correlation between the two manual and cavity preparation skills

Background: acquiring fine psychomotor skills is challenging for dental students. objectives: this study aimed to assess the correlation of cavity preparation skills with drawing skills and handwriting of dental students. methods: ninety-two male and female dental students taking the preclinical course of restorative dentistry in shahid beheshti dental school participated in three tests of handwriting, drawing a smile and an amalgam class (cl) i cavity preparation and were scored using a specific scoring system. the correlation among the three skills was assessed using multivariate linear regression. results: most dental students had cavity preparation, handwriting and drawing skills above the average. a significant correlation was found between drawing and tooth preparation skills (p < 0.05). conclusions: a statistically significant difference existed between drawing and cavity preparation skills in students; however, this correlation was not clinically considerable.