D ental professionals are heavily dependent on their hand skills; thus, preclinical training in diferent specialties and skills for undergraduate stu- dents is a necessary foundation for the high-quality future dental treatments they will perform. Preclinical skills gained in the undergraduate years was shown to have a positive correlation with dentists’ later clinical skills [1]. Te undergraduate curriculum at the Dental School at Okayama University includes lecture courses on var- ious subjects as well as preclinical and clinical training. Acta Med. Okayama, 2023 Vol. 77, No. 2, pp. 147-159 CopyrightⒸ 2023 by Okayama University Medical School. http: // escholarship.lib.okayama- u.ac.jp / amo/ Original Article Personalized Preclinical Training in Dental Ergonomics and Endodontics in Undergraduate Dentistry Students (Pilot Study) Zulema Arias a ＊ , Stephanie Haines b , Tadashi Yamamoto a † , Kazu Hatanaka c , Keisuke Yamashiro c †† , Norihiro Sonoi c ††† , and Shogo Takashiba a a Department of Pathophysiology - Periodontal Science, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama 700-8558, Japan, b Department of Health, Tasmania 7000, Australia, c Department of Periodontics and Endodontics, Okayama University Hospital, Okayama 700-8558, Japan Present address: † Te Center for Graduate Medical Education (Dental Division). Department of Comprehensive Dentistry, Okayama University Hospital, Okayama 700-8558, Japan, †† Department of Oral Health, Kobe Tokiwa Junior College, Kobe 653-0838, Japan, ††† Center for Education in Medicine and Health Sciences, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama 700-8558, Japan Te curriculum at the Department of Pathophysiology in the Periodontal Sciences program at Okayama University includes normative preclinical training (NPT) using phantoms. NPT is given to the whole class of 5 th year students divided in groups of 8 students/instructor. In 2019, an innovative personalized preclinical training (PPT) pilot study was implemented for this group of students whereby two students, each with their own dental unit, were coached by one instructor. Te main topics covered were dental ergonomics and end- odontics. We aimed to evaluate the efectiveness of PPT in dental ergonomics and endodontics toward increas- ing the knowledge and future clinical skills of students who had already undergone NPT. A test on endodontics was taken before and afer PPT. A questionnaire was completed to assess their perception of improvement regarding the above-mentioned topics. Test scores and questionnaire results both showed that the students’ level of knowledge and awareness of future clinical skills was signifcantly higher afer PPT. Tis pilot study demonstrated that PPT increased the students’ knowledge and future clinical skills. As preclinical training forms the foundation for clinical practice, investment in future research regarding this personalized approach is likely to enhance students’ understanding and clinical performance. Key words: preclinical personalized education, dental ergonomics, endodontics, clinical skills improvement, undergraduate students Received February 9, 2022 ; accepted November, 9, 2022. ＊ Corresponding author. Phone : +81-86-235-6677; Fax : +81-86-235-6679 E-mail : zuarias@gmail.com (Z. Arias) Confict of Interest Disclosures: No potential confict of interest relevant to this article was reported.