Hands OnPosterior resin composite education
Section snippets
Background
Minimal interventions approaches to treatment avoid the unnecessary destruction of healthy and salvageable tooth tissue and leave restored teeth more able to withstand loading during function and with a better prognosis for the future. Advances in resin composites and associated adhesive technologies plus improved operative techniques, instruments, and devices have supported these minimally invasive approaches. However, many practitioners remain loyal to traditional approaches. Posterior resin
Methods
Surveys of dental schools were conducted in 1986, 1997-99, 2004-05, and 2007-09 concerning the teaching of posterior resin composite methods to dental students. These were categorized chronologically into relevant eras, specifically, the 1980s, late 1990s, mid-2000s, and late 2000s. The findings of 679 of these surveys were analyzed to develop recommendations for future educational efforts.
Results
In the 1980s surveys, fewer than 10% of the schools included the preclinical teaching or any other teaching concerning posterior resin composites. One twelfth of the schools allowed or encouraged students to place posterior resin composites in clinical situations. Schools omitted teaching on the topic because of a lack of long-term data on the performance of resin composite restorations, limitations on these materials such as difficulty in placement, and the rapid development of the materials,
Discussion
Analysis of the trends in teaching dental students about posterior resin composites shows that techniques tend to be taught relatively rapidly and in a widespread fashion if they offer a faster, simpler, and less expensive alternative to a traditional approach. However, when the innovation is more demanding, time consuming, and costly—as with posterior resin composites—adoption can be slow to occur even if there are distinct advantages and sufficient relevant, high-quality evidence.
Among the
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Wilson NHF, Lynch CD: The teaching of posterior resin composites: Planning for the future based on 25 years of research. J Dent 42:503-516, 2014
Reprints available from CD Lynch, School of Dentistry, Cardiff Univ, Heath Park, Cardiff CF14 4XY, UK; e-mail: [email protected]