2016 Volume 32 Issue 1 Pages 22-28
Abstract The basic skills required for dentists include using a suitable force for each procedure in addition to dealing with materials appropriately. However, it is difficult to teach force acceleration at the clinical site of dental procedures. Dental students and trainee dentists need to learn about the appropriate force (dental force) from their own study. Ten dental students in the clinical training curriculum and 10 dental instructors participated in the survey. The dental force they used for five dental procedures was measured by a mannequin equipped with a scale under the mandible. Periodontal pocket examination (PPE), gingival retraction (GR), grinding of dental caries (GDC), and mounting of a full metal crown (FMC) and removal partial denture (RPD) were prepared as procedures that require various forces from delicate to relatively high force. The force data were divided into a student group and a dental instructor group and analyzed with statistical methods. The results showed that the student group tended to use larger force than the dental instructors for PPE or GR, but tended to use a smaller force than dental instructors for FMC and RPD mounting. There were significant differences between the two groups in all five procedures. Furthermore, significant differences were found between PPE and GR, and between FMC and RPD in the dental instructor group. It is suggested that the force acceleration used by dentists is closely related to their clinical experience.
