ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine the students' attitudes before and after the flipped classroom, and the effectiveness of this method to promote the students' lateral cephalograms tracing abilities, students' satisfaction and their final exam scores. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a single-group quasi-experimental research conducted on dental students of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (SUMS), Iran in 2019. The intervention was carried out in a blended learning approach with the flipped classroom model. Thirty-five fourth-year dental students participated in a flipped classroom held during a semester for the lateral cephalograms tracing course. The students were provided with the educational materials before the class time through multimedia learning tools and the class time was devoted to discussions. The students were asked to fill out four questionnaires (pretest/posttest attitudes, pretest/posttest self-assessments of theoretical knowledge and practical skills in cephalograms, posttest of satisfaction from quality of the course, and posttest of students' views about effectiveness of blended learning tools) and final exam scores of students. RESULTS: Students' attitudes toward e-Learning were improved after the flipped classroom and the quality of this method was acceptable to the students (p < .001). Their self-assessment of theoretical knowledge and practical skills were promoted (p < .001). While all blended learning tools averaged more than the cut-off-point, short lecture (5.11 ± 0.98) and live feedback (4.98 ± 1.07) were considered to be the most efficient interactive tools. CONCLUSION: It seems that the flipped classroom has a positive effect on increasing students' knowledge, attitude, and satisfaction. In general, this method of learning seems to be favored by dental students. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The findings showed that blended learning had a positive effect on increasing knowledge, performance, and satisfaction among dental students. Therefore, blended learning as a reliable method might be used in training dental students.
Subject(s)
Learning , Students, Dental , Humans , Iran , Personal SatisfactionABSTRACT
AIM: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of the density and the thickness of the cortical and the cancellous bone at selected inter-radicular areas in subjects with different facial growth patterns using cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) in order to choose the optimal area for miniscrew insertion. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From 150 CBCT scans, 45 scans were included in the study. The subjects were categorized into three groups based on their skeletal growth pattern according to SN-GoMe angle and facial height index. Cortical and cancellous bone density and thickness were measured at the selected inter-radicular areas. RESULTS: Compared to the other two groups, the hyperdivergent group had thinner cortical bone in the anterior region of the maxilla between the central and the lateral incisors on the buccal side at 4 mm from the alveolar crest (P-value: 0.012) and on the palatal side at 7 mm from the alveolar crest (P-value: 0.030). Cancellous bone density values in these areas were higher in subjects with hypodivergent and hyperdivergent growth pattern. Furthermore, in hyperdivergent group less dense cortical bone in the posterior region of the maxilla on the palatal side between the second premolar and the first molar (p-value: 0.020) and on the buccal side between the first molar and the second molar (p-value: 0.038 & 0.047) was observed. No significant differences were found in the mandible between the three groups. No significant differences were found between the male and the female subjects. CONCLUSION: Hyperdivegents presented thinner cortical bone in the anterior of the maxilla between the central and the lateral incisors. Less dense cortical bone was found between maxillary second premolar and first molar on the palatal side and also between the maxillary first molar and the second molar on the buccal side in this group too. Normal showed higher density values in the posterior of the maxilla compared to the other two groups. No significant differences were found among three groups in mandible.
