Dental Institution Research Articles

Defining success in healthcare education: US dental student and faculty perspectives.

Academic metrics and clinical performance are necessary but alone insufficient in describing success in dental education. This paper identifies themes critical for dental student success as commonly cited by both dental students and faculty. Dental faculty interviews and pre-doctoral D2/D3/D4 student focus groups at two dental institutions generated data for thematic analysis. Themes were individually identified then merged, compared, and contrasted to establish a definitive list of key themes reflected in student and faculty comments. Twenty-five pre-doctoral students participated in one of four focus groups (two focus groups at each dental institution). Thirteen dental education faculty across two institutions participated in structured interviews. Thematic analysis produced five overlapping themes identified by both students and faculty across the two institutions: seeking understanding, collaborative spirit, personal ownership, organization, and broadened perspective. Faculty-specific themes identified long-term retention, a strong moral compass, and self-sufficiency as critical for student success. Student-specific themes identified their most successful peers to have a positive attitude, a perspective focused on personal investment and self-care, as well as access to professional mentors. Both faculty and students in dental education perceive behaviors illustrative of a growth mindset as hallmarks of success in the oral healthcare profession. Relatedly, students exemplifying resilience and/or grit must believe their efforts to be worthwhile and impactful.

Assessment of Mental Wellness Amongst the Faculty and Students of an Educational Institute in the State of Himachal Pradesh, India — Post Lockdown during COVID-19

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant effect on the mental health of human beingsworld wide. There is a lack of information pertaining to the mental wellness of students and faculty in dental institutions in India. This study aimed to assess the overall mental well being of students and faculty of dental institution after return to normalcy post-lockdown period during COVID-19. Material & Methods: A self reporting online questionnaire was designed by the authors after speaking with various therapists and mental health coaches. This questionnaire was anonymously filled out by 492 participants which included under graduate students, post graduate students, academic staff, paramedical and clerical staff in a dental institution. Results: Majority of the subjects felt the need for counseling in their work place (53.4%). A greater number felt they were getting insufficient sleep (48.3%) and (31.5%) of the participants experienced depression and anxiety which further affected their emotional well being and their day to day activities. One-fifth (16.8%) of the participants perceived that mental health affected their relationships and 20.1% observed that physical health restricted their day to day activities. Mental wellness of females was significantly more affected than males. Additionally marital status also influenced the mental wellness of the subjects. Conclusion: Literary evidence suggests that mental wellness is not given enough importance in our country in general. This study only proved the ramifications of COVID-19 on mental wellness and suggested the provision of counselling which could’ve protected the participants from slipping into a negative frame of mind.

Prevalence and factors associated with dental anxiety among pregnant women seeking care at a tertiary care dental institution in Sri Lanka

To determine the prevalence and factors associated with dental anxiety among pregnant women seeking care at the Preventive Oral Health Unit, Institute of Oral Health, Maharagama, Sri Lanka. The participants of this descriptive cross-sectional study were 402 pregnant women seeking care at the Institute of Oral Health, Maharagama for the first time. A validated Sri Lankan version of the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) was used to measure dental anxiety and an interviewer-administered questionnaire collected information about demographics, dental service utilization, knowledge, and the importance of oral health during pregnancy. The prevalence of dental anxiety was 61.7% and the mean MDAS score in the dentally anxious and not anxious were 13.4±3.8 and 9.20 ± 1.7 respectively. According to the binary multiple logistic regression model current employment status, household income, dental care seeking pattern, having had a negative experience during a previous visit to a dentist,poor awareness about the importance of oral health in pregnancy, not receiving oral health instructions from health care providers during pregnancy, the perception that oral care should be avoided during pregnancy were independently associated with dental anxiety. The prevalence of dental anxiety was high among this sample of pregnant women.

