Perceptions regarding minimal intervention dentistry among dental interns in India: A cross-sectional survey

Purpose: Minimal intervention dentistry (MID) is a treatment philosophy that emphasizes protection of existing tooth structure. It has been incorporated in the dental curricula worldwide in the management of dental caries. There is limited evidence that whether the familiarity with MID principles imbibed through the curriculum is translated into clinical decision-making and practice. This study was conducted to assess the knowledge, attitude, practice and behavior of dental interns toward MID. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in the year 2014 for a period of 2 months among dental interns of all the dental colleges in Bengaluru city using a self-administered validated questionnaire. In addition to the demographic profile, 25 questions focused on knowledge, attitude, practice and behavior toward MID. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: A total of 417 questionnaires were found to be legible with an overall response rate of 90%. The mean scores for knowledge (3.40 ± 0.85), attitude (18.74 ± 2.8), practice (27.55 ± 6.8), and behaviour (1.11 ± 0.9) showed that these interns had adequate knowledge and a positive attitude toward MID. However, their behavior toward MID was negative, and they did not practice MID very often. The mean attitude score showed a significant correlation with knowledge and practice. Conclusion: Interns exhibited adequate knowledge and positive attitude which they acquired through their undergraduate curriculum, but it failed to create positive behavior toward practicing MID. Hence, it can be suggested that there is need to instill positive behavior among students so that they practice MID routinely

Oral health information in English newspapers: A content analysis study

Background: Mass media has been an important source of health information to the general public. Especially, newspapers have the advantage of providing a variety of information to a broad range of age groups, with wide regional coverage, both in urban and rural areas. Aim and Objective: The aim was to assess the quantity and quality of oral health information in leading 5 English newspapers published in Bangalore city, Karnataka. Materials and Methods: An electronic survey was conducted using archives of five electronic English newspapers published in 2012-2008. Oral health content was retrieved from these newspapers with appropriate key words. A specially designed scale was used to evaluate the information published in these newspapers. Level score index was used for the overall qualitative analysis of all information. In this regard, descriptive statistics was computed. Results: The articles published in 5 years were 266. In which 25.9% articles were on dental caries, 27.8% with periodontal diseases, 40.6% with oral cancer, 2.3% with malocclusion, and 4.5% with fluorosis. The accurate quality of oral health information in these newspapers provided about 14.7%, whereas only 4.5% of the articles provided the take home message. Conclusions: Articles on oral health lacked accuracy and infrequently published. To fill up this gap Public health dentists should effectively utilize these newspapers to educate the people on oral health