This systematic review aimed to identify the level of impact of educational strategies for teaching tooth carving on the carving ability of undergraduate dental students. The PubMed-NCBI, Cochrane-CENTRAL, LILACS, Ibecs, BBO, Web of Science, and Scopus databases were searched in May 2019, for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and two-arm non-randomized studies of interventions (NRSI) addressing educational interventions toward the dental carving of undergraduate students. Studies from the year 2000 until the search date, written in English, Portuguese, and Spanish were included. Study screening and data extraction were performed in duplicate and blinded. The data were presented narratively, considering the dental carving ability of students the primary outcome. The risk of bias was assessed using the RoB tool 2.0 and ROBINS-I, and the level of evidence was determined with GRADE. Of 3,574 studies, 6 were included, with 3 RCTs and 3 NRSIs. Very low level of evidence was provided from the NRSIs that flipped classroom (1 study; n = 140) and a student-driven revised module (1 study; n = 264) improved the carving ability of students. Additionally, there was moderate evidence of online complementary material (1 RCT; n = 30) and reinforcement class improving the carving ability of students (1 RCT; n = 29). The replacement of traditional classes by an instructional DVD (1 RCT; n = 73) and assessment of carving projects through digital systems (1 NRSI; n = 79) did not enhance the carving ability of students. Study design, risk of bias, and imprecision downgraded the level of evidence. There was a very low to moderate evidence on the effectiveness of student-driven educational approaches and complementary classes of dental anatomy in improving the dental carving ability of students.
Keywords: anatomical knowledge; dental anatomy education; dental carving; dental education; dental students; teaching methods; tooth morphology.
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