Knowledge and awareness of medical doctors, medical students and nurses about dentistry in Nigeria

Validation of an online version of the rapid estimate of adult literacy in dentistry-30 for use by medical and dental students in Nigeria

BACKGROUND

The need for online adaptations of research instruments became more pronounced amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. This study sought to modify the REALD-30 for online application (eREALD-30) and evaluate its content validity and internal reliability among medical and dental students in Nigeria.

METHODS

The eREALD-30 required participants to identify if each of the listed words were related to dentistry by ticking either a 'yes' or 'no' response with the option to mark 'don't know' for words they were unsure about. Scores ranged from 0 to 30. Five oral health experts reviewed the eREALD-30 for cultural appropriateness, while content validity was evaluated by 10 medical and dental students. Internal reliability was assessed with 320 students recruited from 15 medical and dental schools spanning the country's six geopolitical zones. These students also completed an oral health status assessment tool. Data collection utilized an online survey platform. Validity of the eREALD-30 was determined through correlation analysis between eREALD-30 scores and the oral health status assessment tool. Furthermore, binary logistic regression analysis was employed to explore the assocations between participants' oral health status and their oral health literacy, adjusting for age, sex, and level of medical and dental education.

RESULTS

Out of the respondents, 178 (55.6%) exhibited poor oral health literacy, while 205 (64.1%) reported having good oral health status. Those with good oral health literacy demonstrated significantly higher odds of having good oral health status (OR: 1.61; 95% CI: 1.02-2.54; p = 0.04). However, individuals with good oral health literacy had increased odds of good oral health status after adjusting for confounding factors,, though this association did not retain statistical significance (AOR: 1.39; 95% CI: 0.86-2.24; p = 0.17). The eREALD-30 displayed strong internal consistency (Cronbach alpha = 0.933), indicating its reliability in assessing oral health literacy levels, alongside a high content validity score of 0.90.

CONCLUSION

The study finding suggests that the e-version of the REALD-30 was reliable and valid for use among medical and dental students in Nigeria.

Physicians' awareness of oral-systemic links and its association with physician-reported patient referral to dentists

INTRODUCTION

Physicians promote oral health by screening for oral pathologies, providing emergency help, and referring patients to dentists. The literature consistently reports a robust association between periodontal disease and systemic diseases. However, it is not fully known if physicians in Saudi Arabia are aware of the oral-systemic disease links. Therefore, the study aimed to evaluate physicians' awareness of the oral-systemic disease links and their association with patients' referral to dentists and patients' access to oral care.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted (June 2019-January 2020) on physicians working in private and public hospitals in the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia. The physicians (n = 333) responded to a paper-based self-administered and pilot-tested questionnaire which inquired about their awareness of oral-systemic disease links and patient referral to dentists. The reliability of items of oral-systemic disease links was evaluated by calculating Cronbach's alpha (0.84).

RESULTS

Most participants (92.8%) agreed/strongly agreed that oral health is associated with systemic health. Half of the sample (50.8%) referred patients to dentists during the last month. Almost 80.5% believed that more patients will be referred to the dentists because of their awareness of the oral-systemic disease links and 84% believed that more patients will access oral care services if patients were aware of the oral-systemic disease links. The participants who referred patients to the dentists during the last month (P = 0.038), believed that more patients will be referred (P = 0.001), and believed that more patients will access oral care (P = 0.003) demonstrated significantly higher oral-systemic disease links awareness score. The adjusted model showed patients' referral to dentist (OR = 1.96.10, P = 0.006) and believing in more patients accessing oral care (OR = 2.05, P = 0.044) were associated with significantly increased awareness of the oral-systemic disease links.

CONCLUSION

Most physicians in the study were aware of the oral-systemic disease links. Increased awareness of the oral-systemic disease links was significantly associated with the referral of patients to dentists and belief in improved patients' access to oral care services.

Designing and Evaluation of an Elective Oral Health Course for Fifth-Year Medical Students of Tehran University of Medical Sciences

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of an educational intervention on oral health-related knowledge, attitude, and practice of medical students. Materials and Methods: This study was performed on the fifth-year medical students attending an elective oral health course at the Faculty of Dentistry of Tehran University (intervention group) and 25 other students attending another elective course (control group) in 2018. A 2-week internship program including 6 sessions of a workshop program plus 2 days of school field and 2 days of attending dental departments was designed for the intervention group. Before and after the intervention, students completed a questionnaire and their simplified debris index was calculated. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 24 by paired-sample t-test and general linear regression. Results: The mean age of the participants was 24.84±1.31 years in the intervention group and 23.64±1.28 years in the control group. There were 14 (56%) males in the intervention group and 16 (64%) males in the control group. At baseline, the mean knowledge, attitude and practice scores of the control and intervention groups were 26.28, 14.20 and 10.88, and 27.84, 15.80, and 9.36, respectively. After the intervention, the knowledge, attitude, debris index and willingness to adhere to oral health measures significantly improved (P<0.05). Conclusion: Oral health-related knowledge, attitude and practice of medical students were not desirable at baseline. The present study showed that even a short-term intervention in this field was effective to improve the oral health concepts in this group.

