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DOI: 10.1055/s-0045-1809618
Impact of Tooth Crownability Index on Decision-Making Skills of Undergraduate Students
Funding None.

Abstract
Objective
This article evaluates the impact of the tooth crownability index (TCI) on decision-making accuracy among undergraduate dental students.
Materials and Methods
Seventy-seven undergraduate dental students participated. In session one, students assessed 10 randomly presented case scenarios in four separate rooms. They assessed the crownability and rated periodontal, endodontic, and prosthodontic support as good, fair, or poor. In session two, the same cases were reassessed with access to a TCI. Student decisions from both sessions were compared with those of an expert panel. In the end, students identified which TCI factors influenced their decision-making.
Statistical Analysis
Descriptive statistics, paired t-tests, and McNemar's test were used to compare student decisions with and without TCI, with significance set at p < 0.05.
Results
Student decisions aligned significantly more with expert analysis when using TCI (78.7% vs. 60.0%, p = 0.014). Improved agreement was also observed for periodontal support (p = 0.017), endodontic status (p = 0.040), and prosthodontic support (p = 0.023) in the TCI session. Students identified prosthodontic factors as the most influential in improving their assessments.
Conclusion
The TCI significantly improved students' accuracy in assessing tooth crownability across diverse clinical scenarios.
Keywords
decision-making - restorability - undergraduate - crownability - full coverage crown - prosthesisPublication History
Article published online:
25 July 2025
© 2025. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
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