Knowledge and Compliance for Current Guidelines of Biomedical Waste Management among Dental Health Professionals of National Capital Region during COVID 19 Pandemic

Introduction: The highly contagious nature of the coronavirus and improper management of biomedical waste (BMW) may have severe ill effects on the ecosystem. Hence, a study was conducted to evaluate dental health professional knowledge, attitudes, and practice regarding biomedical waste management (BWM) during COVID-19 in the National Capital Region of India. Materials and Methods: A structured, self-administered questionnaire was developed regarding BMW management during COVID-19 and distributed among dental health professionals in dental teaching institution. The collected data was analyzed using Chi-square test along with the one-way analysis of variance, and P < 0.05 were considered significant. Results: More than half of the participants were unaware of the correct disposal of pharmaceutical waste and did not change their masks according to the guidelines given by the Central Pollution Control Board during pandemic. The mean knowledge score of faculty was found to be significantly higher when compared to undergraduate and postgraduate students. Conclusions: This study revealed that the level of knowledge regarding BMW management was inadequate among all the participants in the survey. Hence, dental health professionals should be educated regarding the hazards associated with improper waste disposal at all levels and trained in proper BMW management.

Dr. Ani John (1950-2007): An exemplary dental educator and administrator and the first female President of the Indian Academy of Oral Medicine and Radiology.

Dr. Ani John (1950-2007): An exemplary dental educator and administrator and the first female President of the Indian Academy of Oral Medicine and Radiology.

Evaluation of Self-Reported professionalism lapses among dental undergraduate students: A cross-sectional study from a Malaysian dental faculty.

Professionalism and academic integrity are important components of dental education as they influence not just the present-day learning process, but also the practice of dentistry in future. This study evaluated self-reported professional lapses, academic dishonesty behaviours among peers and recommended sanctions for such lapses. Dundee Polyprofessionalism Inventory I: Academic Integrity questionnaire was administered to BDS students of a private dental institution in Malaysia. Differences in the level of recommended sanctions were assessed by Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis test. There was unanimous agreement that all 34 statements of lapses of academic integrity as unacceptable. The highest agreement (95.6%) was related to threatening or abusing university employees or students and involvement in paedophilic activities, whereas the lowest agreement was observed for getting or giving help for coursework against rules (47.3%). The most frequent behaviours observed among peers were lack of class punctuality (55.1%) and providing and receiving proxy attendance services (49.3%). About 36% admitted to not being punctual themselves, 26.8% for accepting or providing help for course work and 22.9% for receiving and providing proxy attendance. Female students displayed stricter recommended sanctions, with the most significant difference relating to joking disrespectfully about body parts (p < .001). More lenient recommended sanctions were observed among Year 1 students compared with other years, with the most significant difference (p < .001) observed for exchanging information about the exam, forging a signature, plagiarising and cut-pasting materials without acknowledgement. The majority of academic lapses were well comprehended. Significant differences were observed in sanctions imposed in terms of gender and year of study.

Assessment of common errors and subjective quality of digital panoramic radiographs in dental institution, Riyadh.

The study aims to determine the frequency of positioning errors, record the number of diagnostically inappropriate images, and assess the quality of panoramic radiographs. In this study, a total of 2629 patients for whom orthopantomogram were selected out of 3900 new patients between August 2020 and June 2021. The positioning errors of the radiographs were evaluated and categorized into ten groups. The quality of the radiographs is further assessed as "Excellent," "Diagnostically Acceptable," and "Diagnostically Unacceptable." Out of the total radiographs, 32.8% had no errors, and 77.2% of the radiographs had one or more positioning errors. The radiographs were analyzed in detail, and the errors found in the panoramic radiographs were recorded. The most common positioning error observed in the radiograph was error 8, failure to place the tongue close to the palate. The results and evaluation inferred that attention to patient positioning and focusing on reducing diagnostically indecent images could improve the quality of panoramic radiographs. Proper instructions to the patient, patient preparation, appropriate positioning of the patient, and the technician's skill plays a vital role in reducing diagnostic errors in Panoramic Radiography.

