Interactive Learning
A knowledge check, a clinical case activity, a reflection exercise, and a printable planner.
These activities run entirely in your browser. Nothing you type is saved, stored, or sent anywhere, so you can work through them as many times as you like.
Digital Dentistry Knowledge Check
Four questions about digital tools in prosthodontics. Choose one answer per question, then select Check my answers. Your answers are scored in your browser and are never recorded.
Show the answer key
If the buttons above do not work, JavaScript is turned off in your browser. The answers are:
- B. A digital three-dimensional record of the shape of the teeth and surrounding tissues.
- C. Computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing.
- A. Producing models, surgical guides, and provisional restorations.
- D. Because the value of any digital result still depends on case selection, accurate data, biological principles, and evaluation of the outcome.
Clinical Case Activity
This is a teaching exercise
The case below is fictional. It was written for this activity and does not describe any real person. It is not patient-specific advice, and it must not be used to guide the care of an actual patient.
Case: a fictional patient
A fictional adult patient attends for a consultation. They report that an upper back tooth fractured several months ago and was extracted. Chewing on that side has become uncomfortable, and they have started avoiding harder foods.
They also mention that an older crown on the opposite side looks darker than the neighboring teeth and that this bothers them when they smile.
The patient works shifts, travels for several weeks each year, and asks how many appointments any treatment is likely to take.
The patient has no other stated concerns and asks what their options are.
Questions to work through
Work alone or in a small group. There is no single correct answer, and the point of the exercise is the reasoning rather than the conclusion.
- Primary concerns. What is the patient actually asking for? Separate the functional concern from the esthetic one, and note which one they raised first.
- Additional information required. What would you need before you could plan anything? Consider health history, examination findings, radiographic information, the condition of neighboring and opposing teeth, periodontal status, occlusion, and the patient's own priorities.
- Possible restorative options. What general categories of care might be discussed for a missing posterior tooth, and what might be considered for the discolored crown? Describe categories rather than committing to one plan.
- Benefits and limitations. For each option, what are the likely advantages, the trade-offs, the maintenance requirements, and the situations in which it would not be suitable?
- Relevant evidence. What would you search for, and where? Try framing one focused clinical question and finding it in PubMed (opens in a new tab).
- Maintenance and follow-up. What would this patient need to do, and what would the dental team need to monitor, over the following years?
Notice how the patient's schedule affects the discussion. Treatment planning is not only a technical exercise. What a patient can realistically attend and maintain is part of what makes a plan appropriate for them.
Reflection Activity
Three short prompts about digital technology in dentistry. Write your answers below or print the page and write on paper.
Nothing here is saved. This website has no way to store or send what you type. If you want to keep your answers, print the page or copy your text somewhere else before you leave.
Professional Development Planner
Use this worksheet to turn browsing into a plan. Fill it in on screen, then print it or save it as a PDF to keep.
Nothing here is saved. Print the worksheet or save it as a PDF before you close the page.
Working through this as part of a group session? The workshop page sets these activities in a 90-minute program.