The purpose of this study was to determine whether a ceramic tooth would be as effective as a natural tooth in teaching preclinical operative skills. Subjects consisted of all second-year students enrolled in a preclinical inlay course. Students were classified into high- and low-dexterity groups, randomly assigned to one of the tooth simulators, taught the same four procedures, and asked to keep a log of the amount of time spent on each. All students participated in a practical examination that consisted of preparing a cavity for a gold casting using a resin tooth. There were no statistically significant differences between students who prepared natural teeth and those who prepared ceramic teeth for either the qualitative practical examination score or the amount of preparation time required. High-dexterity students achieved significantly higher scores on the practical than did low-dexterity students, whether practicing on natural or ceramic teeth. The MOD onlay required significantly more time to complete than did any of the other preparations on both natural and ceramic tooth simulators. Written evaluations of the ceramic simulators revealed that students perceived ceramic teeth to be as good or better than natural teeth because of their anatomic uniformity.