Impact of a modified preclinical teaching methodology in intraoral radiographic technique to reduce radiographic technique errors in a dental school amidst COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic led to suspension of DXTRR training of intraoral radiographic technique in March 2020. The online 3D interactive Dental Radiography Simulator program (DRS) was introduced for teaching the intraoral radiography technique to the dental students in the spring semester of their first year in 2021. The purpose of this study was to do a retrospective comparison of the FMX technical errors for those students who took their training before Spring 2020 and those students who were trained after Spring 2020. Study Design: Year 1: Before Spring 2020, in-person instruction on DXTRR simulation on radiographic technique was provided. In the beginning of pandemic era in March 2020, 32 students did not get any DXTRR experience and the instruction was provided through telelearning. In the ongoing pandemic era, the preclinical the DXTRR simulation exercise was moved to the online DRS program. Year 2: In the fall semester, the dental students went through mandatory DXTTR FMX exposure and technical analysis exercises. Their radiographs were analyzed for common intraoral radiographic technique errors. Results: Total technical errors per student group/class were calculated, errors per student in each error group and student group/class were calculated, and each group/class error rate was compared using the Χ2 test. The highest total error/student rate of 50.8 was seen in the pre-pandemic Class of 2022. The entire Class of 2023 had a total error/student rate of 19.4 while the group that received normal DXTTR training had an error/student rate of 18.58. Those who did not receive their introduction to DXTTR training had an error/student rate of 22.56. Finally, the 2024 class, which received the DRS training, had a significant improvement in the error/student rate to 9.18. Conclusions: DRS program reduced the technical errors in a FMX in the class of 2023 and 2024. STATEMENT OF ETHICAL REVIEW: Ethical review was sought and study was exempted from ethical review