Student perception of early simulation in dentistry

Objective: To evaluate student perception of early simulation in dentistry. Material and Methods: The design of the study was quantitative, observational and cross-sectional. A total of 121 students, from third year to senior year were evaluated. The perception and its dimensions: satisfaction, self-confidence and good educational practices were evaluated by a survey with a high level of reliability (0.89), modified and adapted for the present investigation, checking coefficients for its use: Aiken's V, Cronbach's Alpha, Test-Retest (Spearman), classified in ability, scenario and general simulation practices, based on the Likert scale (from 1 to 5). For the univariate analysis, the descriptive statistics from qualitative and quantitative variables were obtained and for the bivariate analysis, Spearman's rank correlation coefficient and Kruskal Wallis and Mann-Whitney U-tests were employed. Results: The students rated the simulation perception positively with an average of 4.42±0.49, 4.14±0.63 y 4.73±0.66 regarding the ability, scenario and general simulation practices, respectively. No statistically significant differences were found between the perception of early preclinical practices with the variables age, gender, year of study and previous experience. Conclusion: The perception of students regarding early preclinical practices got a high score and it is not related with the variables studied, according to the survey modified and adapted.