Dental Students’ Didactic and Psychomotor Skills Performance in Dental Anatomy and Preclinical Operative Dentistry Courses in a Saudi Governmental School

Background. Knowledge and psychomotor skills are essential in dental education. The aims were to (1) investigate the correlation between dental students’ didactic and psychomotor skills performance in the dental anatomy and preclinical operative dentistry courses and (2) explore the impact of gender on students’ performance in both courses. Materials and Methods. A retrospective cohort study was performed on dental students’ (164 students; 72 males and 92 females) dental anatomy and preclinical operative courses scores of the same class over 2 years (2018–2020). Didactic and practical scores were collected. The didactic scores included examinations. Practical scores included tooth wax carving for the dental anatomy course and class II cavity preparations and restorations for the preclinical operative. Student’s t-test and ANOVA were used to analyze the difference between the didactic and psychomotor skills scores of both courses and genders. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to explore correlations ( p < 0.05 ). Results. Moderate, positiv