Abstract:

Introduction:
One of the most critical moments in the pediatric dental treatment is the application of local anesthesia in the child. The use of ICT (Information and Communications Technology) through three-dimensional anatomical models represents a major breakthrough for student learning in the Health Care field, because planning and displaying the susceptible area to be anesthetized and their application in different clinical cases will provide greater security and confidence to the student.

Objectives:
To create tools to help the acquisition and assessment of diagnostic skills through complementary 3D tests and its applications in pediatric patients; to provide computer resources for learning and self-assessment of skills in anesthesia procedures applied to pediatric patients; to know the improvable aspects of the project according to the student; to compare this new way of learning with traditional methods in terms of the benefits in the acquisition of knowledge on the subject.

Materials and methods:
The project will be developed in the Complutense University of Madrid Faculty of Dentistry, with the support of computer elements that the research team has and that usually works with. With the design of computer and audiovisual methods, which increase the effective learning with the support of the Virtual Campus, we created real child virtual model of the maxilla and mandible in our previous project (PIMCD # 201 call 2014). It will be implemented images that reproduce real situations of clinical cases, where the student must carry out their responsibilities for proper application and evaluation of complementary tests in Pediatric Dentistry. In addition, from the creation of the three-dimensional models, the research team will conduct clinical application cases in which the student must implement the acquisition of competences in anesthesia procedures and systems applied to pediatric patients. All this will lead to the possibility of the evaluation by the teacher and also the self-evaluation by students, within the framework of the Virtual Campus. With this project we plan to design a tool to facilitate the teaching-learning process of knowledge.

Results:
Dentistry students lack enough knowledge on the current options of complementary diagnostic tests and its use in pediatric patients.

Conclusions:
The practical utility of this project in the Dentistry teaching area can be summarized in several points: Initiatives for the acquisition and assessment of generic and transversal skills; establishing good practices in virtual education; transfer and application of positive experiences in the virtual learning to various teaching levels; development of innovative teaching methods to improve the system of teaching / learning; educational strategies development for student autonomous learning and designing of methodologies that increase the efficient learning with the support of Virtual Campus and online learning environments.

Keywords:

Three-dimensional models, 3D images, Pediatric Dentistry.