Development and evaluation of a new dental model at Tokyo Medical and Dental University for the practice of periodontal pocket probing.

Dental and dental hygiene students must acquire the skill of measuring periodontal pockets and learn to identify the bottom of a pocket, especially of deep periodontal pockets. A new dental model that would enable students to practice measuring deep periodontal pockets was developed at the Tokyo Medical and Dental University. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of this model. Twenty dental hygiene students in their third year at the school and twenty-four instructors or dental hygienists of the University Hospital measured periodontal pockets on the newly designed dental model. Feasibility and effectiveness of the model were evaluated based on periodontal probing by the students and instructors, as well as results of a questionnaire. The results demonstrated an intraexaminer agreement (within ±1 mm) averaging 91 percent. The mean percentages of correct answers of the students and instructors were 82 percent and 80 percent, respectively. More than 90 percent of the instructors and students reported that the new model would be suitable for pocket probing training. In the questionnaire, they responded that this practice using the new model would contribute to students' future and that they wanted to try other dental models with various probing depths. The new dental model designed for periodontal pocket probing training was reported to be feasible and effective for student practice.