Knowledge and awareness about dentistry among medical students, residents, and medical practitioners in Bhairahawa city, Nepal

Introduction:

Oral health is considered to be a mirror of systemic health and vice-versa. Medical professionals are considered to be the primary caregivers in a given population and as such a vast majority of the population visits them for health-related problems. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the level of knowledge and awareness of dentistry among first-year medical students, residents, and medical practitioners.

Methods:

A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was carried out to assess the knowledge and awareness of dentistry among MBBS first-year students, medical residents, and medical practitioners of Bhairahawa city, Nepal. Data analysis was done with SPSS version 11.

Results:

As per the demographic characteristics out of 147 subjects 82 (55.8%) were male and 65 (44.2%) were female. Most of the participants were from the age group of 21–30 years, 66 (44.9%) and 115 (78.2%) of them were married. Among 147 subjects every respondent (100%) knew about the profession of dentistry giving statistically significant results.

Conclusion:

The present study shows that medical professionals had better knowledge of dentistry as compared to medical students and residents. This unnecessary gap between dental and medical professionals can only be fulfilled by including dental education in both undergraduate and postgraduate medical curriculum.

Oral Health Awareness among International Dental and Medical Students at Lithuanian University of Health Sciences: a Cross-Sectional Study

Objectives

To evaluate the self-reported oral health awareness, knowledge and attitude among international dental and medical students at the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (Kaunas, Lithuania).

Material and Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted among international medical and dental students at the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences in 2016 - 2017. The students were invited to participate in the survey before the beginning of a lecture, and they were informed that participation was voluntary and anonymous. In total, 282 students participated in the study, with a response rate of 92.1%. A self-administered English questionnaire consisting of 25 items with options on a Likert scale (agree, neither agree nor disagree and disagree) about oral health problems and their relation to general health status was used to assess a student’s oral health awareness, attitude and knowledge. The level of significance was set at P < 0.05.

Results

Overall good, fair and poor oral health awareness was reported by 71.3%, 24.1% and 4.6%, respectively, of the international dental and medical students (P < 0.05). The mean score of oral health awareness was 18.2 (standard deviation [SD 3.27]), showing overall good oral health awareness. Moreover, the international dental students reported higher oral health awareness than medical students (19.14 [SD 3.25] vs 17.44 [SD 3.1]) (P < 0.001). Comparing this mean score by gender, no statistically significant difference was found (18.33 [SD 3.39] vs 18.05 [SD 3.16]) (P = 0.371).

Conclusions

Overall oral health awareness among international dental and medical students was high. Meanwhile, international dental students reported higher oral health awareness than international medical students.

A Preexperimental Study to Assess the Impact of an Interdisciplinary Educational Intervention on Nurses' Knowledge of Perinatal and Infant Oral Health Care

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study was to assess the impact of an interdisciplinary educational intervention on the knowledge of nursing practitioners regarding perinatal and infant oral health (PIOH) care.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This was a preexperimental study conducted among nursing practitioners in Lagos, Nigeria. Participants received hands-on training and didactic lectures, which included dental caries etiology and risk factors; oral hygiene and dietary education; teething and its management; dental trauma and its prevention; nonnutritive habits; screening, referrals, and counseling; and fluoride varnish application. Knowledge of the trainees was assessed using pre- and posttest questionnaires. Level of statistical significance was set at P < 0.05.

RESULTS

Overall, 110 nurses participated in the study with a mean age of 40.9 ± 10.8 years; 106 (96.4%) were females. Approximately 88% of the participants had not received formal training on PIOH. The baseline mean scores of the participants' knowledge on oral hygiene, teething, trauma, caries, and oral habits were 4.31 ± 1.9, 9.84 ± 2.6, 2.59 ± 1.7, 4.24 ± 1.8, and 1.45 ± 0.6, respectively; this increased significantly (P < 0.001) following the educational intervention with posttest mean scores as 7.58 ± 0.8, 11.79 ± 1.3, 4.34 ± 1.9, 6.19 ± 1.8, and 1.82 ± 0.4 and six-month evaluation scores as 6.21 ± 1.8,7 10.27 ± 3.1, 4.39 ± 1.5, 5.91 ± 1.8, and 1.79 ± 0.5, respectively. Overall posttest (31.4 ± 4.2) and six-month (28.6 ± 6.2) knowledge scores were significantly higher than the pretest values (22.4 ± 4.8, P < 0.001). At the six-month post-intervention survey, 84% of the nurses reported inclusion of PIOH education in their routine general health education sessions.