Reasons for seeking orthodontic treatment in Jammu region: A questionnaire based survey

Introduction: A desirable outcome in any treatment is patient’s utmost expectation. The reasons for opting Orthodontic treatment by patients is an area of research as taking into account the reasons for seeking this treatment increases the chances for better and satisfying results. The present study was conducted to determine the reasons for seeking Orthodontic treatment by patients reporting to a tertiary care dental teaching institution in Jammu region. Material and methods: This was a questionnaire based survey performed done in the department of Orthodontics. The total sample size was 360 patients who were reporting for Orthodontic treatment to Department Of Orthodontics. All the patients were told to fill a structured questionnaire related to various reasons for seeking Orthodontic treatment. The questionnaires were given to them as hard copy. The filled questionnaires were collected and responses were tabulated and sent for statistical analysis. Results: Majority of the patients were motivated by dentist/physician/speech therapist/plastic surgeon / ENT specialist/others (83.3%) for seeking the orthodontic treatment.75% patients believed that orthodontic treatment will improve their overall dental health. A vast majority of the patients (95.2%) patients believed that orthodontic treatment will bring improvement in social and psychological well being. Most (45.2%) were not aware of the role of Orthodontic treatment in improvement of mastication. 41.4% patients believed that after the treatment it will be easy to find a job. Many (71.8%) patients were seeking orthodontic treatment for matrimonial purpose. Conclusion: The reason for seeking Orthodontic treatment by majority of the patients was, dental correction and expectation of a positive social and psychological impact after the treatment as well for matrimonial reasons. Most of the patients were not sure about the other oral health related conditions resulting from Orthodontic treatment like improvement in face, speech, mastication. Though majority of the patients were self-motivated. There is a need of more patient education about the benefits and needs of Orthodontic treatment in Jammu region.

Prevalence of depression and sense of coherence among dental graduates in a private dental institution in Chennai city

Prevalence of depression and sense of coherence among dental graduates in a private dental institution in Chennai city

Stress And Burnout Among Dental Students in A Private Dental Institution in Chennai City: Cross Sectional Study

Stress And Burnout Among Dental Students in A Private Dental Institution in Chennai City: Cross Sectional Study

Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Detection and Localization of Unobturated Second Mesial Buccal (MB2) Canals in Cone-Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT).

The aim of this study was to develop a deep learning model to automatically detect and segment unobturated mesial buccal 2 (MB2) canals on endodontically obturated maxillary molars depicted in CBCT studies. Fifty-seven deidentified CBCT studies of maxillary molars with clinically confirmed unobturated MB2 canals were retrieved from a dental institution radiology database. One-hundred and two maxillary molar roots with and without unobturated MB2 canals were segmented using ITK-SNAP. The data were split into training and testing samples designated to train and evaluate the performance, respectively, of a convolutional neural network (CNN), U-Net. The detection performance revealed a sensitivity of 0.8, a specificity of 1, a high PPV of 1, and a NPV of 0.83 for the testing set, along with an accuracy of 0.9. The segmentation performance of unobturated MB2 canals, assessed using the custom metric, rendered a mean value of 0.3018 for the testing set. The current AI algorithm has the potential to identify obturated and unobturated canals in endodontically treated teeth. However, the AI algorithm is still somewhat affected by metallic artifacts, variations in canal calcifications, and the applied configuration. Thus, further development is needed to improve the algorithm and validate the accuracy using external validation data sets.

Evaluation of Comprehensive COVID-19 Testing Program Outcomes in a US Dental Clinical Care Academic Setting

