Is Soap Carving in Dental Anatomy Predictive for Clinical Dental Students’ Performance in Operative Dentistry?

Objectives: Manual skills form only a part of the capabilities required for a future dentist. Nevertheless, they are very important components that should be tested. The aim of this study is to investigate if a correlation exists between dental students’ grades in the preclinical courses and their clinical performance. Methods: Preclinical/clinical grades were collected for first, fourth, and fifth year students who graduated from the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Jordan, Amman, Kingdom of Hashemite Jordan, in 2014, and 2015. Two courses (Dental Anatomy and Conservative Dentistry) were selected. Correlations comparing the practical grades of Dental Anatomy course for first year students, and the practical grades of Conservative Dentistry course for the same students in fourth and fifth years. Results: Statistically significant positive correlation was found between the soap carving grades of first-year dental students and their practical grades in Operative Dentistry course during fourth and fifth years. Also, statistically significant moderate to strong positive correlation was found between the grades of fourth-year practical Operative Dentistry and the grades of fifth-year practical Operative Dentistry. Conclusion: The clinical performance of dental students in their practical courses in fourth and fifth years can be predicted from their soap carving grades at their first year in Dental School.