Improvising medical teaching during pandemic through the platform of publishing to convey specific case based learning to undergraduate dental students – Part 1 (psychosocial learning)

The surge of covid 19 pandemic has affected everyone in almost all parts of life. Medical/dental education is no exception. Teaching as well as student learning has been compromised with norms like social distancing, personal protective wear and lockdowns. Reduced school times, absence of group discussions and clinical demonstrations have prompted teachers to convey course information in different ways. The fear of contracting coronavirus and then infecting respective families adds to the always stressed medical students and staff. Prior to covid 19, studies have shown students to be less attentive which leads to their poor retention of case based information taught in the clinical sessions. During the pandemic, theory classes could be managed through online portals, but clinical learning in patients cannot be compensated by such means. With a contextual background of such factors, this two part case series is an attempt to fulfill the void in teaching that has occurred during a pandemic. 87 students (47 female, 40 male) who were enrolled for the course (Clinical Fixed Prosthodontics) (SDS 543 and SDS 544) for academic year December 2020 – June 2021 were asked to submit their clinical cases on a template along with the grades obtained. Cases of fixed partial denture in Kennedy class 3 partial edentulous situation were selected on the basis of complexity in history, clinical examination, diagnosis and prosthesis design. All cases were analysed under two main heading (psychosocial learning, applied basic sciences). In this the first part of the article, multiple selected cases are presented in a four tier series. Major or minor learning skills that students lacked have been highlighted and discussed. Since many students were not able to see each others cases, the authors predict that publishing the cases will achieve two objectives. Firstly, all students will be able to see each others work and what they were taught and secondly, students are expected to take critical evaluation of authors seriously and use this platform as a means to improve those deficiencies.