Evaluating Dental Students’ Knowledge of Complete Denture Occlusion

Background: Complete edentulism, defined as the complete loss of natural teeth, is still an important problem, especially in the elderly population. Complete denture (CD) rehabilitates this loss. Occlusion is one of the important factors in the success of a CD. Many studies, theories, and concepts have been proposed in the past and present for the selection of the occlusion to be used. Therefore, the dentist's knowledge of the occlusion is very important. There are many occlusion types for CDs. The aim of this study was to evaluate the occlusion knowledge level of dental students.

Methods: Istanbul University Faculty of Dentistry included fourth-year and final-year students in the study. The data were collected by using a questionnaire. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences Statistics software, version 25.0 was used for statistical analysis.

Results: 43.3% of participants were fourth-year dental students, and 56.7% were final-year dental students. When the opinions of the participants regarding which occlusion concepts are used in CD were analyzed; it was found that the fourth-year students gave the highest level of “monoplane occlusion (with compensation curve and posterior balancing ramp)” with a rate of 69.0%. The final year students chose the highest level of “lingualized occlusion” with a rate of 68.4%.

Conclusion: Within the limitations of this study, final-year dental students have better knowledge than fourth-year students. There is a need to strengthen occlusal concepts in the teaching of CD. Therefore, dental students can be more confident and successful when they complete their practical training.

Cite this article as: Kahya E, Babalık IS, Işık-Özkol G. Evaluating dental students’ knowledge of complete denture occlusion. Essent Dent. 2023;2(3):114-117.