Pit falls of the traditional wax carving for dental students have previously been recognized in threads of letter to editor and have gone to extent of condemning wax carving in course of DADH to extent that it should be discarded from curriculum. Do you support it?
No. It is very important. wax carving not only helps to identify the tooth, understand the morphology of teeth, but also trains the students to do the restorations with normal cuspal patterns and proximal contacts. This is especially important in restoration of fractured anterior teeth. Wax carving is also like a hands on training for skilled handwork which each and every dentist should have.
Yes we need that as innovation has involved all life field for further details knowledge, but that doesn't mean we forget about hand craft and artistic aspect and ability in dentistry.. however, tooth carving remain the most important tool for improving students skill to how reconstruct each individual tooth anatomically perfect.
“Solution not Revolution”
We all Oral Pathologist continue to teach Dental Anatomy & Dental Histology (DADH) in first year from 2008-9 onwards, with exceptions in few colleges which oblige some other branches to assess or teach DADH.
Course of Dental anatomy has a prime goal in curriculum to establish undergraduates to gain knowledge and psychomotor dexterity associated to tooth morphology and functional relationships of dentition. The psychomotor skills learned (eg. holding dental instrument i.e Lecrons carver in modified pen grip) are essential for restoring teeth to proper form and function.
Conventionally, the teaching recourse is textbooks and course manuals. These are recapitulated by the faculty in routine lectures to the entire class. Psychomotor skills related with recognition and reproduction of tooth anatomy are traditionally taught in dental colleges all over the county by examining tooth specimens, combined with drawing line diagrams (on graph sheets) and carving propionate teeth from oversized wax blocks. The knowledge and psychomotor adeptness is not learned in the context of clinical practice, thus potentially encumber the student’s ability to later remember and apply learning to actual patient management.(1) Weakness of the traditional wax carving for dental students have previously been recognized in threads of letter to editor and have gone to extent of condemning wax carving in course of DADH to extent that it should be discarded from curriculum.(2,3) Just because mode of teaching needs to be reformed and inclusion of newer teaching aids (3-D atlas and videos etc) is required, complete elimination of carving as a teaching methodology is more like removing art from science in field of dentistry. Beside this, complete discard may devoid students to develop visual skills (visualize 3-D tooth anatomy and ability to distinguish normal from abnormal) and motor skills to execute correction.
References
I completely agree with Dr. Aman Choudhary. He has highlighted the very need of psychomotor skills with references......
Yes, I think we should use at certain times of course new technologies, mainly in the didactic aspects, but we must not neglect the acquisition of skills that accompany carved in wax. Also we must emphasize the correlation with occlusion and restorative aspects as interproximal contacts.
I thank Dr Manjunata & Dr Nirmala for responding and agreeing to my thoughts..
@Dr Jose: I appreciate ur point on emphasis on contact relationships of teeth.. which can be in function or in rest..
ultimately aim of our teaching is to make them better skillful students.. who have a 3-D imagination to restore functionally and aesthetically.
No, Hability e knowing about anatomy and aplycation in clinical attendent is very important.
Some Comparative Odontology should be taught to appreciate the human dentition
Aman Chowdhry i have created my morphology course online hope you find it useful
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq2PXX30Djb2a84-ySn3FNw?view_as=subscriber
The subject could be integrated with other disciplines such as histology, pathology, pathophysiology, and physiology and biochemical aspects. The aim is to link these subjects in clinically applied sessions that can be engaging to students and highlight applications.
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