Assessment of knowledge and practices of additive manufacturing in dentistry among university teaching faculty in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Abstract Background In recent era, digitalization in the dental sciences has been observed in wide ranges. This cross-sectional study aimed to assess knowledge and practice of additive manufacturing (AM) in dentistry among university teaching faculty in Saudi Arabia. Methods A questionnaire was prepared and validated to distribute to the different dental colleges in Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire was divided into three parts: demographic information, knowledge and practices of AM among the dental teaching faculty. After receiving all the responses, descriptive statistics were used for the frequency distribution of all the responses. Results A total of 367 responses were received from the different faculty members. Most of the participants were male (67.30%), holding assistant professor (52.50%) positions in the field of prosthodontics (23.40%). In terms of knowledge, even though most of the participants were aware of AM (64.30%); however, do not understand the AM techniques (33.50). Moreover, 71.90% of the participants had no experience working with AM and only 13.60% of participants used AM in their respective dental colleges. Conclusion AM techniques are not commonly used in the field of dentistry in Saudi Arabia; therefore, more platforms should have created to enhance the knowledge and practice of AM in the current population.

Keywords

• 3D printing
• CAD/CAM
• Dental curriculum
• Dental education
• Digital dentistry