Digital Learning Resources for Prosthodontic Education: The Perspectives of a Long-Term Dental Educator Regarding 4 Key Factors.

Technological advances have led to the introduction of 3D education programs specifically designed for dentistry, leading to the author's use of these programs in the education of dental students. Based on this usage, this paper proposes there are 4 key factors that can enhance student education (spatial ability, interactivity, critical thinking, and clinical correlations with integration of multiple dental disciplines). These key factors can be incorporated into student learning through the use of 3D education programs in class. Lessons learned from using these programs include the importance of regular use in class as well as testing students both visually and textually on the content present in such programs. In this way, students will use the program and thereby enhance their 3D visualization skills while learning the required didactic information. Simply providing students with access to such programs without regular use in class and without testing the students on the content leads to these programs' lack of use. As a result, the students miss an opportunity to enhance their ability to visualize structures three dimensionally and manipulate them in their minds, a process known as spatial ability that is linked to success in the sciences.