Development and evaluation of a low-cost facial model for training in sutures, incisions, and biopsies

Abstract

Surgical simulation activities are fundamental in academic environments in the field of Dentistry. This practice serves to plan and simulate basic skills such as making incisions, biopsies, and sutures, allowing students to refine their techniques through repetitive training, improving manual skills and enabling the formation of more secure and confident professionals. Thus, a low-cost facial model was developed for evaluation and simulation by faculty for the training of sutures, incisions, and biopsies. This is a cross-sectional, quantitative, and observational study, conducted with 10 professors from the areas of Periodontics, Surgery, and Stomatology of the Dentistry Course at the University of Fortaleza (UNIFOR), using the Phrase Completion scale and their levels of personal satisfaction. The results showed a good evaluation in all criteria, resulting in a positive assessment of the model's similarity to real facial tissues, the handling of the model, as well as its utility in clinical practices with training in incisions, biopsies, and sutures. The use of the low-cost facial model in pre-clinical practices offers advantages for various specialties in the undergraduate Dentistry program, especially areas such as Periodontics, Oral Surgery, and Stomatology. The training on the model that simulates incisions, biopsies, and sutures proved effective in this study for the development and refinement of student skills.