ABSTRACT
The current approach to management of caries has evolved towards minimal invasive dentistry comprising of early diagnosis of incipient lesions, remineralization and conservative dental treatment with minimal intervention if required. Despite the focus of the dental curriculum on minimal invasive dentistry, not much of it is adopted into practice by the students. We wanted to assess the knowledge, attitude, and skills of minimal invasive dentistry amongst the dental interns of Dakshina Kannada district. MethodsThe data was gathered through an online questionnaire developed and validated by experts. ResultsA total of 244 dental interns responded to the online questionnaire survey. Majority was aware of the principles of minimal invasive dentistry mainly through lectures, although not many had practiced it. Fluoride treatment was the most recommended treatment for the prevention of caries. Although most of them agreed that caries risk assessment was effective, nearly half of them had never practiced it. A greater part of the respondents agreed upon the effectiveness of preventive measures and conservative modalities of treatment in the current day practice. ConclusionsDespite the awareness and knowledge of minimal invasive dentistry amongst the interns of Dakshina Kannada population, the practice of minimal invasive dentistry should be taught to the students and should be implemented in routine dental practice.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude and anxiety pertaining to basic life support (BLS) and medical emergencies among interns in dental colleges of Mangalore city, Karnataka, India. METHODS:The study subjects comprised of interns who volunteered from the four dental col eges. The knowledge and attitude of interns were assessed using a 30-item questionnaire prepared based on the Basic Life Support Manual from American Heart Association and the anxiety of interns pertaining to BLS and medical emergencies were assessed using a State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) Questionnaire. Chi-square test was performed on SPSS 21.0 (IBM Statistics, 2012) to determine statistical y significant differences (P<0.05) between assessed knowledge and anxiety. RESULTS:Out of 183 interns, 39.89％ had below average knowledge. A total of 123 (67.21％) reported unavailability of professional training. The majority (180, 98.36％) felt the urgent need of training in basic life support procedures. Assessment of stress showed a total of 27.1％ participants to be above high-stress level. Comparison of assessed knowledge and stress was found to be insignificant (P=0.983). CONCLUSION:There was an evident lack of knowledge pertaining to the management of medical emergencies among the interns. As oral health care providers moving out to the society, a focus should be placed on the training of dental interns with respect to Basic Life Support procedures.