The Evaluation of a High-Fidelity Simulation Model and Video Instruction Used to Teach Canine Dental Skills to Pre-Clinical Veterinary Students

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Dental disease is the most diagnosed disease in small-animal general practice and has a significant impact on the health and welfare of patients. Despite the prevalence of dental disease, there is a recognized gap between the dental skill training veterinary students receive and the expectations of employers regarding the competencies of new graduates in this field. Furthermore, there is a lack of published research reporting on veterinary dental skill training. This study evaluates the models and videos used to teach canine dental core skills. Dental skill acquisition and confidence were found to be higher in students who were trained using models rather than videos. However, there was no significant difference in perceptions related to small-animal dentistry between students trained using the different modalities. The authors recommend using both models and videos to train veterinary students in order to optimize skill acquisition in this field. The conclusions drawn from this research can be used to improve student training so that new graduates may enter the profession better prepared to demonstrate these skills. ABSTRACT: In recent years, there has been an increased focus on the teaching of small-animal dentistry to veterinary students in order to address the recognized gap between dental skill training and the expectations of employers regarding the competencies of new graduates in this field. In this study, third-year veterinary students were trained in three canine dental core skills using either a high-fidelity model (Group A) or video instruction (Group B). An objective structured clinical examination was used to assess skill acquisition and questionnaires were distributed in order to assess student confidence and perceptions related to small-animal dentistry practice and related skills before and after the training. All results were compared between the two groups. Group A outperformed Group B in skill acquisition (p < 0.001) and there was greater improvement in skill confidence for Group A than Group B (p < 0.001). There was no statistical difference in perceptions related to small-animal dentistry between the two groups after the training (p ≥ 0.1). Group A rated their training experience more highly than Group B (p < 0.001). Although dental skill acquisition shows greater improvement when training is provided by models rather than video instruction, a blended approach to teaching dental skills is likely to be the best approach to optimizing dental skill acquisition.