comparison of evidence-based and conventional education effects on radiography assessment before endodontic treatment

introduction: evidence-based education has been introduced to dentistry as a new educational tool. however, its effectiveness should be evaluated in different educational topics. the aim of this study was to compare the effects of evidence-based and conventional education on radiography assessment before endodontic treatment. methods: in this semi-experimental study 75 senior dental students of kermanshah dentistry school were enrolled. demographic information and the results of evaluation were collected using a weblog designed for this purpose. 20 questions were prepared to be answered in 30 minutes. 12 topics were covered in the questionnaire. to analyze the data, the paired sample t-test, wilcoxon, and whitney u tests were used. results: the finding of the present study showed that total scores of the test in both conventional and evidence-based groups significantly improved after education (p=0.005 and p=0.001, respectively). there was a significant difference between the two groups (p=0.047) and evidence-based education showed better results in comparison with conventional one. conclusion: the present study asserts that evidence-based education can lead to better diagnostic performance of senior dental students and thus can be used as an efficient alternative for conventional education methods in dental schools.