Use of two virtual dissection tables in a postgraduate oral anatomy course: feedback from the students

BACKGROUND: Advancements in medical education technologies transformed the teaching and learning of several disciplines, including human anatomy, which is considered the core of health sciences education. Recent technological innovations, including virtual dissection tables like the Anatomage® and SECTRA® table, provided interactive 3D models and clinical imaging that address these limitations. This study aims to evaluate the rating of two different VDTs in teaching clinical anatomy to post-graduate dental doctors, emphasizing their perceived advantages for clinical practice. METHODS: A population (N = 24) of post-graduate students in oral surgery (N = 7) and orthodontics (N = 17) were enrolled in this study. The design of the lecture included practical sessions on the Anatomage® and SECTRA® table, including cases evaluations on anatomy structures. Anonymous surveys were used to evaluate the grade of perception on the use of both VDTs. The software used for statistical calculations was GraphPad Prism version 10.4.0 (621) for Windows. RESULTS: The post-graduate students significantly positively considered the use of VDTs as very useful and user-friendly learning instruments, offering very satisfying quality of the digital images. The level of clinical self-confidence and satisfaction of the proposed teaching method lecture was considered statistically positive. CONCLUSIONS: The integration and the diversification of the anatomy teaching strategies, using innovation technologies, increase the learning processes and improve the clinical self-confidence in post-graduate dental students.