Virtual counselling of tobacco cessation during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study on the experiences and perceptions of Malaysian dental undergraduates and their patients.

INTRODUCTION: When dental institutions had to close down during the Movement Control Order (MCO) implementation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, dental students were faced with delays in completing their tobacco cessation schedule. An alternative was to allow students to conduct virtual counselling (VC) for smoking cessation for their patients to address their clinical requirements. This study aimed to explore Malaysian dental undergraduates' and patients' experiences undergoing smoking cessation counselling through virtual platforms. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study consisted of qualitative, semi-structured Focus Group Discussions (for students, n = 23) and in-depth interviews (for patients, n = 9); to phenomenologically describe the perceptions of participants involved in the VC. Each session was recorded with the participants' permission. The recorded session was transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed using the qualitative data analysis software, NVivo™. RESULTS: The major themes that emerged were: (1) General opinions and experiences, (2) Content of VCs, (3) Remote access to counselling, (4) Patient-clinician relationships, (5) Technical issues, (6) Changes after VCs, and (7) Future application. Most students and patients were quite comfortable with VC as it is convenient, allowing students to be creative and avoid the hassle of transport and traffic. However, some of the students felt that it lacked the personal touch and guidance from lecturers who would normally be present during physical class. CONCLUSION: Virtual counselling enables remote access to counselling, but it is also subjected to some limitations, especially regarding lack of clinical assessments, human touch and internet issues. Though participants were optimistic about adapting it in the future, multiple factors must be considered. Ultimately, the behavioural change will depend on the patient's motivation in making a difference.

Knowledge, Attitudes and Professional Behavior of Silver Diamine Fluoride among Dental Personnel: A Systematic Review.

Apart from the major drawback of black staining once lesion is arrested, few studies have indicated that dental personnel's perception and attitude towards silver diamine fluoride (SDF) influences its usage. This report aims to provide a systematic review presenting dental personnel's knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions, (KAPs) regarding SDF. A search of multiple electronic literature databases and a manual search were performed. The review was reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses 2020 statement. A comprehensive search yielded 719 publications and 14 cross-sectional studies matching the inclusion criteria. Awareness of SDF among respondents ranged from 29.6% to 87.8%, whereas awareness of its use in dentistry ranged from 14.4% to 94.5%. Regarding attitude towards SDF, the mean score ranged from 3.39 to 14.35. An increase in knowledge of and attitude towards SDF is significantly associated with the usage of SDF and may increase the usage of SDF. This review provides vital information on dental personnel's KAPs regarding SDF. It is anticipated that the adaptation of SDF usage will be more widespread in the future, especially among children. Findings from the review may assist intervention programs to change misperceptions and to enhance awareness regarding SDF among dental personnel.

Mapping the Malaysian Smoking Cessation Clinics: A Geographic Information System-Based Study.

Although geographic information system-based studies are particularly increasing in other sectors, few have embraced their full potential in health services allocation in Malaysia. This study aimed to produce a visual map on the distribution of smoking cessation clinics (SCCs) in Malaysia and analyze its pattern against the national population of smokers. SCC addresses were obtained from the government website and mapped using geographic information system tools. A total of 199 and 449 private and public SCCs was mapped throughout the country, respectively. The lowest SCC to smoker population ratio was in the state of Negeri Sembilan with 1:3000. The highest SCC to smoker population ratio was in Sabah with 1 SCC for 15 000 smokers. Almost 70% of SCCs were primary health clinics. Smoking cessation clinics were distributed throughout all the states in Malaysia except the state of Sabah.

Analysis of dental services distribution in Malaysia: a geographic information systems - based approach.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to analyse, in detail, the distribution of primary dental clinics in relation to the Malaysian population and relative population wealth, to test the hypothesis that an uneven distribution of dental services exists in Malaysia. METHOD: This 2016 study located every dental practice in Malaysia (private and public) and mapped these practices against population, using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools. Population clusters within 5, 10 and 20 km of a dental clinic were identified, and clinic-to-population ratios were ascertained. Population data were obtained from the Population and Housing Census of Malaysia 2010. Population relative wealth was obtained from the 2014 Report on Household Income and Basic Amenities Survey for Malaysia. The physical address for each dental practice in Malaysia was gathered from the Official Portal of Ministry of Health Malaysia. All data for analysis were extracted from the integrated database in Quantum GIS (QGIS) into Microsoft Excel. RESULT: The population of Malaysia (24.9 million) was distributed across 127 districts, with 119 (94%) having at least one dental clinic. Sixty-four districts had fewer than 10 dental clinics, and 11.3% of Malaysians did not reside in the catchment of 20 km from any dental clinic. The total dental clinic-to-population ratio was 1:9,000: for public dental clinics it was 1:38,000 and for private clinics it was 1:13,000. CONCLUSION: Dental services were distributed relative to high population density, were unevenly distributed across Malaysia and the majority of people with the highest inaccessibility to a dental service resided in Malaysian Borneo.