Background: The use of technology in dentistry has opened up numerous possibilities for digital education. However, it is crucial and important to select the most appropriate pedagogical approaches to ensure that learning is both effective and efficient. This study aims to explore the efficiency of incorporating technology in teaching and assessment methods to enhance preclinical skills of undergraduate students, in comparison to traditional methods.

Materials and Methods: Our pilot study was conducted with 5 students in the Faculty of Dentistry, who utilized a combination of PrepCheck software, CAD/CAM unit, Cerec Omnicam, computers, and phantom tooth models. In our study, we focused on the chamfer-type tooth preparation of teeth 27, and laminate veneer preparation of teeth 21. The duration of the tooth preparation exercise assigned to the students was set at two hours. We conducted both traditional and digital evaluations on the models, examining six different parameters, including undercut, taper, occlusal distance, preparation type, margin quality, and surface quality. The collected data sets were subjected to a Shapiro-Wilk normality test, which revealed non-normal distributions in the data sets (p< 0.05). Consequently, the Wilcoxon test was employed to compare traditional and digital measurements on the non-normal data set.

Results: This study analysis showed that the measurements of undercut and preparation type in tooth 27 were not notably different, but there were statistically significant differences in other parameters (p<0.05). The evaluation of tooth 21 showed that there was no significant variance between the traditional and digital techniques used to measure occlusal distance. Nevertheless, in other groups, the difference was statistically significant (p<0.05).

Conclutions: When assessing the effectiveness of digital education programs in dental education, our research revealed that digital and traditional evaluations did not align with each other. This suggests that the digital and traditional methods are not generally compatible.