Confidence of undergraduate students and new graduates in performing tooth extractions - An exploratory study

Abstract

Abstract Aim: To evaluate pre-extraction assessment skills of dental students and interns and explore their self-perceived confidence in performing these tooth extractions. Methods: A cross-sectional survey investigated the self-perceived confidence to perform the extraction for a set of eight expert-rated cases. The participants were dental students in years 4, and 5 of the Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) program and interns. The participants were asked to rate the difficulty level of each of the eight tooth extraction cases. The self-perceived confidence of the participants to perform extraction of each was also explored. Finally, the participants were asked to identify the main reason for the perceived lack of confidence. Results: A total of 199 responded to the survey, yielding al response rate of 94.7%. The effect of Grade of Extraction (the expert rating of cases), and Stage on difficulty ratings was assessed using a mixed 3 Stage x 4 Grades ANOVA, with response (Difficult=1, Easy=0) as the dependent variable. The results showed that there was a main effect of Stage, a main effect of Grade of extraction and a significant interaction between the two. Gender showed a significant impact with females categorizing significantly more cases as difficult. A three-way contingency table (counts of each confidence-level response by Stage by Expert rating of cases) suggests a statistically significant association between the three factors. Most participants identified limited clinical exposure as the main reason for their perceived lack of confidence. Conclusions: The findings of this study show that a majority of the participants were able to recognize tooth extraction cases which were beyond the scope of their training stage with females reporting lower a confidence. Increased clinical exposure to a wider range of tooth extraction cases with varying levels of difficulty may contribute to improving the self-confidence of undergraduate dental students and interns.