comparing the effect of multi-media-based and traditional teaching methods on single crown preparation factors using cad system

Background: this study aimed to determine the effect of multimedia-based and traditional teaching methods on the quality of dental student preparation by evaluating its smoothness, occlusal reduction, and the presence of undercut in the pre-clinic period. methods: this study was conducted on 60 pre-clinical dental students, who were divided into two groups of a and b. group a was trained through multimedia-based teaching methods, including powerpoint, instructor demonstration, and procedural videos, and group b was trained by traditional education methods, which only included instructor demonstration. the computer-aided design (cad) system was used to evaluate the preparation factors of smoothness, presence of undercuts, and occlusal reduction on the second premolar and first molar teeth. results: a significant difference was found between the frequency of smoothness in two education groups for teeth 5 and 6 (p = 0.026, p = 0.022). however, there was no significant difference between the frequency distribution of occlusal reduction in the two education groups (p = 0.383 and 0.168, for teeth 5 and 6, respectively) and was no significant difference between the undercut frequency in the two education groups (p = 0.365 and 0.078 for teeth 5 and 6, respectively). conclusions: based on the results, multimedia-based education can effectively promote two challenging preparation factors, including occlusal reduction and smoothness among pre-clinical students.