Effectiveness of Different Teaching Methods in Enhancing Dental Undergraduate Students' Knowledge and Restorative Cement Manipulation Skills

Background and objectives Developing manual skills is important in dental education. Clinical skills can be taught via clinical demonstrations, and knowledge can be delivered through lectures. Performing dental restorations is an essential skill for dentists, which requires a comprehensive knowledge of the manipulation of the restorative materials. The present study sought to compare the effectiveness of flipped learning (FL), smart class (SC), and traditional teaching (TT) methods in two arenas of learning: acquisition of theoretical knowledge and practical skill in manipulating dental restorative cement. Materials and methods All first-year undergraduate dental students (n = 60) were divided into three study groups and exposed to three teaching methods, namely TT, SC, and FL of three different dental restorative cements. Each teaching method was followed by an evaluation of the "knowledge assessment score," a live demonstration of the cement manipulation, and the participants' "skill assessment score." Descriptive statistics were expressed as mean and SD for continuous variables. A comparison of the knowledge assessment scores and skill assessment scores between the study groups was analyzed using a one-way ANOVA test. Intergroup comparison was done using Tukey's post hoc test. Results The FL group had a significantly higher "knowledge assessment score" (p = 0.001), while there was no significant difference between the SC and TT groups (p = 1.0). Both FL and SC groups had significantly higher "skill assessment scores" (p = 0.001), with no significant difference between them (p = 0.798). Conclusions Of the three teaching methods assessed, FL proved to be more effective in the knowledge acquired and clinical competence demonstrated when compared to the other two techniques in dental education.