Abstract: PURPOSE: To investigate the education effect of case-based learning (CBL) pattern on clinical internship of conservative dentistry and endodontics. METHODS: Forty-one undergraduates were randomly assigned into CBL group and traditional teaching group. After clinical internship in the department of conservative dentistry and endodontics for 11 weeks, each student in the 2 groups underwent comprehensive examinations including medical record writing, case analysis, academic knowledge, professional skills and the ability of winning the trust of the patients. The scores were compared between the 2 groups using SPSS 13.0 software package. RESULTS: There was no significant difference between the 2 groups with regard to the scores of academic knowledge and profession skills (P>0.05). However, the results of medical record writing, case analysis and the ability of winning the trust of the patients showed significant difference between the 2 groups(P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Proper application of CBL in clinical internship of conservative dentistry and endodontics contributes to improve students’ ability of clinical thinking, synthetical analysis and adaptability to different patients.

Key words: Case-based learning, Problem-based learning, Conservative dentistry and endodontics, Clinical internship