The Current State of Applications of Digital Technology in Implant Treatment Planning and Placement in Academic Institutions: A Questionnaire-Based Study
Alex, Lorena.
2021
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Thesis (M.S.)--Tufts University, 2021.
Submitted to the Dept. of Posthodontics.
Advisor: Ekaterini Antonellou.
Committee: Matthew Finkelman, Konstantinos Vazouras, and Hadi Gholami .
Keyword: Dentistry.
Aims & Hypothesis: This study aimed to evaluate the current state of applications of digital technology in implant treatment planning and placement at ... read morethe dental academic institutions in the United States and Canada. It identified the factors that may affect the incorporation of these technologies, such as the class size, the geographic location, and the funding source (publicly or privately) of each dental school, as well as any challenges encountered in the implementation of such technologies. The study attempted to test the hypothesis that dental schools that have smaller class sizes, that have postdoctoral programs or are privately funded, would adopt more of the new digital implant technologies. Materials & Methods: In this study, a thirty-two-item survey was distributed to the academic deans at seventy-six dental schools in the U.S and Canada. Results: A total of thirty usable responses were collected, for a 39.5% response rate. Of the 30 schools that responded, 29 (96.7%) were in the United States and 1 (3.3%) was in Canada. In regard to providing training to predoctoral students in the use of CBCT, there was not a statistically significant difference across the geographic region of the U.S. or between private and public schools, but schools with smaller class size were statistically significantly more likely to train the predoctoral students to use CBCT than schools with larger class size (more than 100 students) (100% vs. 64.7%, p=0.024). Concerning the use of a 3-D printer for printing surgical guides, implant restorations, or other prostheses, there was a tendency for schools in the Northeast and Southeast to be more likely to use 3-D printer than schools in the Midwest, Southwest, and West, although this difference was not statistically significant (100% vs. 75%, p=0.06). The challenges that dental institutions are experiencing in the implementation of a digital workflow for implant planning and placement, we found that financial issues were the highest challenge (70%), followed by not a having a sufficient number of faculty members trained in digital technologies (63.3%), lack of administration approval (43.3%), not enough space for equipment (33.3%), and finally other categories such as faculty calibration and IT related issues (13.3%). Conclusions: The study suggests that the integration of implant digital technology in dental institutions' curricula has been embraced widely, which is extremely important for the dental education and development of our future dental practitioners.read less - ID:
- 3x817229h
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