Knowledge and Attitude of Undergraduate Students and Interns toward Stem Cells and Their Implications in Dentistry: A Cross-sectional Study.

Abstract

The primary ideology of this research was to evaluate both the knowledge and attitude of undergraduate students and interns regarding stem cells and their use in dentistry. A cross-sectional observatory study was conducted among 310 dental students of Jazan University by making use of a self-explanatory questionnaire, containing a set of 25 questions and was sent as e-mail through Google e-forms. There was a good response rate of around 81.2%, of which 80.16% were aware of the fact that stem cells are unspecialized types of cells that come with the potential to turn into any cell type. Almost 65.08% of the participants considered the possibility to continue root formation post-trauma as the fundamental use of stem cells, and a majority (71.43%) of the participants showed great interest in garnering more knowledge and training in the area of stem cells. About 50% of the participants showed strong opposition to the concept of embryonic stem cells as these are basically fetched from an aborted fetus or from an embryo. There was a major section of the participants (79.76%) who were even keen on organizing more programs to create public awareness regarding stem cells. Mean knowledge and attitude scores among the participants were reported to be 7.57 ± 3.10 and 36.04 ± 6.51 respectively. Overall, the level of knowledge and attitude of dental students and interns at Jazan University towards stem cells and their implications in dentistry can be interpreted as adequate. Advanced training and awareness campaigns on stem cells and dentistry would improve their knowledge and attitude.