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

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Abstract

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.

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Is dental health education effective? A systematic review of current evidence.

E J Kay, D Locker (1996)

In order that health service resources are allocated in the way which most benefits the population, systematic review of the available evidence regarding the effectiveness of programmes and interventions are required. This study examined papers relating to dental health education interventions, which were published between 1982 and 1994 (n = 143). Each was scored by two independent researchers according to twenty predetermined validity criteria. For each paper which achieved a validity score of more than 12 (n = 37), data concerning the objectives of the intervention, the types and numbers of participants, and the outcomes, were extracted from the article. Where sufficient data were provided in a paper which met more than 15 of the validity criteria quantitative meta-analysis was carried out i.e. the results of the studies were pooled in order to calculate an overall intervention effect with confidence intervals. This combination of qualitative and quantitative review techniques showed that dental health interventions have: a small positive, but temporary effect on plaque accumulation (reduction in plaque index = 0.37 95% CI -0.29-0.59); no discernible effect on caries increment and a consistent positive effect on knowledge levels. The results of this analysis suggest that further efforts to synthesise current information about dental health education, in a systematic way, are required, along with maintenance of rigorous scientific standards in evaluation research.

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Strategies and approaches in oral disease prevention and health promotion

Richard G. Watt (2005)

Oral health is an important element of general health and well-being. Although largely preventable, many people across the world still suffer unnecessarily from the pain and discomfort associated with oral diseases. In addition, the costs of dental treatment are high, both to the individual and to society. Effective evidence-based preventive approaches are needed to address this major public health problem. The aim of this paper is to outline public health strategies to promote oral health and reduce inequalities. An extensive collection of public health policy documents produced by WHO are reviewed to guide the development of oral health strategies. In addition a range of Cochrane and other systematic reviews assessing the evidence base for oral health interventions are summarized. Public health strategies should tackle the underlying social determinants of oral health through the adoption of a common risk approach. Isolated interventions which merely focus on changing oral health behaviours will not achieve sustainable improvements in oral health. Radical public health action on the conditions which determine unhealthy behaviours across the population is needed rather than relying solely on the high-risk approach. Based upon the Ottawa Charter, a range of complementary strategies can be implemented in partnership with relevant local, national and international agencies. At the core of this public health approach is the need to empower local communities to become actively involved in efforts to promote their oral health.

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Physicians’ knowledge of and adherence to improving oral health

Sepideh Rabiei, Simin Mohebbi, Kristiina Patja … (2012)

Background Integration of oral health promotion into general health care has been highly recommended by the World Health Organization. Primary-care physicians can as part of their general health care promote and contribute to improved oral health care. Our aim was to investigate primary-care physicians’ knowledge of oral health, their attitudes toward delivering oral health care (OHC), and their willingness to obtain more education in this field. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional survey of all primary-care physicians working in the public health centers of Tehran city. An anonymous self-administered questionnaire queried their knowledge in pediatric- and general medicine-related areas of dentistry, providing knowledge scores to be calculated for three domains. The physicians’ attitudes toward OHC and willingness to pursue continuous education underwent evaluation with statements utilizing a 5-point Likert scale. Totally, 220 physicians took part in the survey (response rate: 92%). Chi-square test, linear and logistic regression, and t-test served for statistical analyses. Results The physicians’ knowledge score was significantly lower in the pediatric domain than in the dental and medical domains (p < 0.001). The number of physicians answering correctly to the pediatric questions was less than 40%. Almost all physicians (95%) reported it necessary for a physician to know about OHC and admitted (78%) that physicians’ general knowledge in this field is inadequate. Further, 77% of the physicians expressed a will to implement preventive oral health activities in their practice, and almost two-thirds (62%) of them showed a willingness to pursue further education about OHC. Those with higher knowledge scores had a greater willingness to deliver oral health care to their patients. Conclusions Physicians’ lack of knowledge of OHC and their generally positive attitudes toward it revealed a great need for planning of a continuous medical education program in primary care.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Front Dent

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Front Dent

Journal ID (publisher-id): FID

Title: Frontiers in Dentistry

Publisher: Tehran University of Medical Sciences (Tehran, Iran )

ISSN (Electronic): 2676-296X

Publication date Collection: 2022

Publication date (Electronic): 3 September 2022

Volume: 19

Electronic Location Identifier: 29

Affiliations

[1 ]Research Center for Caries Prevention, Dentistry Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

[2 ]Department of Community Oral Health, School of Dentistry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

[3 ]Department of Prosthodontics (Postgraduate Student), School of Dentistry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Author notes

[* ]Corresponding author: Department of Prosthodontics (Postgraduate Student), School of Dentistry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Email: Hossein_mohebbi74@ 123456yahoo.com

Article

Publisher ID: FID-19-29

DOI: 10.18502/fid.v19i29.10600

PMC ID: 9976785

PubMed ID: 36873618

SO-VID: 4af33862-862f-4ab6-9b11-9d721aa5fe2c

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted, provided the original work is properly cited.

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

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Most cited references 40

Is dental health education effective? A systematic review of current evidence.

Strategies and approaches in oral disease prevention and health promotion

Physicians’ knowledge of and adherence to improving oral health

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