Oral Health Education in the Medical Curriculum

ABSTRACT

We read with interest the article "The Impact of Integrating Oral Health Education into a Medical Curriculum," and we found it very interesting how Park et al. [ 1 ] noted that "the oral health education session contributed to an increase in student awareness and understanding of oral health." Indeed, oral and dental problems are commonly seen in daily general medical practice. A number of patients come to see the physician with dental and oral complaints, and if the general medical practitioner lacks oral knowledge, he/she might not correctly give the patients correct instruction. In Thailand, dental skills are a part of the required skills for newly graduated physicians. During medical study, students have to take a course in basic dental care [such as dental extraction]. In the present report, Park et al. assessed only the concern or knowledge, but did not assess the exact skill of the students. Indeed, the ability to assess oral and dental problems by general practitioners has been pointed out previously [2]. Since the oral realm is an important part of human beings, a physician who provides holistic care should have a good basic skills regarding oral health.