Abstract
BackgroundThe number of internal diseases, disorders and syndromes (IMDDSs) encountered in dental practice is increasing. Dentists report to feel ill prepared by their undergraduate dental training for the management of IMDDSs. To increase the effectiveness of internal medicine training at dental school it might be necessary to focus on IMDDs encountered by dental students. The aim of our study was to identify IMDDSs dental students come across while treating dental patients during the clinical years of their undergraduate training.MethodsAll dental patients treated between April and July 2015 by 116 dental students enrolled at the Medical Faculty of Hamburg University in the semesters 7 to 10 were anonymously analysed retrospectively with respect to age, gender, smoking habits, drinking habits, current or previous diseases, allergies, current medication, dental diagnoses, and dental treatment in the current semester. Identified IMDDSs were clustered and evaluated.ResultsThe 116 dental students treated 511 patients with 559 IMDDSs with a median of one IMDDS per patient. The IMDDSs encountered most frequently could be assigned to the subspecialties cardiology, endocrinology/diabetology, and rheumatology. Arterial hypertension occurred most frequently in dental patients, followed by diabetes mellitus type 2, and chronic bronchitis.ConclusionsWe identified the spectrum of IMDDSs encountered by dental students in the clinical years of their undergraduate dental education. Further studies are needed to test the effects of learning internal medicine with an internal medicine course based on the IMDDSs encountered by dental students and including additional IMDDSs specific relevance for dentists.
Highlights
The number of internal diseases, disorders and syndromes (IMDDSs) encountered in dental practice is increasing
559 Internal diseases (IMDDS) were documented in the 511 patients with a median of one IMDDS per dental patient treated by the students
These IMDDSs encountered by the dental students could serve as tracer conditions for an integrated case-based course of internal medicine for dental students to enhance their situational interest and motivation to study internal medicine
Summary
The number of internal diseases, disorders and syndromes (IMDDSs) encountered in dental practice is increasing. Humbert et al BMC Medical Education (2018) 18:149 according to their importance for dentists, coagulopathies, endocarditis, and anaphylaxis accounted for the top three topics to be taught in internal medicine at dental school [4] Even though these studies underscore the demand to focus teaching of internal medicine during dental education on diseases and topics relevant for dentists, internal medicine teaching at medical faculties still seems to give rather a broad overview of internal medicine than providing students with a dentistry-oriented focus on specific diseases. It is not known which IMDDSs dental students encounter while treating dental patients themselves during the clinical years of their dental curriculum. A need exists to determine the IMDDSs dental students are exposed to
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