Use of Tooth Guide Trainer on Dental Students´ Training of Shade Matching

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of tooth guide trainer software (TGT) on the teaching of shade matching to dental students. Methods Forty undergraduate students were included in this study. All of the students learned theory knowledge of shade matching firstly and then were divided into two groups with 12 boys and 8 girls in each group. Students in one group accepted shade matching training with TGT. The other group didn´t accept the TGT training. Then the shade matching ability of students in each group was evaluated by an experienced clinician. Results ANOVA analysis showed that both TGT training and gender of the students significantly affected the shade matching ability of students. The group with TGT software training had significant higher score in shade matching than that of the group without TGT training (P<; 0.05). The scales of girls were significantly higher than those of boys (P <; 0.05). Conclusion The use of TGT training can promote the study on shade match of dental students.