A Comparative Assessment of the Quality of Communication and Interactions between Dental Students and Dental Technicians for Fixed Prosthesis in Saudi Arabia

Introduction: Improving communication and collaboration between members of the dental team is important to the long term aim of improving the quality of dental care for patients. The aim of this cross‑sectional study was to compare and assess the communication and interactions between dental students and laboratory technicians for fixed prosthesis.

Materials and Methods: The Survey based study was conducted online using a self-structured, pre-tested, closed ended with Face validity and content validity and consisting of 18 questions for dental students and 18 questions for dental technicians. Questionnaire was designed to compare and assess the quality of communication between dental students and laboratory technicians for fixed prosthodontics in Makkah region of Saudi Arabia. The data were tabulated and analyzed using SPSS version 21. Chi-square test was used to compare and assess the quality of communication between dental students and laboratory technicians for fixed prosthodontics. P-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: In our survey around forty percent of technicians indicated that work authorization forms were complete and legible to provide the prosthesis. Regarding Communication with the dental technicians by the dental students, 38.5% (77) of them communicate by filling the authorization form, 38.5% (77) of them giving instructions to the delivery boy and 21% (42) of them giving instructions over the phone.

Conclusion: Communication between dentist and dental students are very important and it is recommended to fill the authorization form for fixed prosthesis. Technicians should undergo training with designing of fixed prosthesis especially pontic design.