Although many academic institutions have implemented infection control and prevention protocols, including regular asymptomatic self-testing, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the outcomes of mandatory surveillance testing programs at academic dental institutions that offer direct patient-facing clinical care has not yet been reported. To report the findings of a comprehensive surveillance COVID-19 testing program at an academic dental institution by assessing SARS-CoV-2 positivity rates and the potential association of test positivity with individual-level characteristics such as age, sex, and role. A retrospective cohort study was conducted using SARS-CoV-2 self-testing data from a mandatory surveillance program at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. Test results obtained between August 24, 2020, and February 28, 2022, from students, faculty, and staff members were analyzed. Testing cadence varied from 1 to 3 times per week depending on risk status. The association of individual characteristics with test positivity was evaluated with univariate analyses and a bayesian multilevel logistic regression model. Age by decade, sex, and role or position category (staff members, faculty, and students stratified by their involvement in clinical care activities), testing cadence, and testing date. Positive results from SARS-CoV-2 real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction self-tests were assessed. Of the 390 study participants, 210 (53.8%) were women. Participants were grouped by age as follows: 20 to 29 years (190 [48.7%]), 30 to 39 years (88 [22.6%]), 40 to 49 years (44 [11.3%]), 50 to 59 years (42 [10.8%]), and 60 years or older (26 [6.7%]). Test results demonstrated an overall 0.27% positivity rate (61 test-positive cases), with a peak weekly positivity rate of 5.12% in the first week of January 2022. The mean (SD) test positivity rate among those involved in clinical activities was 0.25% (0.04) compared with 0.36% (0.09) among nonclinical participants. When adjusting for all considered covariates, test positivity was significantly associated with testing frequency (3 times vs 1 time per week: odds ratio [OR], 1.51 [95% credible interval (CrI), 1.07-3.69]) and timing of the test (after vs during the Alpha wave: OR, 0.33 [95% CrI, 0.11-0.88]; and Omicron vs Alpha: OR, 11.59 [95% CrI, 6.49-22.21]) but not with individual characteristics (age, sex, and role). These findings suggest that implementing an adaptive testing cadence based on the risk status of individuals may be effective in reducing the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection within an institution. In this study, involvement in clinical activities did not pose additional risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection compared with other in-person activities in the presence of these control measures.

Effect of Health Education on Knowledge and Perceptions Regarding Cervical Cancer Screening and Prevention among Female Students of a Medical College in Rawalpindi, Pakistan: Pre and Post Analysis

Objective: To evaluate and compare the knowledge and attitude of future female health care providers regarding pap smear screening for cervical cancer at a medical and dental institution in Pakistan. The quality of knowledge of the students was analysed to measure the efficacy of awareness intervention sessions of the students. This was aimed to highlight their role in public awareness and identify the deficit thereof in their training towards practicing preventive community medicine. &#x0D; Study Design: This was a pre and post analysis comparative study.&#x0D; Place and Duration of Study: Conducted at Army Medical College Rawalpindi Pakistan, over an 8-months period from Nov 2019 to Jun 2020. &#x0D; Methodology: A total of 754 responses, pre intervention -401- and one-month later post intervention-353 were collected through a validated questionnaire by convenience sampling. Changes in the knowledge and attitude of students using an independent sample t test were determined one month after 20-minute educational intervention detailing cervical cancer and its screening. Association between course and year of study on the knowledge and attitude scores was determined bycomparing means using ANOVA tables.&#x0D; Results: Comparison of pre and post intervention scores revealed a statistically significant difference in knowledge (p&lt; 0.001)and attitude (p=0.002) with a change in mean knowledge scores from 46.31±15.93 to 74.03±15.71 and mean attitude scores from 45.84±14.37 to 48.86±12.54 after the intervention. MBBS students showed a statistically significant improvement in attitude (p&lt;0.001) than their BDS counterparts (p=0.535).&#x0D; Conclusion: Pre-intervention knowledge and attitude was inadequate. The intervention was successful with a significant increase in scores. Emphasis should be on implementing national HPV vaccination and cervical screening awareness campaigns.

Presence of impacted supernumerary teeth in the Indian population.

