Evaluation of the Relationship between the Pre-Clinical and Clinical Courses Grades of Dental Students in Tabriz University of Medical Sciences

Aims: The present study was carried out to evaluate the relationship between the grades of pre-clinical and clinical courses of endodontics, fixed prosthodontics and restorative dentistry achieved by dental students entering Tabriz Faculty of Dentistry in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Materials and methods: The subjects in this retrospective cross-sectional study consisted of dental students entering Tabriz Faculty of Dentistry in 2009, 2010 and 2011 (n=48 students each year). The grades of the students in restorative dentistry, fixed prosthodontists, endodontics I (pre-clinic) and endodontics II (clinic) courses were recorded by referring to the Archives of the Education Office of the Faculty. The means and standard deviations of the grades were calculated. T-test was used to compare the means and standard deviations with SPSS. Statistical significance was set at P<0.05. Results: There were significant differences in all the grades between the clinical and pre-clinical lessons (P<0.05). In relation to the operative dentistry and endodontics courses, the clinical courses grades were significantly lower than those in the pre-clinic courses (P<0.05). However, in relation to the practical fixed prosthodontics courses, the grades in clinical courses were significantly higher than those in the pre-clinical courses (P<0.05). Conclusion: Under the limitations of the present study, of all the grades in the clinical courses, the grades in the practical fixed prosthodontics courses were higher than those in the pre-clinical courses.