Rubber Dam: A Friend or a Foe?

Every dental school has the responsibility to teach its students the ideal techniques of isolation prior to the clinical procedure. Objectives: 1) To determine the level of knowledge of undergraduate students on the advantages and disadvantages of using rubber dam. 2) To observe the time taken by students in placing rubber dams during their clinical sessions. 3) To determine the most common problems students encountered during rubber dam placement. Methods: 48 structured questionnaires were distributed among the third, fourth and fifth year dental students at the Fiji National University. These students were timed on their rubber dam placement in their clinical sessions. Results: A 100% response rate was obtained; 63% were females whilst 37% were male students. 75% of the participants stated moisture control as the major advantage of rubber dam use. Difficulty in placing rubber dams was a main disadvantage highlighted by 34% of the student while 27% stated that rubber dam took up extra clinical time. The time taken to place rubber dam was a mean of 5.46 minutes. The major problems identified by students while placing rubber dam were inadequate supply of clamps and lack of patient acceptance and compliance. The level of knowledge among undergraduate students on the advantages and disadvantages of rubber dam is high (75%). Conclusions: This study showed a high awareness of rubber dam among the participants. There are various factors in practice and training that could be emphasised to encourage students to continue placing rubber dams after graduation.