A preclinical dental trauma teaching module

Abstract

A dental trauma exercise using the anterior segment of a sheep mandible as a model has been incorporated into the undergraduate dental programme at the University of Adelaide since 2011. Students are required to replant a simulated tooth avulsion, reposition a laterally luxated tooth injury and then apply a flexible splint consisting of 40 lb fishing nylon attached with a resin-modified glass ionomer cement, GC Fuji Ortho LC. The exercise concludes with the simple removal of the splint with a spoon excavator. The acrylic mounted formalin-fixed sheep mandible is reusable, which has obvious economic and practical advantages.

Keywords: dental education; dental traumatology; splinting.