There is growing recognition that the multimedia education medium may have an important part to play in educating patients about dental procedures. However, this is seldom evaluated.
Aims: This randomised control trial pilot study was designed to compare the effectiveness of an information leaflet with that of a multimedia programme in informing patients about third molar surgery.
Method: Patients referred to the University of Otago School of Dentistry for third molar extraction were randomly allocated to a multimedia group or a leaflet group. All patients completed a pre-intervention questionnaire and a post-intervention questionnaire to assess: their preference for learning about third molar extraction; the information deemed most important; their rating of their intervention; their self-rated knowledge; and their actual knowledge of third molar extraction. The effectiveness of the educational intervention was determined by comparing the rates of preoperative information recall, the patients' preferred option for learning about third molar extraction, and their opinions of the multimedia programme or pamphlet.
Results: There were 30 participants, of whom 29 completed the study. Following the intervention, the highest rated method in both groups for learning about third molar extraction was the combination of "Surgeon/staff, pamphlet and multimedia". Following the intervention, the information deemed most important was "Extraction and afterwards". The percentage of participants who found the three-dimensional animations really helpful was significantly higher than the percentage who found the pictures in the pamphlet really helpful (93% and 15% respectively). The preference for the multimedia option was rated significantly higher than the pamphlet group after the intervention (75% and 15% respectively). The self-rated third-molar extraction knowledge score significantly improved in the multimedia group (from 19% to 63%) and was almost double that of the pamphlet group (39%) at follow-up.
Conclusion: Although constrained by the sample size, this pilot study suggests that there was a difference between the groups, and that the multimedia approaches may be effective in educating patients about third molar extraction.