Use of Manual Dexterity Tests in Dental Education

Background: Manual dexterity is a skill that dental students must develop to help overcome the initial difficulties they face in their training. For this reason, screening individuals to determine the extent of their manual dexterity prior to their pre-clinical training seems to be an important way to establish which strategies may facilitate this learning process. Dexterity tests and assessments specific to the field can be very useful in this respect.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to perform a literature review to determine which manual dexterity assessment methods have been used in dental education programs.

Methods: The review was performed using the terms “manual dexterity”, “dentistry”, “dexterity tests”, and “dental students”.

Results: A total of 38 articles were collected, being the majority English-language articles on the topic of manual dexterity assessment were considered (n=22 articles). Of these 22 articles, 17 addressed the topic of manual dexterity tests in the field of dentistry.

Conclusion: The studies used manual dexterity tests as part of the dentistry program admissions process, to predict student performance in practical courses and/or to aid in the practical learning process; however, most of the tests applied had not been created specifically for dentistry.