ArticleBMC medical education2026
Comparison of industrial- and medical-grade silicone phantoms for surgical laser training in dental students.
Article in BMC medical education, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveThis study explored the potential of industrial- and medical-grade silicone phantoms as alternatives to animal models for surgical laser training in dental students.
methodsTongue molds with exophytic lesions were created using 3D-printed polylactic acid molds. Industrial-grade and medical-grade silicone were injected into the molds to create two distinct educational models. Forty-five sixth-year dental students participated in the study. Students first practiced with an 810-nm diode laser on a sheep tongue and then resected the lesions on the silicone models. Afterwards, they completed a questionnaire evaluating the effectiveness of silicone phantoms in surgical laser training. Data were analyzed using Kendall’s Tau and paired samples t-tests, with significance set at P < 0.05.
resultsThere was no significant difference between the silicone models in terms of design and construction (P = 0.195), learners’ experience of lesion removal (P = 0.790), or effectiveness in teaching laser courses (P = 0.083). However, the medical-grade silicone was significantly more similar to animal tissues in texture (P < 0.001). Furthermore, working with the diode laser on the medical silicone phantom better simulated working on animal specimens compared to the industrial silicone phantom (P = 0.007). The overall score of the questionnaire was also in favor of medical-grade silicone (P = 0.039).
conclusionsBoth industrial- and medical-grade silicone phantoms were effective for training dental students in surgical laser applications. However, the medical-grade silicone provided a more realistic training experience and was closer in texture to animal tissue, making it a superior training model for dental students.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.