Periodontal-Systemic Disease: A Study on Medical Practitioners' Knowledge and Practice.

OBJECTIVE: Oral health is intricately linked with systemic health. However, the knowledge and practice levels of medical practitioners (MPs) about this concern are extremely variable. The current study, therefore, sought to assess the status of knowledge and practice of MPs concerning the link between periodontal disease and different systemic conditions as well as the efficacy of a webinar as an interventional tool in enhancing knowledge of MPs of Jazan Province of Saudi Arabia. METHODS: This prospective interventional study involved 201 MPs. A 20-item questionnaire on evidence-based periodontal/systemic health associations was used. The participants answered the questionnaire before and 1 month after a webinar training that explained the mechanistic interrelation of periodontal and systemic health. McNemar test was performed for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Out of the 201 MPs who responded to the pre-webinar survey, 176 attended the webinar and hence were included in the final analyses. Sixty-eight (38.64%) were female, and 104 (58.09%) were older than 35 years. About 90% of MPs reported not being trained on oral health. Pre-webinar, 96 (54.55%), 63 (35.80%), and 17 (9.66%) MPs rated their knowledge about the association of periodontal disease with systemic diseases as limited, moderate, and good, respectively. Post-webinar, these figures improved remarkably: 36 (20.45%), 88 (50.00%), and 52 (29.55%) MPs rated their knowledge as limited, moderate, and good, respectively. Around 64% of MPs had relatively good levels of knowledge about the positive influence of periodontal disease treatment on diabetic patients' blood glucose levels. CONCLUSIONS: MPs revealed low levels of knowledge on the oral and systemic disease interrelationship. Conducting webinars on the oral-systemic health interrelationship seems to improve the overall knowledge and understanding of MPs.

Exploring associations between oral health measures and oral health-impacted daily performances in 12-14-year-old schoolchildren.

BACKGROUND: Oral health-related quality of life, a prominent topic in dentistry, has been studied extensively. However, the comparison between various self-perceived and clinical oral health measures still needs to be explored. The purpose of the current study is; first, to report the self-perceived and clinically examined oral health measures that are associated with the oral impacts on daily performances. Second, to identify the oral health measure that best predicts greater oral impact scores. Third, to investigate the difference in findings related to the disease experience measures and the treatment measures. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out on children aged 12-14 years. The prevalence, frequency, and oral impact scores of each daily performance were calculated. Thirteen self-perceived OH conditions were assessed. Clinically examined oral health measures included gingival health, oral hygiene status, DMFT, DT, MT, and FT scores and, one or more decay (1 + D), missing (1 + M) and filled (1 + F) teeth. Simple linear and multiple linear regressions were carried out to report the associations. RESULTS: At least one oral health impacted daily performance was reported by 40% of the total sample of schoolchildren (N = 700). Based on the magnitude and precision of adjusted regression coefficients (RC), decay severity (DT) was identified as a better predictor of a greater oral impact score with regression coefficient values ranging between 0.3 (social contact) and 2.4 (1 + performance). Contrariwise, MT and FT components of DMFT were associated with lower oral impact scores. The self-perceived measures were also associated with oral impact scores and presented similar findings to that of the clinical oral health measures. CONCLUSIONS: Untreated decay significantly impacted daily performances, especially eating, sleeping, studying, and social contact. The findings are of importance to public health practitioners for reporting, treating, and preventing oral health problems in children, and eventually contributing to better oral health-related quality of life.