Indonesian undergraduate dental students' perceptions toward implant treatment and education

Abstract

Indonesia foresees high demand in providing dental implant therapy and need to prepare competent graduating dentists. No information about undergraduate dental implant education in Indonesia has been reported in the literature. The objective of this study was to investigate dental students' perceptions towards implant treatment and education in one Indonesian dental school. A survey was distributed to 166 fourth- and fifth-year students of Faculty of Dentistry, University of Indonesia (FD-UI). The survey consisted of 14 questions on students' perceptions on implant treatment, current undergraduate implant curriculum, and their future plans. One hundred and forty-one students (85%) returned the survey. Dental implant was considered as a treatment of choice for restoring missing mandibular first molar and maxillary anterior tooth, but not edentulous mandible. The majority of students rated that the topic of implant dentistry was insufficiently covered during undergraduate education, were interested in learning more, and planned to include implant as part of their future practice. Dental students of FD-UI are aware of implant treatment as a restorative option in replacing a single missing tooth. There is a need for a nationwide discussion for introducing a comprehensive implant dentistry curriculum in undergraduate dental education in Indonesia.