Evaluation of the Knowledge Level of Dental Students Regarding the Dental Management of Medically Compromised Patients

Abstract

Background: The chances of survival for people suffering from various systemic diseases have increased due to medical advances and better access to medical services. This has led to an increase in the number of medically compromised patients in society. These patients undoubtedly need dental treatments during their lifetime. Dentists’ knowledge of these situations is crucial to prevent the health of these patients from being compromised during dental treatment. Objectives: Therefore, the present study evaluated the knowledge of students in the management of medically compromised patients using a questionnaire. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among clinical students of the Ahvaz Faculty of Dentistry. A sample size of 150 people was selected using a convenience sampling method. Data was collected using a self-made questionnaire regarding the dental management of medically compromised patients. t-tests and Mann-Whitney tests were used for statistical analysis of quantitative variables. The significance level in statistical tests was considered to be 0.05, and P-values less than 0.05 were considered significant. Results: In this study, the mean score of knowledge was 9.60 ± 3.45, and the knowledge of dental interns was higher than that of other students. The analysis of variance test showed that the mean scores of total knowledge were significantly different in four entries (P < 0.001). More than seventy percent of students were not satisfied with the teaching method of this course. Conclusions: The level of awareness of dental students regarding the dental considerations for systemic patients is not high, and the students are not satisfied with the way this course is taught.