IDENTIFYING MISCONCEPTIONS IN ORAL RADIOLOGY AND MEDICINE AMONGST UNDERGRADUATE DENTAL STUDENTS

Abstract

<h3>Objectives</h3> To evaluate the occurrence of dental students' misconceptions of oral radiology and medicine. <h3>Study Design</h3> A self-administered anonymous questionnaire comprising multiple-choice questions on oral radiology and medicine was applied to undergraduate dental students. The questions were distributed into 2 groups: 10 knowledge-type questions (less demand for reasoning) and 5 scenario-type questions (higher demand for reasoning). The students' responses were assessed for correctness (right or wrong) and confidence level (sure or unsure), and misconceptions were identified when a student were sure in a wrong response. Pearson's chi-square test was performed to analyze the variables (α = .05). <h3>Results</h3> A total of 1380 responses were collected. Misconceptions represented 24.3% (<i>n</i> = 336) of the total responses and 56.8% of the wrong responses. The mean of misconceptions per student was 3.7 (range, 0 to 8). Students who chose wrong answers tended to have higher confidence levels (<i>P</i> < .001). Moreover, misconceptions were more frequent in scenario-type questions (25.7%) than in knowledge-type questions (23.7%; <i>P</i> = .000). <h3>Conclusions</h3> A large number of misconceptions were found. Thus, strategies can be established to prevent the development of misconceptions to overcome them.