A tooth that does not erupt into the dental arch during the anticipated developmental window is said to be impacted. A supernumerary tooth (ST) would be any dentition or odontogenic entity that grows from a tooth germ more often than is typical for a particular area of the dental arch (ST). The study's goal is to determine how commonly impacted supernumerary teeth are present within the Indian community. This research project at the institution which was retrospective was done on dental patients who went to the private dental hospital between March 2020 and March 2021. We looked over the medical records of 86,000 patients at the private dental institution and analyzed the data. In the study's 74,421 impaction cases, 139 instances of impacted extra teeth were found. For statistical analysis, collected data were analyzed, entered into an Excel document, and imported into SPSS version 21. In the study population, males between the ages of 21 and 35 years were more frequently observed to have supernumerary impacted teeth. Impacted teeth were more frequently observed in the posterior region rather than the anterior region. Within the constraints of the study, it was shown that males between the ages of 21 and 35 years and the posterior part of the mouth experienced impacted supernumerary teeth the most frequently.

Prevalence of Class V caries in maxillary and mandibular canines of 3-5-year-old children: A retrospective study.

Caries in primary teeth are a major health concern in socially disadvantaged populations and may alter the eruption pattern and function of their successor. The aim of the study is to find the prevalence of Class V caries in maxillary and mandibular canines in 3-5-year-old children. A single-centered retrospective study was conducted in a private dental institution, Chennai. The data were collected from the Dental Hospital Management System of Saveetha Dental College (DIAS). A test for significance was done with the help of the Chi-square test. The most prevalent caries in canines of children between the age group of 3 and 5 years were cervical caries or Class V caries. 5, 35,951 patient details that were available in DIAS, and 2,35,841 were details of pedodontic patients, 200 patients who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were analyzed. It was observed that the prevalence of caries on the right maxillary and mandibular canines (80.00%) was higher than the left counterpart (20.00%) of the same arch. Maxillary canines (70.00%) had more prevalence of caries as compared to mandibular canines (30.00%). Caries prevalence on the right maxillary and right mandibular primary canine was higher than their left counterparts. Maxillary primary canines had more prevalence of caries as compared to mandibular primary canines.

High frenal attachment and its prevalence among children - A retrospective study.

The frenum is a narrow mucosa fold surrounded by muscle fibers that connect the lips to the alveolar mucosa and the periosteum beneath. Midline spacing, commonly called as diastema, recession, interference with prosthodontic therapy, and difficulty speaking are all symptoms of a high frenal attachment. Frenectomy is a surgical treatment that involves removing the aberrant frenal connection. The frenum is a connective tissue membrane that connects one mouth surface to the next. The purpose of this study is to see how popular high frenal attachment is among children who visit a university dentistry hospital. This was a retrospective investigation evaluating the prevalence of high frenal attachment in patients visiting a Chennai dental institution. From June 2019 to March 2021, 11278 patients visited a dental clinic.

Dental patient safety using Primary Care Patient Measure of Safety (PC-PMOS) measurement

This study was conducted to measure patient safety of dental outpatients and to identify high-risk areas in dental care. A survey was conducted with 400 people aged 19-64 who had used a dental institution within the past 3 years. The Primary Care Patient Measure of Safety (PC-PMOS) questionnaire was used as a dental safety patient measurement tool. 19 domains and 46 questions of PC-PMOS were analyzed, and negative responseswere classified into risk areas in dental care. 10 of the 46 items of PC-PMOS had a negative response rate of 20% or more. The questions with the highest percentage of dissatisfied were 'when they referred me to another hospital, there was a waiting list (50.9%)', 'if necessary, you could receive hospital services outside of the regu-lar operating hours of the hospital (38.1%)'. The dental patient safety score was higher for male and for house-holds with an average monthly income of 8 million won or more (p&lt;0.05). Findings of this study suggest that it is necessary to prepare a dental patient safety management system in that patient safety management improves the quality of dental care. In addition, standardized dental patient safety management indicators are essential for monitoring and improvement of patient safety and quality in dentistry.

