Journal article
Dental Students’ Knowledge, Attitudes, and Intended Behaviors Regarding Caries Risk Assessment: Impact of Years of Education and Patient Age
Journal of dental education, Vol.71(11), pp.1420-1427
11/2007
DOI: 10.1002/j.0022-0337.2007.71.11.tb04412.x
PMID: 17971571
Abstract
Dental caries remains the single most common chronic childhood disease; without intervention, the prevalence and severity of caries increase into adulthood. Dental schools have begun to integrate caries risk assessment (CRA) and prevention counseling into the curriculum. We sought to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and intended behaviors of dental students regarding CRA and prevention counseling with children and adults. We also examined the extent to which these findings were influenced by the years of instruction that students received on these topics. We conducted a cross‐sectional survey of dental students at the University of California, San Francisco. All first‐year (D1) through fourth‐year (D4) students were eligible to participate. Of the 322 eligible students, 290 (90 percent) participated. D4 students correctly answered a mean of 70.4 percent of the knowledge‐based questions on CRA; the mean score among D1 students was 50.4 percent. Whereas 95 percent of D4 students identified themselves as confident in their ability to assess adult patients for caries risk, only 68 percent had such confidence with patients less than five years. To effectively prevent early childhood caries, dental schools should provide students with the skills necessary to be confident and willing to perform CRA and prevention counseling for all age groups.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Dental Students’ Knowledge, Attitudes, and Intended Behaviors Regarding Caries Risk Assessment: Impact of Years of Education and Patient Age
- Creators
- Sophia H Calderón - School of Dentistry, University of CaliforniaPaul Gilbert - School of Dentistry, University of CaliforniaRasika N Zeff - School of Dentistry, University of CaliforniaStuart A Gansky - School of Dentistry, University of CaliforniaJohn D.B Featherstone - School of Dentistry, University of CaliforniaJane A Weintraub - School of Dentistry, University of CaliforniaBarbara Gerbert - School of Dentistry, University of California
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of dental education, Vol.71(11), pp.1420-1427
- Publisher
- American Dental Education Association
- DOI
- 10.1002/j.0022-0337.2007.71.11.tb04412.x
- PMID
- 17971571
- ISSN
- 0022-0337
- eISSN
- 1930-7837
- Number of pages
- 8
- Grant note
- NIDCR NIH NCMHD (U54DE14251) US DHHS NIH/NIDCR
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 11/2007
- Academic Unit
- Community and Behavioral Health
- Record Identifier
- 9984064185402771
Metrics
30 Record Views