Objective:This study was designed to investigate the subjective ratings of dental anxiety levels among university students enrolled at Jordan University of Science and Technology. In addition, the present study aimed to explore the sources of dental anxiety and the impact of gender on the perceived dental anxiety and the correlation between field of study and dental anxiety level.Material and Methods:The Modified Corah Dental Anxiety Scale was used to measure dental anxiety among the study population. Six hundred subjects were recruited into the study from Jordanian undergraduate students from the faculties of Medicine, Engineering, and Dentistry.Results:Five hundred and thirty five complete questionnaires were returned, which accounts for a response rate of 89.2%. The totals of the mean anxiety scores were the following: Medical students, 13.58%; Engineering students, 13.27% and dental students, 11.22%. About 32% of the study population has scored 15 or more. Dental students had the lowest percentage of those who scored 15 or more. Surprisingly, the medical students were responsible for the highest percentage of those who scored 15 or above. Although women demonstrated statistically higher total dental anxiety scores than men (p= 0.03), the difference between both genders was small and could be clinically insignificant. The students were anxious mostly about tooth drilling and local anesthetic injection.Conclusion:Lack of adequate dental health education may result in a high level of dental anxiety among non-dental university students in Jordan. Further studies are required to identify the correlates of dental anxiety among university students.

The cement-retained restorations showed significantly higher mean fracture loads than the restorations having screw-access openings in their occlusal surface. The position of the screw-access hole within the occlusal surface did not significantly affect the porcelain fracture resistance.

The aim of this study was to identify the perceived sources of stress among dental students, dental hygiene students, and dental technology students enrolled at Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST). The modified dental environment stress questionnaire was administered to 183 students. The perceived stressors varied between major and year. Dental students gave high scores for examinations, reduced holidays, inadequate time for relaxation, fear of failure, completing clinical requirements, and differences in opinion between staff. Dental hygiene students gave the highest scores for uncertainty about the field of study as future career, examinations, inadequate clinical training and supervision, inadequate relaxation, and discrimination between students. Dental technology students also gave high scores for uncertainty about future career, examinations, approachability of the staff, inadequate relaxation, and completing requirements. Females are more stressed than males with regard to personal factors. Dental technology and/or dental hygiene students have significantly higher scores than dental students in 12 items. Students who reported their first choice of study was not their current field of study showed more stress concerning their future careers. The high scores reported for some stressors among students emphasize the need to address student's concerns. Citation: Al-Omari WM. Perceived Sources of Stress within a Dental Educational Environment. J Contemp Dent Pract 2005 November;(6)4:064-074. Abstract © Seer Publishing

The aim of dental adhesive restorations is to produce a long lasting union between the restoration and the tooth structure. This bond depends on many variables including the geometry of the preparation and the type of bonding agent or luting cement. It is therefore suggested that the topography of the tooth surface may influence the wettability and the bonding quality of adhesive systems. This study measured the surface roughness and wettability of enamel and dentine after preparation with different dental burs. The mesial and distal surfaces of 15 extracted sound human premolar teeth were prepared with a tungsten carbide crown bur, a diamond bur and a tungsten carbide finishing bur and finished in enamel or dentin, respectively. The prepared surfaces were analysed with a surface profilometer and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The contact angle of distilled water on each of the prepared surfaces was used as the measure of wettability. The differences in average surface roughness (Ra) were significant between the rotary instrument groups, as revealed by a two-way ANOVA test. No differences were detected between enamel and dentine surfaces prepared with the same type of dental bur. The smoothest surfaces were those completed with tungsten carbide finishing burs. The diamond bur preparations were intermediate in the roughness assessment and the tungsten carbide crown burs gave the roughest surfaces. There were no significant differences in the contact angle measurements for the various groups. It was concluded that the surface roughness of enamel and dentine prepared by different rotary instruments had no significant influence on the wettability of distilled water on these surfaces.

BackgroundGeneral dental practitioners provide the majority of endodontic treatment in Jordan. The aim of this study was to gather information on the methods, materials and attitudes employed in root canal treatment by dentists in North Jordan, in order to evaluate and improve the quality of current practice.MethodsA questionnaire was posted to all registered general dental practitioners working in private practice in Irbid Governate in North Jordan (n = 181). The questionnaire included information on methods, materials and techniques used in endodontic treatment.ResultsReply rate was 72% (n = 131). The results demonstrated that only five dentists used rubber dam occasionally and not routinely. The majority used cotton rolls for isolation solely or in combination with a high volume saliva ejector (n = 116). The most widely used irrigants were sodium hypochlorite and hydrogen peroxide, which were used by 32.9% (n = 43) and 33.6% (n = 44) of the respondents, respectively. Forty eight percent of the respondents (n = 61) used the cold lateral condensation technique for canal obturation, 31.3% (n = 41) used single cone, 9.9% (n = 13) used vertical condensation and 12.2% (n = 16) used paste or cement only for the obturation. The majority used zinc oxide eugenol as a sealer (72.5%). All, but one, respondents used hand instruments for canal preparation and the technique of choice was step back (52.7%). More than 50% (n = 70) of the dentists took one radiograph for determining the working length, whilst 22.9% (n = 30) did not take any radiograph at all. Most practitioners performed treatment in three visits for teeth with two or more root canals, and in two visits for teeth with a single root canal.ConclusionsThis study indicates that dentists practicing in North Jordan do not comply with international quality standards and do not use recently introduced techniques. Many clinicians never take a radiograph for determining the working length and never used rubber dam or intra-canal medicaments.