Evaluation of Evidence-based Presentations in a Postgraduate Program at a U.S. Dental Institution: A Retrospective Study

Objective: The objective of this retrospective study was to appraise the level of evidence of presentations gathered from an electronic repository of an advanced postgraduate program in pediatric dentistry at a single U.S.-based dental institute. Methods: After the ethical approval was obtained, the presentations were assessed, and themes were identified. Using the cited references, the respective level of evidence was collected based on: the year of publication, reference source, choice of journal, journal impact factor, study design, altmetric score of the articles, and h-index of the authors. STATA version 15.1 (College Station, TX, USA) and Microsoft Excel software were used for statistical analysis. Results and Discussion: A sum of 690 references between the years 2015 to 2020 have been used in a total of 74 presentations. Presentations related to special health care needs accounted for 29.7% (n= 22) of the total presentations; followed by oral diagnosis/pathology/medicine (n= 17; 23%). The median number of references used in each presentation was eight, and the most common study design was unfiltered. The median number of the first author’s h-index was 25, and the median number of the altmetric score was four. Conclusion: This study appraised the level of evidence used in resident presentations in a postgraduate program in pediatric dentistry at a U.S. dental institute. The findings of this study could provide useful data to postgraduate program directors who wish to address the level of evidence used in their programs. Additionally, by using the altmetric scores and h-indexes presented in this study, future studies can compare the level of evidence between similar academic institutions or programs.

Current status of undergraduate orthodontic education in Canada.

This study evaluated teaching hours and mode of instruction of undergraduate orthodontic education dental students in Canada receive, changes implemented by each educational dental institution (EDI) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and plans for mode of orthodontic education delivery post-COVID-19. An electronic survey was administered to the program directors of undergraduate orthodontics at each EDI to reveal details regarding the (i) time and details of didactic, preclinical, and clinical experience provided to students and (ii) perceptions of undergraduate program directors about the adequacy of the current curricula. All 10 Canadian EDIs participated in the survey during the year 2021. Most EDIs deliver their orthodontic curricula beginning in the second year of the program (7, 70.0%), continuing through third (7, 70.0%) and fourth (6, 60.0%) years. The number of hours of didactic, preclinical, and clinical instruction varied by as much as 50 h per academic year across different EDIs. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, almost all EDIs (9, 90.0%) maintained the same amount of didactic lecture time yet most switched to synchronous (5, 50.0%) or asynchronous (3, 30.0%) online delivery format. Most EDIs (8, 80.0%) indicated the quality of education was maintained during the pandemic. There exists significant variation in undergraduate orthodontic time allotment among Canadian EDIs. During the COVID-19 pandemic, most Canadian EDIs maintained a consistent amount of teaching hours while transitioning to some form of online course delivery. Most program directors indicated they believed students received the same quality of education after the change in mode of course delivery. The future of undergraduate orthodontic education will likely continue the accelerated trend toward online education.

Effects of a dental Spanish educational intervention among predoctoral students at a US dental school.

This study investigated the effects of an online module intended to educate dental students about Spanish terms and phrases relevant to a patient appointment. Effects investigated included perceived value of dental Spanish, confidence utilizing Spanish terms in a patient appointment, and degree of knowledge retention. This study utilized pre- and postsurvey data collected from three classes at one US dental institution (D2-D4) via an online measure accompanying the virtual educational module. Questions assessed degree of accurate knowledge retained, level of confidence, perceived value of dental Spanish, language proficiency, and year in school. Predoctoral dental students in three cohorts participated in the study (97% and 87% pre/post-test response rate, respectively). Most students reported dental Spanish to be beneficial and necessary. However, the intervention did not influence students' perceived value of dental Spanish. Students who disagreed that dental Spanish was valuable performed significantly worse on the postintervention knowledge assessment when compared to those students who positively reported value of dental Spanish. The intervention significantly increased confidence levels overall regarding use of dental Spanish in a patient appointment. Significant knowledge acquisition occurred for each of the components assessed. A brief online educational intervention can effectively increase dental students' knowledge of and confidence utilizing Spanish terms commonly employed during a patient appointment. Perceived value of dental Spanish is high and impacts students' knowledge retention but is not affected by education alone.