title: Correlation of psychomotor skills and didactic performance among dental students in Saudi Arabia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study is to investigate the correlation between the psychomotor skills and the academic performance of dental students.
  
  
  METHODS
  Didactic and preclinical scores were collected for students who graduated from the Faculty of Dentistry, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in 2011. Three courses (Dental Anatomy, Removable Prosthodontic Denture, and Orthodontics) were selected. Correlations comparing didactic and practical scores were done for the total samples, then for the males and females separately.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was no significant correlation between the practical and didactic scores for the three courses for the total sample. There was a significant correlation between all three subjects in the didactic scores. For females, the results showed that there was only a significant correlation between the practical and didactic scores for Dental Anatomy. For males, no correlation was observed between the practical and didactic scores for all subjects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the present sample, didactic performance did not correlate well with the students' psychomotor performance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Dental Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Ahmed R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Afify
authors.forename: Khalid H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Zawawi
authors.forename: Hisham I
authors.initials: HI
authors.lastname: Othman
authors.forename: Ayman A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Al-Dharrab
keywords: correlation study; dental education; dental students; didactic performance; practical performance; psychomotor performance