[Psychological assessment of patients with recurrent aphthous ulcers]

Recurrent aphthous stomatitis [RAS] is among the most common oral conditions and psychological disorders are among its predisposing factors. The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency and type of psychological disorders in patients with RAS. Seventy-five patients referred to Mashhad Dental School were enrolled in this cross-sectional study: 35 patients with RAS [15 males and 20 females] constituted the study group and 40 healthy patients [15 males and 25 females] comprised the control group. The SCL-90 questionnaire consisting of 90 multiple choice questions was completed by all subjects and a psychologist scored and analyzed the results in order to evaluate the psychological status of patients. The overall frequency of psychological disorders was 44%; this rate was 68.6% in the RAS patients and 22.5% in the control group [P<0.0001]. The frequency of anxiety disorder was 42.9% in RAS patients and 7.5% in the control group [P<0.0001]. The frequency of somatization disorder was 17.1% in RAS patients and 0% in the control group [P=0.008]. The frequency of depression was 28.6% in RAS patients and 15% in the control group [P=0.004]. All these differences were statistically significant. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in other psychological disorders. The results showed that psychological disorders were generally more frequent among RAS patients compared to the control group. The most common psychological disorder was anxiety disorder and the frequency of anxiety, depression and somatization was higher in RAS patients

[ efficacy of an endodontic instructional multimedia program for enhancing the knowledge and skills of dental students]

Full-scale demonstration of treatment phases on actual patients by an instructor is currently the conventional technique for practical instruction on endodontics. In this method, most students do not get the chance to closely observe the clinical procedure due to the small size of oral cavity. This study aimed at assessing the efficacy of an instructional multimedia program in endodontics for enhancing the knowledge and skills of dental students. In this randomized interventional trial, students taking the course of clinical endodontics were divided into two groups receiving conventional live demonstration alone or in combination with an instructional multimedia [DVD]. Baseline knowledge of students and their level of knowledge and skills after the intervention regarding practical endodontics were assessed by a pre-test and post-test, respectively. Data were compared between the two groups using Kruskal Wallis test. No significant differences were noted between the two groups in terms of knowledge or practical skills of students. However, the multimedia instruction significantly reduced the number of student inquiries to instructors for troubleshooting [P<0.001]. Due to the lack of a significant difference between the two instructional techniques, the multimedia instruction technique may be successfully used as a complement to current conventional techniques for practical instruction on endodontics