ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Infection with COVID-19 has serious consequences, which may lead to severe pneumonia and even death. There is a high risk of infection between dental personnel and patients due to working in proximity while performing dental treatments. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to assess the awareness about COVID-19 and its preventive measures among final-year dental students. METHODS: Institutional-based cross-sectional study, among the final-year Bachelor of Dental Surgery students, the sample size was 288 participants during the period from August 8, 2020, to August 15, 2020. The data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire formed of a series of close-ended questions about sociodemographic characteristics, knowledge about COVID-19, prevention in dental clinic, and perception toward COVID-19. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science, version 25 (SPSS 20.0, Chicago, IL). The Chi-square test was used for the significance level, which was set at a value of P = 0.05 or less for all analyses. RESULTS: Form 288 students, the average age (measured in years) was 23.31 ± 1.8. (means ± SD). A total of 224 (77.8%) respondents were females. For COVID-19-related knowledge, 282 (97.9%) students possessed a high knowledge level, 4 (1.4%) had moderate knowledge, and only 2 (0.7%) showed poor knowledge. Also, 95% of participants responded correctly with a total agreement to questions regarding infection control measurements, the least agreement response (85%) was for: avoid aerosol-generating procedures whenever possible. There are statistically significant relations between knowledge score and gender (P = 0.024), knowledge score and source of knowledge (P = 0.017), and perceived severity and knowledge score (P = 0.001). CONCLUSION: This study illustrated that the knowledge score among participants is good. There are associations between gender and level of knowledge, knowledge score and source of knowledge, and perceived severity and knowledge score.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: The principal objective was to investigate the association between periodontal diseases and sickle cell anaemia (SCA). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A group of 59 children with SCA (ages 12 to 16 years) were examined and compared to 54 healthy controls, matched by age and gender. Oral clinical examination included: plaque index (PI), gingival index (GI), probing depth (PD), clinical attachment loss (CAL), presence of calculus and tooth mobility. Clinical severity of SCA and oral hygiene habits were also assessed. RESULTS: There was no statistically significant difference between cases and controls in terms of PI, PD, CAL and tooth mobility at the 5% significance level. However, there was a statistically significant association between GI and SCA (P = 0.002). The mean gingival index of SCA patients was 1.35 ± 0.19 compared to 1.18 ± 0.16 for the controls (P = 0.00001). There was a probability of 76.1% that the GI of SCA patients was greater than the GI of controls. The percentage of teeth with PD = 4 mm was greater in SCA patients compared to controls (2.5% vs 0.6%). Moreover, SCA patients had a higher percentage of teeth with CAL= 3 mm (0.7% vs 0.3%). There was a statistically significant association between having mild, moderate or severe gingival inflammation and the severity of sickle cell anemia (P = 0.028). CONCLUSIONS: The results showed a statistically significantly higher prevalence of inflammed periodontium in children with SCA compared to a similar healthy population.
