Early clinical exposure in undergraduate dental education shows evidence of effectiveness in knowledge, psychomotor skills, and affective domains¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · quant-synthesis r1 · q2
Currency · newest study 2026 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? ECE in undergraduate dental education shows evidence of effectiveness in knowledge, psychomotor skills, and affective domains. → Gadbail AR 2026

Evidence¶

Gadbail AR 2026¶

Gadbail AR, Gondivkar SM, Yuwanati M, Sonone A, Dhamande M, Panchbhai A, Sarode SC. (2026). Early clinical exposure in undergraduate dental education: a systematic review of effectiveness, experiences, and outcomes. BMC Medical Education. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-026-08692-z

q2 · i? · quant-synthesis · r1

Systematic review of nine studies (2007–August 2025) synthesizing quantitative and qualitative evidence on early clinical exposure in undergraduate dental education, reporting "evidence of effectiveness of ECE in knowledge, psychomotor skills, and affective domains" with positive student experiences.

"There is evidence of effectiveness of ECE in knowledge, psychomotor skills, and affective domains. In addition, student experiences were reported as positive and significant increases in satisfaction, confidence, motivation, clinical reasoning and other learning gains such as professional identity, empathy, and communication."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Early clinical exposure significantly improves dental students' overall competency compared with traditional teaching (SMD = 1.25), though evidence certainty is low — related
• ECE improves theoretical knowledge, clinical practice performance and self-efficacy, with the largest effect on self-efficacy — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• Early clinical exposure increases medical knowledge test scores and motivates learning — related
• All three ECE modalities show significant positive effects, with real clinical interactions showing the largest pooled effect — related
• Early clinical exposure improves the clinical skills of medical students compared with traditional teaching — related
• Early clinical exposure is associated with higher empathy scores regardless of gender and academic year — related
• ECE benefits both junior and senior preclinical dental students, with a larger pooled effect in junior students — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• ECE reduces transition stress from preclinical to clinical training and supports smoother student transition — related