Mental training in dentistry

Objective: Since fine-motor movements and complex procedures, which are often necessary in dental practice, can be compared to those used by professional athletes, the purpose of this study was to determine the impact of the mental training technique, established in sport science, on dentistry. Method and Materials: In a randomized, controlled study, 2 groups of 20 and 21 dental students in their second semester (experimental group with mental training, and control group with conventional training, respectively), were evaluated at 2 time points (pre- and posttest) by measuring the effect of training by the criteria "knowledge," "process," and "quality" of a crown preparation on the computer-assisted Dental-Simulator (DenX). Results: The improvements of the experimental group and of the control group from pre- to posttest could be distinguished for all criteria in favor of the experimental group, in which improvements of knowledge (F1,39 = 72.674, P .001) and process (F1,39 = 6.63, P = .01) were statistically significantly better. Conclusion: The significantly greater improvements of the experimental group regarding knowledge and process compared to the control group indicate that the improvement in learning and performance caused by mental training is detectable in dental education, especially with regard to cognitive aspects of dental procedures. Keywords: crown preparation, dental education, learning method, mental training, randomized controlled trial, tooth preparation