The Effect of a Mobile-Based Application to Train Dental Students in the Field of Grinding and Preparing Decayed Teeth

Dental students face multiple challenges in mastering practical skills like cavity preparation for decayed teeth. This study, therefore, aimed to design, develop, and produce a mobile-based application for grinding and preparing decayed teeth. Executed via an applied-developmental approach across needs assessment, design/development, and evaluation phases, an Android application was created after confirming necessity with students and faculty. The final evaluation showed user acceptance regarding educational and graphical capabilities. Results indicate superior performance in graphics, with high satisfaction in image clarity (90.9%) and navigation ease (81.8%). Educationally, the application was highly successful in improving fundamental concepts like achieving clear gingival contours and controlling cavity width, though it showed less efficacy in complex skills like proximal box depth. Content-wise, 81.8% found the material adequate, but 54.6% called for more specialized content, and only 45.5% deemed it suitable for the general public. Overall, the mean score for Graphical Capabilities (41.18) was significantly higher than Educational Capabilities (30.27), indicating greater success in technical implementation than core content depth. The study concludes that the needs assessment identified five key educational priorities, and the application proved successful in enhancing foundational skills like clear gingival preparation and rounding line angles. This study is a software design and implementation that is innovative.