study

Objective: The study aims to assess and compare the confidence of dental students when carrying out prosthodontic treatment and their perception of the quality of prosthodontic education. Material and Methods: Pre - validated questionnaire was used to assess and compare the third year, final year and intern student confidence when carrying out prosthodontic treatment and their perception of the quality of prosthodontic education. Statistical analysis used - Statistical analysis was performed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 21 for Windows (Armonk, NY: IBM corp.). Data normality was checked by using Shapiro – Wilk test. Comparison of confidence between the third year, final year, the intern batch was done using the Chi-square test. For the perception of the quality of prosthodontic education, the level of significance (p-value) was calculated by using a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA F test). Results: We found that Intern batch students were more confident when carrying out prosthodontic treatment compare to third year and final year students. The perception of the quality of prosthodontic treatment was sufficient. Conclusion: This study found that the confidence level of students increased as they proceeded the course and added further clinical experience, which supports the findings of earlier studies. It is cheering that the mass number of students upcoming graduation felt confident in starting prosthodontic treatment within a clinical setting. When designing curricula, schools should aim to provide students with as much clinical experience and detailed lectures as probable to confirm high levels of confidence and a high level of perception of the quality of prosthodontic education. Key words: prosthodontic treatment, Confidence, Questionnaire, Dental student.