Children's Ages, Reasons, and Experiences for First Dental Visit and Barriers of a Late Visit: A Cross-Sectional Community-Based Study in Saudi Arabia.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine the age and reason of pediatric patients at the first visit and the barriers to a late visit. METHODOLOGY: A study was conducted among guardians of children attending the Outpatient Pediatric Dentistry Department. Children who visit the dentist for the first time were included in the study. A self-administered questionnaire was used and the behavior of children was evaluated by using Frankl's scale. Descriptive statistics was used to explore the general data. RESULTS: A total of 211 children had their first dental visit. The majority (n = 112, 53.1%) visited the dentist for the first time at the age of three to six years. Reasons for the first dental visit for most children were dental caries (n = 118, 32.8%) followed by dental pain (n = 114, 31.7%). More than half of the parents (n = 160, 75.8%) reported that the overall experience of the first visit was very good. The highest reported barriers to a late dental visit were that the child's not complaining of dental problems (n = 60, 20.5%) and dental fear and anxiety (n = 58, 19.8%). CONCLUSIONS: Most of the children in this study visited the dentist for the first time beyond the internationally recommended age and the reason behind this visit is to relieve a specific chief complaint. Moreover, the barriers contributing to the postponement of a child's first dental visit vary in this study. The child not complaining of any dental problems and dental fear and anxiety were the highest reported barriers.

Quality and Readability Assessment of Web-based Arabic Health Information on Early Childhood Caries.

Background: Patients are increasingly using the internet for searching health-related information. However, the quality and readability of the information available on the internet need to be assessed. To date, no study has assessed the quality and readability of web-based Arabic health information on early childhood caries. Objectives: To evaluate the quality and readability of patient-oriented online Arabic health information regarding early childhood caries. Materials and Methods: For this infodemiological study, the Google and Yahoo search engines were searched using specific Arabic terms for early childhood caries, and the top 100 searches from both search engines were considered. Eligible websites were categorized in terms of affiliation as commercial, health portal, dental practice, professional, and journalism. The quality of the websites was assessed using the QUality Evaluation Scoring Tool (QUEST), and readability using the Gunning Fog index (GFI). Results: A total of 140 websites were included after applying the exclusion criteria, of which 50.7% websites were of journalism. The majority of the websites (70%) had an overall low-quality level, with a QUEST score <10. The quality of websites retrieved from Google searches was of significantly higher quality than those from Yahoo (P < 0.0001). More than half (51.4%) of the websites had good readability, with a GFI score ≤8. Journalism websites had a significantly higher proportion of websites with poor readability level (62%) compared with other affiliations (P = 0.0072). Conclusion: The web-based Arabic information regarding early childhood caries is currently of low quality and moderate readability level, thereby indicating a need for improving such patient-facing content.

Criteria of Hospital Inpatient Admission of Pediatric Dental Patient.

Some dental conditions that are presented to the pediatric emergency department need hospital inpatient admission to facilitate supportive care, provide dental treatment and monitor the physiologic state of the child. The decision to treat the pediatric dental patient as an outpatient or inpatient is very important to control the overuse of hospital resources and at the same time not placing the child at the risk of rapid deterioration. However, no available guidelines or validated measures for the correct decision to treat the patient in either inpatient or outpatient care settings that can be used specifically for pediatric dental patients presented to the emergency department. Up to date, the decision of admitting pediatric patients is usually based on the severity of illness that can be measured by using The Pediatric Risk of Admission (PRISA II) Score. This review gives an overview of indications and clinical criteria of hospital inpatient admission of pediatric patients subsequent to traumatic and non-traumatic dental conditions.

Problem-based learning: Dental student's perception of their education environments at Qassim University.

AIMS: The objectives of this study were to assess perceptions of the Saudi dental students of the problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum and to compare their perceptions among different sex and academic years. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Data was collected through a questionnaire-based survey at Qassim College of dentistry. The questionnaire consisted of 19 questions regarding the perception of PBL curriculum and was distributed to 240 students. The chi-square test was used for statistical analysis of the data. RESULTS: Out of the 240 students recruited for this study, 146 returned a complete questionnaire (the response rate was 60.8%). The majority of the students perceived that PBL enhances the ability to speak in front of people (91.1%); improved the ability to find the information using the internet/library (81.5%); enhances the problem-solving skills (71.3%); increases the practice of cooperative and collaborative learning (69.2%); improves the decision-making skills (66.4%). Sixty-five percent (n = 96) noted that some students dominate whereas others are passive during PBL discussion session. Statistically, significant differences were found in the following variables according to the academic year students assuming before responsibility for their own learning (P < 0.037) and the role of facilitator in the process (P < 0.034). Moreover, according to gender; there were statistically significant differences in the following variables, assuming responsibility for own learning (P < 0.003); activating prior knowledge and learning to elaborate and organize their knowledge (P < 0.009); enhancing the ability to find the information using the Internet/library (P < 0.014); PBL is effective without having lecture of the same topic (P < 0.025); helping in identifying the areas of weakness for improvement (P < 0.031); student understanding the objectives of the PBL session better than the conventional way (P < 0.040); and enhancing the ability to speak in front of people (P < 0.040). CONCLUSIONS: Perceptions of Saudi dental students regarding their education environments at Qassim College of dentistry using PBL hybrid curriculum were more positive than negative. However, improvements are still required to provide students with stimulating favorable learning environment and to take the students recommendations into consideration.