CONCLUSION

There was a positive impact of the educational intervention as evidenced by an increase in the knowledge of the nurses on PIOH care and the inclusion of PIOH education in their general health education. A slight decline between posttest and six-month evaluation scores indicates a need for continuous education and evaluation.

Awareness of Specialties of Dentistry among Medical Trainees and Teaching Faculty of Medical College in the Central West India

Objective:

The purpose of this study was, to assess and create awareness of specialties of dentistry among medical trainees and teaching faculty.

Materials and Methods:

Printed and validated questionnaires were given personally to a total sample of 180 patients, including 60 interns, 40 postgraduate (PG) trainees and 80 teaching staff of Government Medical College. Their responses were collected and the results were tabulated using Micro-Soft Excel 2010. Data obtained was analyzed using the GraphPad Prism 7 statistical software. To compare the responses between the study groups a Pearson's Chi-square test was used.

Results:

About 96.11% of the sample replied that they are not aware of the different specialties of dentistry and 89.44% of the sample refers their patients to the general dentist without knowing the specialty. About 70% of the interns marked orthodontics as a specialty dealing with fractures of the jaw, whereas 82.5% of the PGs and 95% of the faculty advised referral of the fracture mandible case to the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon. Percentage of correct response for interns, PGS and staff, was 53.33%, 78.75%, and 92.34%, respectively (P ≤ 0.05).

Conclusion:

A large number of interns are not aware of the differences among the branches in Dentistry, specifically between orthodontics, oral-maxillofacial surgery, community dentistry, and Pedodontics. Many medical doctors have misbelief that all of their dental-related issues can be solved by the general dental practitioner. It is the present need to spread the awareness among the medical trainees and doctors about different subspecialties of dentistry to ensure proper referral practices of the dental patients they come across.

Dentomaxillofacial radiology in Australia and dentist satisfaction with radiology reports

BACKGROUND

Dentomaxillofacial Radiology (DMFR) is comprised of the smallest cohort of specialists in Australia. A survey was undertaken to assess awareness of DMFR, radiology reporting and referring protocols as well as dental practitioners' satisfaction with their radiology reporting arrangements.

METHODS

An original online survey created using Checkbox^† was sent to dental practitioners. The survey was promoted on Australian-based dental Facebook forums and emailed to targeted members via Australian professional dental associations.

RESULTS

A total of 399 responses were received, with over 80% of respondents aware of DMFR as a specialty. Approximately 40% of practitioners were self-reporting their imaging. There was correlation between increased satisfaction with external reporting and utilization of DMFR services and decreased satisfaction with medical radiology services. More than 90% of general dentists and greater than 85% of dental specialists prefer DMFR reports to medical radiology reports. Approximately 80% of practitioners believed that their satisfaction would change positively if they had access to a DMFR report.

CONCLUSION

The research indicates a high degree of self-reporting or non-reporting by dental practitioners. There is low satisfaction with external reporting performed by Medical Radiologists primarily due to a lack of dental knowledge or detail and a preference for DMF Radiology reports.

Periodontal Health Status and Pregnancy Outcomes: A Survey in Medical Doctors

INTRODUCTION

Periodontal disease and caries are the most common causes of tooth loss worldwide. Studies have demonstrated strong association between periodontitis and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Medical doctors, who are the primary healthcare providers, seldom advise women to seek dental care during pregnancy. This study was undertaken to explore the knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of medical doctors towards oral health and to identify the barriers of prenatal periodontal healthcare in their practices and its possible implications on pregnancy outcomes.

METHODS

Total 377 doctors filled the questionnaire. The data collected through personal contacts, social networking, emails, online forms and networking at conferences were analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 20 software program and presented in tables, charts and diagrams.

RESULTS

Out of 263 (69.8%) male and 114 (30.2%) female doctors enrolled in the study, only 52 (13.8%) had received education or training on oral care during pregnancy. Among them 299 (79.3%) agreed that there is possible link between health of teeth-gums and pregnancy. Approximately 105 (27.9%) encountered patients with oral/periodontal problem every week but only 108 (28.6%) "always" advised their patient for regular dental check-ups. Similarly, 358 (95%) agreed that there is need for universal guidelines however, 133 (35.3%) thought there was insufficient time to advise patients on oral health during check-ups.

CONCLUSIONS

There is need for training on 'oral healthcare during pregnancy' for medical doctors. Developing universal guidelines for oral healthcare in pregnant women for all health professionals would be another important step. An adequate referral system to oral healthcare providers and biannual check-ups is recommended for both general patient as well as pregnant women for preventing adverse situations related to oral and specifically periodontal diseases.