Perception and Confidence Levels of Dental Students and Newly Graduate Dentists during Prosthodontic Procedures

Assessing students' perception of their dental school experience is a vital measure of the success and progress of dental education. Hence, the primary objectives of this research were to assess and examine the self-confidence levels of dental students and trainees at the University of Hail, Saudi Arabia, during prosthodontic procedures and to gauge their views on the quality of prosthodontic training.

Seventy-nine senior students and 39 new interns at the University of Hail, Saudi Arabia, were given surveys while keeping their identities anonymous. The participants were asked to evaluate their confidence level by using a Likert scale ranging from 1 to 5. The Mann-Whitney U test and chi-squared test were used to evaluate the statistical significance between the compared groups.

49.2% of participants expressed contentment with the number of teeth identified for treatment. 89.8% of participants stated that increased practical experience would enhance their confidence in the field of prosthodontics. Approximately 49.5% of the participants surveyed stated they plan to pursue a specialized area in the coming years. Roughly 49.5% of the participants believed that their prosthodontic practice was at a moderate level. In general, this study's findings suggest that there were no significant differences between males and females (p > 0.05), except for rubber dam placement, follow-up appointment, and impression taking, where males exhibited greater confidence than females (p < 0.05). There were no significant differences between both groups in the treatment of different teeth (p > 0.05). Additionally, there were no significant differences (p > 0.05) in self-confidence levels for handling different indications for prosthodontic treatment.

The level of confidence during prosthodontic therapy in this study is regarded as neutral. Compared to the female and senior students, the male interns and students reported higher confidence.