Orientation of Dental Professionals in India towards Integrative Medicine: A Cross-Sectional Survey.

INTRODUCTION: There is a growing demand on our health care system, including Dentistry, to shift from a bio-medical approach to Integrative model of care. The attitudes of health professionals towards Integrative Medicine (IM) are an important factor that influences this transition. AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the orientation of the dental professionals in India towards the principles and practice of Integrative Medicine. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 286 dental faculty and postgraduate students from three dental schools in India. The participants voluntarily and anonymously completed the "Integrative Medicine-30' questionnaire, a 30 item self-report instrument that measures the health care provider's orientation towards Integrative Medicine in five subscales. Data analysis included summary statistics and intergroup comparisons by gender and professional status with independent samples Mann-Whitney U test. RESULTS: The overall orientation of the dental professionals towards IM was almost neutral. While the use of learning resources on Complementary and Alternative Medicine was lower, they showed a more positive orientation towards patient-centred care. Compared to postgraduate students of Dentistry, the dental faculty were more oriented towards IM (median score of 82 vs. 79.5, p<0.01), especially in terms of learning from alternate paradigms (14 vs. 12, p<0.01) and safety of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (13 vs. 12, p<0.01). Females scored better than males both in terms of overall orientation (82 vs. 78, p<0.01) and towards patient-centred care (12 vs. 11, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: The results highlight the impending need to improve the orientation of dental professionals in India towards the principles and practice of IM.

Trait procrastination among dental students in India and its influence on academic performance.

Trait procrastination is believed to be highly prevalent among college students and detrimental to their educational performance. As the scenario among dental students is virtually unknown, this study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of trait procrastination among dental students and to analyze its influence on their academic performance. A total of 174 fourth-year dental students from three dental colleges in India voluntarily completed the Lay's Procrastination Scale-student version (LPS). The mean percentage marks scored in the subsequent final university examinations were used as a measure of academic performance. The descriptive statistics were computed to evaluate the prevalence of significant procrastination (LPS score ≥60). Mann-Whitney U test and multiple linear regressions were used to assess the influence of age and gender on procrastination severity, and the latter was again used to analyze the association between procrastination severity and academic performance. The results indicated that 27 percent (n=47) of the students exhibited a significant extent of trait procrastination; neither age nor gender affected its severity (p<0.05). Procrastination had a significant and negative impact on the academic performance of the student (beta=-0.150, p=0.039). These findings highlight the need for active measures to reduce the causes and consequences of procrastination in dental education.

Dental students' regard for patients from often-stigmatized populations: findings from an Indian dental school.

The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare a group of Indian dental students' attitudes toward HIV-positive status, substance misuse, intellectual disability, acute mental illness, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) orientation. Two hundred and twelve students at various stages in the dental curriculum anonymously completed the Medical Condition Regard Scale (MCRS) for these conditions. Friedman and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used, respectively, to analyze the intrastage and interstage differences in MCRS scores. The results revealed that the regard of dental students was considerably positive for all the conditions except LGBT, for which it was just borderline positive. Intellectual disability received the highest regard among all the conditions and LGBT the least. An intermediary and comparable regard was noted for acute mental illness and HIV-positive status followed by substance misuse. While the regard for LGBT remained consistent throughout the curriculum, those for other conditions showed a marginal decrease at the completion of the clinical training. Active curricular reforms are required to ensure a more inclusive and nondiscriminatory dental care environment for patients from such often-stigmatized populations, especially those with LGBT orientation and substance misuse.