Dental Asia November/December 2021

Study in JDE finds gender
differences in dental students’
self-assessments
Male dental students overestimate their performance more
significantly than females, and both genders self-assess their
skills more positively compared to scores given by faculty,
according to a study published in the Journal of Dental Education
(JDE), a peer-reviewed monthly journal that publishes a wide
variety of educational and scientific research in dental, allied
dental and advanced dental education.
PIONEER SINCE 1985.
A TRUSTED BEAUTY.
The study, “The effect of gender on student self-assessment
skills in operative preclinical dentistry”, focused on third-year
dental students from six class years (Classes of 2016-2021), and
its participants included students at the Harvard School of Dental
Medicine, United States.
“Recognising factors that affect self-assessment ability is
important because dentists must learn to accurately evaluate
their clinical work in order to improve through self-directed
learning,” the authors wrote. “The results of this study illustrate
that self-assessment skills differ between males and females,
with males on average overestimating their performances to a
greater extent than females in operative preclinical dentistry.”
The results of the study, according to the authors, fall in line
with previous studies that show gender differences in selfassessments
in other health care training settings. The authors
of the study are David L. Kornmehl, BS; Ruchika Agrawal, BS;
Jacqueline R. Harris, BS; and Aisha K. Ba, BS (all with the Harvard
School of Dental Medicine in Boston, MA, US); Eshani Patel, DMD
(VA Loma Linda Healthcare System in Loma Linda, CA, US) and
Hiroe Ohyama, DDS, MMSc, PhD, DMD (Department of Restorative
Dentistry and Biomaterials Sciences, Harvard School of Dental
Medicine, US).
The student self-assessments used the same rubrics as faculty
on four operative dentistry competency examination procedures:
Class II amalgam preparation and restoration and Class III resincomposite
preparation and restoration. The study found that the
student-faculty (S-F) gap was 8.28% for males and 6.08% for
females. The S-F gap is defined as the difference between the
student’s self-assessment score and the faculty’s mean grade.
“Knowledge of the findings in this study may allow faculty to
be aware of how gender impacts self-assessment, which may
impact curriculum design and implementation,” according to the
article. “By recognising and addressing gender differences in selfassessment
at earlier stages of dental training, a more equitable
learning environment can be created. In addition to increasing
faculty awareness, male and female students may be more
attuned to their cognitive biases and become more conscious of
them during self-assessment.” ■
VITABLOCS®
Proven a million times over.
VITABLOCS are one of the most esthetic and
versatile CAD/CAM materials for modern dentistry.
Clinically proven since 1985, they offer time
efficient fabrications without compromise and are
accessible in all common CAM Systems.
Simply scan to discover this and other
interesting clinical cases in detail!
www.vita-zahnfabrik.com/casesVITABLOCS
Available in the monochromatic
VITABLOCS® Mark II and the multichromatic
VITABLOCS® TriLuxe forte.
© Dr. Julio Gomez Paris, Santa Fe, Argentina
DENTAL ASIA NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2021 11
3591E_VITABLOCS_Gomez-Paris_95x250.indd 1 21.09.2021 10:58:43