Digital Denture Fabrication in Pre- and Postdoctoral Education: A Survey of U.S. Dental Schools.

PURPOSE: To survey chairs of prosthodontics or restorative departments and program directors of postdoctoral prosthodontic programs in the United States regarding digital denture fabrication. The key objectives of the survey were to identify the current trends in complete denture fabrication using CAD/CAM technology and to determine how and to what extent this technique is taught and used in U.S. pre- and postdoctoral prosthodontic programs.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: An invitation to participate in an online survey was sent to 52 prosthodontics/restorative chairs of U.S. dental schools and to all of the 50 program directors of postdoctoral prosthodontics programs. A version of the survey with the same questions was sent to a national sample of prosthodontics/restorative chairs and program directors of postdoctoral prosthodontics. The 20-item survey took approximately 15 minutes to complete. Dependent samples paired t-test was run on items that were the same in both surveys.

RESULTS: The response rate for the survey was 63% for department chairs and 44% for program directors. All respondents with the exception of one department chair were aware of CAD/CAM technology used for denture fabrication. More than half of the program directors (52.4%) compared to 12.1% of chairs have incorporated some aspects of CAD/CAM denture fabrication technology into their curriculum. When asked if the fabrication cost prevented introducing this technology in the predoctoral/postdoctoral curriculum, 52.4% of the department chairs affirmed this response compared to 12.1% of the program directors. There was a significant difference between groups when asked if they had incorporated the CAD/CAM denture fabrication technique into the postgraduate/predoctoral curriculum. Department chairs reported less usage of CAD/CAM technology. Only 12.1% of department chairs reported using some aspects of CAD/CAM technology in the predoctoral curriculum compared to 52.4% in the postdoctoral curriculum (F = 13.528, p ≤ 0.001). While this technology is used in four predoctoral clinics, none of the chairs reported including CAD/CAM denture fabrication in their preclinical complete denture courses. For the schools using the technology, 33.3% of postdoctoral and 30.3% of predoctoral programs use it to make a denture with a try-in step; however, 19% of the postdoctoral and 18.2% of predoctoral programs process the dentures without a try-in appointment. Slightly less than half (42.9%) of graduate programs are using the technology to make just the denture bases. Only a small proportion (10% or less) of the total number of dentures processed in post- and predoctoral programs are made using CAD/CAM technology. The proportion of postdoctoral programs that process cases using CAD/CAM technology was significantly higher than in predoctoral programs (F = 5.106, p ≤ 0.028). Many schools indicated that they are in a "trial phase" to evaluate the technique, especially at the predoctoral level. Also, 19% (n = 4) of postdoctoral and 15.2% (n = 5) of predoctoral respondents have created continuing education courses. Of postdoctoral programs, 38.1% (n = 8) plan to introduce this technology at some point in the near future (next 1 to 4 years); 27.3% of predoctoral programs plan to as well.

CONCLUSIONS: All program directors and department chairs who participated in the survey are aware of this technology with the exception of one department chair. More than half of the program directors reported that they have incorporated this technology in their curricula compared to only 12% of department chairs. Currently, only 10% or less of complete denture cases are processed using the CAD/CAM technology, at either the post- or predoctoral levels. Both groups reported that the main use of this technology is for the fabrication of denture bases and for processing dentures including the try-in step. The majority of respondents in both groups indicated they plan to add digital denture fabrication into their curricula within the next 1 to 4 years.