Correlation between the scores of dental students in theory and practical restoration courses from 1991 till 2012

In order to codify a better curriculum and develop the quality of education, continuous monitoring dental student's education during their study is necessary. This study was conducted on the course scores of dental students of Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences from 1991 till 2012 on the theory and practical restoration courses. The correlation between these scores was investigated. This was a cross-sectional study which was performed retrospectively on all students who undertook operative dentistry course, theory and practice, during the period. Data were collected using the final report of each course which was saved in the records of the education office. Demographic data was extracted from the records of the students. Data was analyzed by SPSS using student’s T test, ANOVA and Pearson’s correlation test. In this study 451 dental students over 22 years were assessed. Pearson’s correlation coefficient for test showed that the correlation between "theory course 1" and "practical course " was 0.221 (P<0.001), between "theory 2" and "practical 2" was 0.311 (P<0.001), between "theory 3" and "practical 3" was 0.443 (P<0.001), and between "theory 4" and "practical 4" was 0.379 (P 0.001). This study demonstrates a direct and significant relationship between the scores of all theory and practical restoration courses among dental students. It seems that there is a concordance between theoretical knowledge and clinical performance of dental students.