Objective To explore the application effect of layered progressive teaching model in all-ceramic crown preparation teaching for standardized training of stomatological residents. Methods A total of 90 residents who received all-ceramic crown preparation training in the Department of Stomatology, Afffliated Hospital of Shandong Second Medical University from September 2022 to September 2024 were selected, and they were divided into the control group (n=30) and the observation group (n=60) according to different teaching methods. The control group adopted the traditional teaching model, and the observation group adopted the layered progressive teaching model. Based on the baseline assessment results before training, the observation group was further divided into observation subgroup A (high-score group) and observation subgroup B (low-score group), with 30 residents in each subgroup. Observation subgroup A followed the training path of "strengthening clinical practice-expanding professional competence", focusing on practical training of complex clinical cases after quickly completing the basic training stage. Observation subgroup B followed the path of "consolidating basic skills-progressing step by step", with extended training duration and increased guidance frequency in the basic stage before advanced learning. The assessment scores, post competency and teaching satisfaction were compared between the two groups and within the observation subgroups. Results After training, the theoretical score, operational score and score improvement value of the observation group were higher than those of the control group (P<0.05). There were no signiffcant differences in post-training theoretical and operational scores between observation subgroup A and observation subgroup B (P>0.05). Before training, the theoretical and operational scores of observation subgroup B were lower than those of observation subgroup A, while the score improvement value of observation subgroup B was higher than that of observation subgroup A (P<0.05). After training, the Mini-CEX score of the observation group was higher than that of the control group (P<0.05). The Mini-CEX scores of observation subgroup A and observation subgroup B after training were higher than those before training (P<0.05). However, there was no signiffcant difference in Mini-CEX score between observation subgroup A and observation subgroup B after training (P>0.05). The overall teaching satisfaction scores of the observation group were higher than those of the control group (P<0.05). There were no signiffcant differences in overall teaching satisfaction scores between observation subgroup A and observation subgroup B (P>0.05). Conclusion Compared with the traditional teaching model, the layered progressive teaching model targeted at residents with different learning foundations can effectively narrow the initial ability gap, improve residents’ proffciency in all-ceramic crown preparation, and realize the homogenized improvement of clinical competency among stomatological residents.