Awareness of systemic diseases effect on oral health among Egyptian dentists: A briefing report

Abstract

To the Editor, Knowledge about systemic diseases is important to dentists in many aspects. One of these aspects is oral manifestations caused by systemic diseases. These oral manifestations can be an early indicator for the disease. Moreover, uncontrolled systemic condition can compromise oral health and quality of life. 1-4 Assessing awareness, knowledge, and behavior of dentists regularly is crucial to recognize their level of efficiency. Previous studies in Europe, the United States, and some Arabic countries have assessed knowledge and behavior of dental health care providers regarding oralsystemic health connections. 5-9 Nevertheless, we noticed scarcity in literature concerning assessment of the knowledge and behavior in relevance to oral manifestations of systemic diseases. As far as we know, no previous study has assessed Egyptian dentists' knowledge or behavior concerning oral-systemic health relationship. The current survey is the first to investigate the awareness of the effect of systemic diseases on oral health among a cohort of Egyptian dentists.